24

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
—-Luke 19:10

There is nothing wrong with having fun. In Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 Solomon said, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” There is nothing wrong with having a good time. However, God has given us a purpose in this world that is much bigger than having fun. Our purpose is to expand the kingdom of God–to make God’s rule larger and Satan’s rule lesser in this world. How do we do that?

One way we do that is by rescuing people from the kingdom of Satan and introducing them to faith in Jesus Christ. And we don’t stop there. Once people are rescued from the kingdom of darkness and become a part of the kingdom of light, then we help them become obedient and reproducing disciples of Christ. That was Jesus’s purpose. Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). He also said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

The apostle Paul also understood his life’s purpose. In Colossians 1:28-29 he said, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” Paul said his purpose was to “present every man complete in Christ.” You may be thinking, “Well, that’s a good purpose for people who are in Christian ministry. That’s their job. But I don’t have time for that. I am just a layperson.” Did you know that Paul spent much of his life working as a tentmaker? He got his pay from making tents, but his real calling was to make disciples. Paul understood his purpose.

You likely want to do what God left you here to do–you want to introduce people to Christ, and you want to help people grow in their faith. The question is, how do you do that? You do that by modeling the One who did it best: Jesus Christ. If you want to know how to live out your purpose of expanding the kingdom of God, then just look at the way Jesus did it.

I still love to watch reruns of the television show “24,” about the counterterrorist agent Jack Bauer. The reason it’s called “24” is that each season has 24 episodes, and each episode covers one hour in one day of Jack Bauer’s life. Interestingly, Luke does the same thing with Jesus in the passage we will look at this week. As we look at 24 hours in the life of the Savior, we will discover the components of Jesus’s life that made Him so effective in making disciples of Christ. If you want to live out the purpose for which you were created, then these components need to be a part of your life too.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “24” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2016.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.