February 3, 2021
Dear friends,
In Bible Study on Sunday I keep coming back to something that Peter says early in his letter: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
This answers a crucial question: what’s the purpose?
Peter’s answering the specific question of what our new life in Christ is for. What’s our purpose? It is to proclaim God’s excellencies, his virtues. I find that to be so helpful in a world full of virtue signaling. How much of what we do and say is aimed at convincing other people that we’re virtuous – that we’re good people? The Christian isn’t concerned with that at all. He’s concerned with showing the world God’s virtue, specifically that Jesus bore our sins on the cross to save us from death. As soon as you find yourself doing something merely to influence what other people think about you, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.
That shows you that this question – what’s the purpose? – impacts every facet of our lives.
The world has something to say about everything you do. The world has an agenda for you. If you want to make it in life, you’re supposed to stick to the agenda. Education, finance, nutrition, family, church, health, retirement – in every realm of life there’s always someone very glad to tell you what to do. It’s very easy to go along, to put our confidence in the way things are done, the way everyone does things. It’s convenient.
But Christians are different than the world. We don’t take our cues from the world. And we don’t let the world answer the question for us: what’s the purpose?
So answer the question for yourselves. What’s the purpose? What’s the purpose of money? What’s the purpose of a spouse and children? What’s the purpose of friends? What’s the purpose of school? What’s the purpose of food? Of good health? Of leisure and rest? What’s the purpose of church?
Ask these questions not simply to become an independent thinker. Ask those questions to diagnose your heart. If your answers have nothing to do with your calling as a Christian to proclaim the excellencies of God, then stop and reconsider. While the world is glad to give you purposes that are empty and end in the grave, God has given you a purpose beyond this life. Take your cues from him.
This is hard work, much harder than just taking our cues from the world. But it’s also good work because God has called us out of darkness and into light. If we just live like the world for the purposes that the world gives us, then we’re living in the dark. The light is better. God’s purposes are better. Aim to glorify him. Ask him for faith and love. That’s what you’re here for.
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs