Real Hope: Seeking God's PurposeSample

It's There But It's Not Comfortable So here’s an uneasy question. How much of our search for God’s purpose is about affirming today’s personal choices? In today’s scripture, the church leaders rejected God’s counsel to be baptized. John the baptizer was preaching a message that challenged the core identity of the church of the day—that all men, Jews and gentiles alike, were invited to approach God directly, accepting in their hearts their need for God’s forgiveness, and being baptized. John was revealing God’s purpose for everyone to have a vibrant, living, and personal relationship with God the Father through the coming Messiah. His message was revolutionizing the role of the corporate church and the priests, teachers, and lawyers that served it. It’s no surprise that God’s purpose for them was rejected. Who wouldn’t be asking, "What am I supposed to do with my life now that God is calling our people to approach Him directly?" When reading this verse, I wonder how many allowed the powerful fear of their loss of identity with mankind to overcome their personal response to the divine invitation to a more intimate identity in God? How many had God’s eternal purpose for their life suffocated by the very human need for the preservation of the "now." Seeking God’s purpose will require an exchange of ideas and a change of heart—the relinquishing of our need for the preservation of the now—for God’s promise of what is to come. Only open hands (and hearts) can take hold of God’s exquisitely perfect purpose for our life. ##### Written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES