Purpose, ambition, and calling

           

I have been emphasizing how our carnal minds make sense of things different from our spiritual minds. This is never so prominent as in how we see our purpose. Natural man believes his/her purpose is to glorify or exalt self. Both when we are "doing good" so others will see or when we are in a self-abasing posture, we are making it all about us. The spiritual, transformed mind seeks to glorify God. To make Him the point. To be hidden and one with the Trinity (John 17:20 -22). If our purpose is us, then we structure our lives around getting our needs met through our circumstances or the world around us. We make sense of ourselves and our world through the eyes of self. When our purpose is to be one with God and to make Him known (that's what glorify really means; what carries the weight or gets noticed), then our ambition is to be pleasing to Him (II Corinthians 5: 9).

Well, then what pleases God? Hebrews 11: 6 says that withouf faith it is impossible to please God. I think what pleases God is believing He has uniquely made us and wills that we play out what He has put in us instead of fooling around with what others think about us. I call this "sucking the life out of us instead of living the life He has given us to live." First, we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Then, regardless of what it feels like to us, the sovereign God is who "works in us both to will and to do for His good  pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). In the end "He who has begun a good work in us will complete it through the perfect work of Christ" (Philippians 1: 6).

I would put forth the notion that our calling is in fact just that. Playing out what has been put in us. The specific job, location, tasks, responsibilites, ect. are all the context for doing this. What freedom there is knowing that we are simply called to "scratch the itches of our soul" and God will take care of the results. This freedom comes to us in parenting, in careers, in recreation, in marriage, IN ALL of LIFE!!

The human pschologists call this intrinsic motivation but its just a fancy name for God's calling on our lives.