Scripture
And the one who sent Me is with Me—He has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases Him.
~John 8:29, NLT
Quote
You are God’s workmanship; a wonderfully complex creature created in Christ Jesus for good works!
~Ya’akov
One of Naola’s rules was never make fun of a person’s appearance. When you did, she quoted Proverbs, “Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker.” She understood clearly that poverty is a broad word…some have poor health, some have a poor mind, some have a poor appearance but that is how God made them and it is not to be mocked or rediculed. During my elementary school years, there was this obnoxious girl who rode our bus, her name was Ruby and she tormented me. Ruby had a speech impediment, she could not speak her words plainly. One day I had taken all of Ruby I could stand and so I mocked her speech. The entire bus erupted in laughter. Hey, I felt pretty good and figured Ruby would leave me alone. Wrong! Ruby had a mother, a she bear. Of course Ruby ratted me out and my mother got a call from her mother. I tried to defend my behavior but it was hopeless. I had broken mother’s rule…never make fun of others for things they have no control over. I had to apologize to Ruby in public. Every man would like to be tall, dark and handsome and every women would like to have a great figure, a beautiful face and lovely hair but it doesn’t work that way. Most of us can find something about our physical features that we are not happy about but that doesn’t mean that God made a mistake. Every human being is God’s work of art and is created for a purpose.
Obviously, Jesus was not created but when He came to this earth, He knew His purpose and it was to please His Father in heaven. Jesus made a statement none of can make, He said, “I always do what pleases the One who sent Me.” Jesus was perfect; you and I are not but our purpose in life is to please the One who created us. He is at work in us, both to will and work for His good pleasure. So if you are one of these individuals who thinks that because you are not a preacher or a missionary, you don’t have a purpose; you are thinking wrong. The problem is that many are like the Ethiopian eunuch, they read the Bible but we don’t understand what they are reading. Kenneth Taylor makes Ephesians 2:10 understandable...It is God himself who has created us [as we are] and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. Jesus went about doing good, helping others and we should do likewise. This is your purpose!
Think about it: does your vocation help others? Now if you are a bar tender or drive a budweiser truck, you may need to rethink things but if you drive a truck that hauls groceries or other needed goods, surely you see your purpose. Nurses, therapist, technicians, teachers, etc. are or should be in the business of helping others. I had a mother of three come to me years ago and say, “I envy you.” I said “Why would you envy me?” She said, “Because you know your purpose and I do not know why God created me.” I know of few things that children need more than a MOTHER. How dare you question your purpose: help those children. The same is true of FATHERS. Your purpose is to please Christ and help others. It is not rocket science.
Well the kids made it to camp: our grand children and the GP youth are at the same camp. I love Saturdays, always have. I guess it is because there is no school on Saturday. I hope you have a great day and get a lot accomplished. Lord willing, I will see many of you tomorrow. Mark Byrd and the LIVING FAITH QUARTET will be at DBC tomorrow night at 6:00. If you get up next Sunday and don’t have anything to do, remember our early service at GRACE POINT. We begin at 8:00 outside. Our service will be over by 8:45. Doug will be singing three numbers and I will be preaching.