WHY ARE WE HERE????

I have asked myself this question over and over and over again today, and a lot, maybe
most of us don’t really know why we are here. There has been times when I have even
questioned God on his purpose for my life, honestly we all have some doubt, or maybe
practice some caution with what we are destined to do.

When trying to discern the will of God, it is important to realize that a very large part of
God's will has already been revealed to us and, if only we would pay attention and think
about it, is already known to us. It may be that from time to time God does have very
specific plans for individuals but there is very little scripture to suggest that God wants to
determine every tiny step of our lives. Rather, scripture tends to suggest that God has a
particular direction that he wants us to go in. What we do along the way, the precise
route we take, and our mode of transport is left for us to decide. It may be helpful to keep
in mind two points about our relationship with God and the consequent implications for
our lives. First, God is our father, second we are growing from spiritual babies into fully
competent spiritual adults. Let us examine a few aspects of this relationship:

Training

When we, as humans, train our children we begin by showing them what to do,
then by telling them what to do, later by advising them and eventually by leaving
them to find out for themselves. This latter stage does not arise through parental
apathy or negligence but because we know that they have to “find their own feet”
and “learn from their own mistakes”. For a child to become a mature adult it
must eventually be pushed out into the world and left to make decisions, good or
bad, for itself. Now if this is how we who are made in the image and likeness of
God train our children, how might we expect God to train his children — namely
ourselves.

Obedience

Scripture lays a heavy emphasis on obedience, possibly more so than we would

like it to. There is no point asking for advanced instruction if we have failed to
implement the elementary lessons. Obedience is an unavoidable prerequisite to
spiritual maturity. There is no point praying for guidance when we already know
what to do and are simply refusing to do it. There is no point pleading with God
for help when we have ignored the instructions. If it is any consolation to us,
even a man like Moses got into trouble in this way:
When the Israelites were camped at the Red / Reed sea shore with the Egyptian
army closing in behind them, Moses began praying to God and explaining their
difficult situation to him. God's terse response was “Moses why do you cry out to
me? Tell the children of Israel to march on.” God had already told Moses what
the Israelites were to do — they were to march into the sea. All they had to do
now was obey the order and when, eventually, they stopped complaining to God
about what an unpleasant order it was and did as they had been told they found
that actually God did know what he was doing after all because the waters parted
and they walked through on dry ground.

Joshua also found himself in this situation at an early stage in his leadership: In
Joshua chapter one, God promises the land over the Jordan to Joshua but instructs
him “Only be strong and very courageous, that you will be careful to act
according to all the law that Moses my servant instructed you. Do not deviate
from it, to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This
book of the law shall not depart from your mouth; and you shall meditate upon it
day and night, that you may be careful to act according to all that is written
therein; for then you shall have good success in your ways, and then you shall
prosper. ...” When Joshua later complains to God (Joshua 7:6-13) that things are
not going well, the reply he receives is rather terse: “Stand-up! What are you
doing down on your face?” The implication is that if Joshua had believed what
God had said (Joshua 1:6-8, as shown above) then he should already know why
things are now going so badly.

Jesus has promised to be with us always until the end of the age so we have
nothing to fear from obedience. The demands of Jesus may seem severe but,
because they are backed by the promises of God, they are risk free. We are told
not to store-up treasure on earth, we are told to give to the poor, we are told to do
dozens of things that most of us somehow never quite get around to doing. Now
why is this? Why is it that we seem to think that the commands do not apply to
us?

When we follow the simple commands that have already been given to us we will
find that many of the situations that we wanted God's advice about will have
ceased to exist. In other cases we will find that once we are free from the choking
weeds of worldly worries we will find that it is much easier to see clearly what the
real priorities are.
 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice
is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ... But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who
built his house on sand. ...” Matthew 7:26, NIV.

And James found it necessary to write: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Acting wisely and avoiding procrastination.

There is a time for dedicated prayer and there is a time for decisions and action.
If we want to know which “door” we should go through we could try opening
some of them and seeing what is on the other side. In some cases it will be
obvious that we should not enter. In other cases it will be obvious that the room
contains work that we could usefully be getting on with. For the remaining cases
where we feel truly unable to make a sensible, fully informed decision we could
either find something else to do while we put the question back to God or we
could make a decision anyway and see where it leads us. Any decision — even a
bad decision — is far superior to procrastination which is never productive. “If
any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all
without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must
believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and
tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the
Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” James 1:5-8.
Attention James' words apply to requests for wisdom and it is wisdom that “will
be given him”; there is nothing to indicate that James' words may be applied to
requests for anything else.

Following Jesus

Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations. A disciple is a person who learns
from and follows the pattern of his or her master. Jesus' frequent call was “follow
me”. It is not possible to follow anyone if we insist on going our own way, or
going at our own pace. We are not called to be “converted”, we are not called to
be “Christians”, we are not called to be “churchgoers”, we are not called to be
“religious”. We are called to be disciples — to learn from our master and to put
into practice what he has taught. It is true that Jesus is our brother; it is true that
 he is our savior; it is true that he is our friend. However he is also our LORD —
the one who must be obeyed.

If we really want to do the will of God then we must be prepared to follow Jesus.
He has set a pattern for our lives which will help us to see what our attitudes
should be. However to be a good follower we must, more than anything else, be
prepared to go where the leader goes. Jesus leads us to Calvary: the place where
the old attitudes and old desires must die. Many Christians have exactly the same
attitudes as their unbelieving neighbors’. The faith of these Christians is nothing
more than materialism dressed up with scripture. Jesus calls us to a life of self-
denial, to a life that unbelievers will think foolish.

Worship

The word “Worship” has changed in meaning over the years and is presently used
in a rather vague sense to mean singing to God. However, the word really means
something more broad along the lines of “giving a person the honor due to them”.
Thus in years gone by there was nothing blasphemous in the English marriage
ceremony when the bride and groom promised one another “with my body I thee
worship”.

Knowing the full and proper meaning of the word allows us to see that true
worship of God consists in bringing glory to God in order to give him the honor
due to him. This might take many forms; the simplest perhaps being a basic
acknowledgement of who and what God is. Paul defines it as “not conforming
any longer to the pattern of the world”. It is also said “Be Holy for without
holiness nobody will see the Lord”, and it follows that if they do not see him then
they will not even acknowledge him — the most basic form of worship. The idea
that worship consists solely in gathering together in a building, apart from the rest
of the world, and singing songs is not biblical. How is God glorified when his
people sing songs and those who are not yet his people do not hear the good news
that they can be set free from their sins and they are left in their miserable lives,
without comfort, without hope, and without even a warning of the doom that
awaits them? Jesus left heaven to tell us. Most of us (the writer included) cannot
even manage to tell the person next door. We glorify God by doing what he has
intended and created us to do.
 Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's
will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (1139

Be Blessed Guys…… I love you all

Regards

Jeremy Jude Pillai