The Purpose of Life

Yesterday morning brought lots of sun--probably only the fifth day since 2014 began that we had an abundance of sun.  People were out by the droves and the kids played their hearts out.  Hikes happened, errands were run, and friends took to the pools.  Doug went for a 25 mile bike ride, Darius ran from house to house on the compound, and the other kids and I visited the little outdoor markets to pick up groceries and connect with whoever we encountered.  It was such a pleasant way to start the day.

When Doug finally returned from his ride, he reported the need for a new bicycle wheel.  No, the tire didn't puncture; the entire wheel had been twisted.  Apparently wild, angry dogs continue to be the bane of his existence.  The story goes....While going down a steep dirt road, a dog began to chase the cyclists. Doug's cycling partner fell off of his own bike, slid toward Doug, and Doug unavoidably ran over his friend's bike.  Praise God, there were no injuries to speak of except for the need for a new wheel. It was a bike ride for the record books.

Likewise, when we are motoring through life we often go careening into things for which we're unprepared.  We're completely caught off guard and become overwhelmingly upset and 'bent out of shape' by challenges, mishaps, troubles, and the like.  Thankfully, Doug wasn't bent out of shape--but his bike was.  It was so bent, it will be unusable unless someone painstakingly pounds the rim back into a usable form.

Life is like that.  Many things come across our paths that shake us up and bend us out of shape.  Often we then become unusable.  We are so unsettled by things that have hurt us or harmed us, that we cease to be creative, productive, reflective, or receptive.  We are so stuck on being hurt and bitter that we lose our purpose in life.  We instead seek to nurse our wounds till kingdom come.

Oh that we would not be that way!  Don't you know and have you not heard that our Lord is the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Don't you know that we are more than conquerors?  That we have been given all that we need to succeed in the Christian life?  That nothing can separate us from the love of Christ?  That we can do ALL things through Christ who gives us strength?

Those who wait upon the Lord will run and not grow weary--they will be be filled up and not run dry.  Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, says it the best:

"Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them.  Let's apply that to our own circumstances.  The things we try to avoid and fight against--tribulation, suffering, and persecution--are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. 'We are more than conquerors through Him' 'in all these things'; NOT IN SPITE OF THEM, but in the MIDST of them. A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it.  Paul said, 'I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation' (2 Cor. 7:4)."  (all caps mine)

Now isn't that something to ponder?  If problems in our life don't produce joy in us, then something is amiss?  What!??  Could that be right?  Well, yes.  

Paul, in Romans 5:3-4 says that we "glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope."  In Eugine Peterson's The Message, we see that he paraphrases Romans 5:3-5 to say this:

"There's more to come:  We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.  In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling short-changed.  Quite the contrary--we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit."

So,again, yes.  When troubles in our lives make us more grouchy and bitter rather than more joyful and grateful for what we've been given (instead of angry for what we've lost), then something is amiss.  Now I'm not saying that what you're going through or what we're going through here isn't hard.  It is. Sometimes overwhelmingly hard.  It becomes hard to laugh, to trust, to smile, to relax.  Yet, we are more than conquerors.  If we have no joy and no peace, then we are letting our circumstances dictate our perspective and peace.  We are letting others and events tell us what to think and how to feel.  That's a poor choice--it's living fickle and shortsighted.  

Instead, the Lord calls us to victory, to overcoming, to super-abounding in Christ.  He calls us to see the trials as opportunities to cry out to Him, to rely on Him, to seek Him, to learn from Him, and to lean fully into Him.  That's what He's there for.  Then, when we see that He not only listens but He answers and guides and directs and sustains us, then the joy will come--and it will come in buckets.  It will come alongside peace and victory and a sense of God's presence.  In my mind, there is no greater gift out there.  To know that the God of the universe is calling all the shots in my life and that He's got my back and is walking me through every choice and every moment--well, troubles may come but my God is bigger and He's got all the solutions.  

So, in essence, I can say with full assurance that life here in Shell is not a picnic.  Often it is overwhelming and unsettling.  It kicks my tail around a bit.  I'm sure you feel the same wherever you are.  Yet, we're overcomers!  Let's live above it all.  Let's choose joy.  "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength!"