Purpose. That is what everyone is after, isn’t it? To wake up and have something to live for. To know that our lives aren’t just a flash in the grand scheme of eternity. God gives us purpose. In fact, before our salvation we had no purpose at all. Before salvation we would have died just to live eternity under the judgment and wrath of God…yikes. Not a single thing we would have done would have meant anything for anyone. But thank our Lord Jesus Christ for giving us purpose!
…But what exactly is our purpose?…
God’s word says:
“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,”
Ephesians 1:5-6
I meditated on this passage and found something full of splendor that I must share. Let’s break this phrase down.
“To the praise”
This one is easy to define. Praise indicates an action of worship and adoration. The greek word here is epainos and means “approbation”, “commendation”, and/or “praise”. So to begin a running definition of our purpose we have: We are saved in Jesus Christ for the purpose of praising and worshiping. This, however, begs a question: What are we praising? Keep reading.
“Of the glory”
The object of our praise. The word glory here is the greek word doxa which means “splendor”, “brightness”, “majesty”, etc. I recently heard someone define it like this: “Glory is the physical manifestation of an invisible reality”. So far the running definition of our purpose reads like this: We are saved in Jesus Christ for the purpose of praising and worshiping the physical manifestation of an invisible reality. And yet we have another question: What is the invisible reality that I am praising?
“Of His grace”
The most helpful definition of grace, for me, has been this: “Grace is God giving us a gift (or a help) that we do not deserve.” The greek word used in this passage is charis and can mean “unmerited favor”, “loving-kindness”, “good-will”, etc. God gives us many different types of grace but the context of this verse clearly points to the grace of atonement and justification and our new life in Jesus Christ, that is, the gospel. The running definition of our purpose is as follows: We are saved in Jesus Christ for the purpose of praising and worshiping the physical manifestation of God’s eternal plan for saving His people. The last thing we need to answer is this: What (or whom) is the gospel physically manifested in?
Our Purpose: JESUS
We land the plane here. God’s eternal plan of salvation finds its fullness in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Jesus is the physical appearance of God Himself (John 1:14). So it brings the running definition of our purpose to this conclusion: We are saved in Jesus Christ for the purpose of praising and worshiping JESUS. Isn’t that beautiful! It’s all about Him. Your life finds purpose in Him. Your life finds adventure in Him. Your life finds joy in Him. Your life IS JESUS.
- Take a moment to Praise God for giving you purpose through and in Jesus Christ.
- Confess all the moments you sought purpose in anything but Him.
- Thank God for eternally planning Jesus’ salvation for you long before you existed
- Finally, Ask God to help you grow in your knowledge of purpose and intimacy with Jesus.