God’s Immediate Purpose For Us

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
–2 Timothy 2:4

A lot of Christians are walking around in a fog, wondering what God’s will for their life is. But as Erwin McManus put it, the question is not, “God, what is Your will for my life?” but, “God, what is Your will, and how can I give my life to fulfill it?” Our purpose here on earth is to fulfill God’s purpose. So what is God trying to do? Here are a few hints:

• “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
• “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
• “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

God’s purpose in the world is clear: He wants to deliver as many people as possible from the pit of Satan’s kingdom into the light of His kingdom through Jesus Christ. And God invites you and me to join with Him in that mission. That is why we are here. Does God need us to do His work for Him? No, but God has chosen to partner with us in accomplishing His purpose. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave the disciples their instructions: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Those are our marching orders too. Throughout the Bible, Christians are described as soldiers for Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 2:4, Paul said, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” In Paul’s day, the primary role of the soldier was to expand the emperor’s kingdom. When a soldier arrived at a new post, did he pull out the yellow pages and say, “First let me visit every restaurant in town so I can sample the local cuisine”? If that had been the soldier’s priority, he probably would have been dishonorably discharged. No, a soldier understands the reason he has been dispatched is to fulfill not his mission, but the mission of his commander and chief.

God has left us in a foreign outpost called planet Earth to fulfill one mission–and that mission is not to build a successful career, to see how much money we can accumulate, or even to have a successful and fulfilling family life. Our mission is to rescue as many people as possible from the kingdom of darkness and introduce them to faith in Jesus Christ.

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Putting On Your Soul Shoes” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Erwin Raphael McManus, “Seizing Your Divine Moment” (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2002), 143.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org