Purpose

On the day our son was born, we started making plans. Truth be told, we started making plans before his birth. Plans for his room, his clothes, his college, his television habits, you name it, we planned it. As he has grown, our plans have changed. But our purpose has remained the same. We want our son to look like Jesus. So we work deliberately to help him understand what that means and how to live that out. Everything else has to bow to purpose. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” I have found this to be so true. If I am going to live the life that God wants me to live, if I am going to look like Jesus in the way that God is calling me to live my life, purpose has to come first. The first question before I watch television, the first question before I read a book, the first question before I respond in a conversation must be, “What will best look like Jesus?” Only when I let the purpose of God rule can I be who and what God wants me to be. I can plan ahead, but every plan must follow God’s purpose.