Website owner:  James Miller

God's purpose for the Christian

   
   People sometimes ask themselves, "What is God's will for my 
   life?, Does God have a purpose for me?,  Does he have a plan 
   for my life?"  Yes, he has a purpose for you and a plan for 
   your life.  And you don't need to wait for dreams or visions or 
   voices from heaven to know it.  You will find it clearly in the 
   scripture.  His plan is for you to be obedient to him.  That 
   means to follow his commandments, precepts and teachings; to 
   note what his teachings are and to seriously follow them.  What 
   are his teachings?  Well, one of the central teachings pertains 
   to meekness, humility, modesty.  Let us look at some dictionary 
   definitions: 
   

   meek.  1. Not easily angered; having a mild and patient 
   disposition; gentle, humble, modest, patient, forbearing  2. 
   Submitting tamely when ordered about or injured by others; 
   yielding, docile, submissive. 

   humble.  Free from pride or vanity; modest, meek, unassuming.

   humility.  Humbleness, meekness, lowliness, modesty, 
     unpretentiousness, plainness simpleness.

   modest.  1.  Having or displaying a moderate or unexaggerated 
     regard for oneself or one's abilities, accomplishments, etc.; 
     unpretentious, unpretending, unassuming, unostentatious.  2. 
     Reserved, chaste in speech, manner, dress, etc.; pure in 
     thought and conduct. 



   pride.  1. An undue sense of one's own superiority; inordinate 
     self-esteem, arrogance; conceit.  2. A proper sense of personal 
     dignity and worth; honorable self-respect.

   vain.  Filled with or showing undue admiration for oneself, 
     one's appearance, etc.; proud, conceited.

   conceit.  A high opinion of one's own person or 
     accomplishments; overweening self-esteem. 

   - vain, proud, conceited, egotistical, self-centered, self-
     worshipping, self-loving, arrogant, haughty, presumptuous, 
     selfish

   

   If we wish to be obedient to God's precepts we need to take the 
   subject of meekness and humility seriously.  Jesus put a big 
   emphasis on it.  And he gave us, in himself, an example of 
   meekness and humility.  If we wish to be like him, if we wish 
   to imitate him, we must be meek and humble.  To be Christ-like 
   is to be meek and humble.  He was a meek, humble person.  He 
   was God himself who came down to earth and presented to us a 
   meek, humble person.  Are you a meek, humble person?  A great 
   many people are not.  Vanity and pride is the rule in this 
   world.

   What are some other teachings we must follow if we wish to be 
   obedient to God?  A very important one is honesty.  We must be 
   honest, truthful individuals.  We must be people of integrity, 
   rectitude and uprightness.  We must treat our neighbor with 
   honesty.  We cannot lie to him, cheat him or steal from him.  
   We live in a world in which lie, dishonesty and deception is 
   pervasive.  We must be different.  We must be honest. 

   There are many other teachings.  Jesus said the greatest 
   commandment of all is to love God with all your heart, soul 
   and mind.  And he said the second commandment was like unto it, 
   to love our neighbor as ourselves.  That means to treat our 
   neighbor right, to not do to him what we wouldn't wish done to 
   ourselves.  Other teachings of Jesus:  1. Seek peace with your 
   neighbor, avoid argument, avoid strife.  2. Forgive your 
   neighbor for wrongs done to you, don't hold grudges.  In 
   addition we must live chaste lives.  We are told that those who 
   live immoral lives will go to hell.  

   What does all this mean?  Christianity is about outlooks, 
   attitudes, values and behavior.  If we wish to obey God we must 
   observe our personal behavior and correct it where it needs 
   correcting.  We must examine our outlooks, attitudes and values 
   and make adjustments where necessary.    

   So what kind of person is the true Christian who follows the 
   teachings of Jesus as he is supposed to?  We can describe him 
   as a God-fearing, upright, honest, meek, humble, modest, 
   patient, caring, forgiving, peaceful, chaste, self-denying, 
   diligent, hard-working, good person.  This is the kind of 
   person that God wants as his representative on this earth.  He 
   represents what God represents.  This kind of person is the 
   salt of the earth.  He is the lit candle shining light in a 
   dark world. 


   Feb 2009