God’s purpose for every Christian is that we are to reflect His LIGHT and LOVE into this dark world…

GOD is our Source for ALL things needful in this life, and it ALL starts with Jesus…

James 1:17

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.”

I remember once hearing the story about this great intellectual orator, who also happened to be a Christian, giving what I believe was a graduation commencement speech, and he was asked by someone at the very closing moments of his speech to give the meaning and purpose of life.

He thought for a moment and said that our God given mission and purpose in life is for EVERY believer to reflect God’s LIGHT and LOVE into all the dark places of this world; he said we aren’t the source of this light and love, only its reflection.

I would add that God’s purpose, for EVERY Christian, is that we die to ourselves and that we pick up our cross daily, as the Lord said WE ALL must do:

Mark 8:34-38

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

34-38 Then he called his disciples and the people around him, and said to them,

“If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up his cross and follow me.

The man who tries to save his life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s who will save it.

What good can it do a man to gain the whole world at the price of his own soul?

What can a man offer to buy back his soul once he has lost it?

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels around him.”

[NOTE: The cross is the symbol of our death to self will and self determination outside the will and purpose of God]

God’s purpose is that we each, having been born-again, would become the conduit of God’s Agape (which is the God kind of love – meaning love given without strings), and that we would shine God’s LIGHT and LOVE into all the dark areas of this world.

I truly believe that is the mission of EVERY Christian, with the recognition that we are NEVER the source – only the reflection – and that God, our Abba Daddy in heaven – that He is our ONLY Source.

[NOTE: In Greek the word for Father is Pater, which implies, “the originator and transmitter of anything; the authors of a family or society of persons, animated by the same spirit as himself” — from Olive Tree Enhanced Strong’s Dictionary]

Some would claim that all people are “children of God,” but the Bible reveals quite a different truth.

We are all His creations and under His authority and lordship, and all will be judged by Him, but the right to be a child of God and call Him “Abba Father” is something that only born-again Christians have (John 1:12–13).

When we are born again (John 3:1–8), we are adopted into the family of God, redeemed from the curse of sin, and made heirs of God (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).

Part of that new relationship is that God now deals with us differently, as family.

It is life-changing to understand what it means to be able to call the one true God our “Father” and what it means to be joint-heirs with Christ.

Because of our relationship with our Abba, Father, He no longer deals with us as enemies; instead, we can approach Him with “boldness” (Hebrews 10:19) and in “full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).

The Holy Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).

Becoming a child of God is the highest and most humbling of honors.

Because of it we have a NEW relationship with God and a NEW standing before Him.

Instead of running from God and trying to hide our sin like Adam and Eve did, we run to Him, calling, “Abba, Father!” and finding forgiveness in Christ.

Being an adopted child of God is the source of our hope, the security of our future, and the motivation to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1).

Being children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to a higher standard, a different way of life, and, in the future, “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).

As Christians, as Jesus stated in Luke 2:49, we too must be about our Father’s business; and that business is for us to be the distributors of GOD’S LIGHT and His LOVE into all the dark areas of this world. Selah (pause and reflect)

How do we do this?

Zachariah 4:6
JPS Tanakh 1917

Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying: ‘This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Remember we aren’t the Source of God’s LIGHT and LOVE, only the reflection; and one of the last things Jesus said, before His ascension into heaven was that,

“ALL power has been given to Me, in heaven and earth, so that you (my disciples) may go out and do this job I’m calling you to do.” (see Matthew 28:18-19).

Come join the Adventure!

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