Do you ever wonder what your purpose is in life?
It is something that has been on my heart an awful lot lately. I have a shirt that says “Created with a purpose” that I like to wear (because, you know, Jesus and butterflies). Jeremy’s mom was at the house one day last week and I had it on. Jeremy jokingly asked me had I found my purpose yet, so I chuckled and said, “No, not yet.” His mom piped up and reminded me that my purpose was to marry Jeremy and have and raise my babies. Let me pause right here and say I know exactly what she means, and that yes, at this point in time my main responsibility is to be a good partner with Jeremy and to raise my children to be caring, responsible people who love God and others and show it. However…
I feel like God made me for more than that. While I do want to be the best wife and mother I can be, I also want to be the best Corri I can be. I want to be more than just Jeremy’s wife and Tyler, Troy, Audrey, and Esther’s mom. And I feel like God has called me to be more than that. I feel like God did create each of us with a specific purpose. We just have to listen to Him to find that purpose. I’m still listening and still waiting on exactly what direction He wants me to go.
You know who else had a purpose?
Jesus.
You thought I forgot this was supposed to be a post on Hebrews 5, didn’t you? Well, let’s take a look at Hebrews 5:4-6. (As usual, unless specified, text is taken from Scot McKnight’s The Second Testament.)
Someone doesn’t take this honor for himself but, being called by God, just as Aarōn [was]. So also the Christos did not splendor himself to become a Senior Priest but the one who spoke to him,
My Son you are,
Today I have given life to you.Just as also in another [location] says,
You are a priest into the Era consistent with Melchisedek’s order.
Jesus was chosen by God and called to be our High Priest, just as Aaron and Melchizedek were chosen and called. Even though He was the Son of God, He had to be qualified through growth and obedience and reverence to God (v. 8-10). Luke 2:52 tells us that even from His youth, “Yēsous was advancing in the wisdom and maturity and grace - with God and humans.” He had to learn and grow into His calling just as we do.
In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul talks a lot about our callings and the gifts that the Spirit of God has given to us. For example:
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said…Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.1 Corinthians 12:7-10, 28, NLT
He has gifted each of us with unique talents and giftings to use in our service to Him. Paul goes on to say in his letter to the Ephesians that we were created to do the good things God planned for us (2:10). He has plans for each of us. We just have to be listening for and willing to hear His call.
One other thing Hebrews 5 reminds us of is that we must continue to grow and learn. We can’t become stagnant.
For being obligated to be teachers because of time, you have need again for someone to teach you the first categories of God’s sayings and have become [ones] having need of milk and not firm provision. For everyone who shares milk is untested in rightness’s world, for the person is an infant. Firm provision is for the complete ones for those who, because of practice, have exercised sensibilities - for distinguishing both beautiful and bad.
Hebrews 5:12-14
While we each have an individual purpose or calling, our collective purpose is to show God to others and become teachers. This doesn’t mean you have to get up in front of a group or lead a class. Teaching comes in many forms and fashions, from giving lectures to teaching classes to having one on one discussions to simply being a good example of what a Christian is. We have to grow past those first categories, those first principles, those building blocks or foundation of Christianity.
When a contractor builds a house, he lays a foundation. But he doesn’t stop at the foundation. Upon that, he adds joists, subflooring, walls, windows, ceilings, electric work, plumbing, floor covering, paint, fixtures, and all of the other things that go into making a home. He doesn’t just keep laying foundation over and over and over. That house would be useless. The foundation serves its purpose, but it doesn’t do much good all on its own.
In the same way, we have to learn as new followers of Christ the basics, then build upon that as we mature. The foundation is simply about Christ and who He is (1 Corinthians 3:11). Then we build upon that to create in ourselves a holy temple that the very Spirit of God dwells within (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Hebrews 5:13 says if we are untested, we are still an infant. There’s been no growth. We might be comfortable, but we’ve had no experiences to draw us closer to Christ. As new Christians, that is expected, but as time goes by, we should be experiencing situations that foster growth in our calling and our purpose and that draw us ever closer to Christ and becoming more Christ-like. Verse 14 tells us we become complete, or mature, through practice. Or as James 1:22 puts it, we should be doers of the word, not just hearers. We should be putting what we learn into practice. We come to recognize beautiful/good/right from bad/wrong/ugly through our experiences and putting into practice what we know about Christ and what He wants from us.
Even though I was born into a home and family of Christians, I still have a lot of listening to do and a lot of growing to experience. I’m still working on finding all of those good works that God has prepared for me, and I’m sure that along the way I’ve missed many of them. I’ve not always been open to listening to what God has called me to do and be - I worried too much about what everyone around me expected of me (unlike Paul’s example in Galatians 1:10). But through my experiences, and as I’ve opened my heart more to the Spirit, I’m learning more what my calling could be. I know that as a child of God, as an ambassador of God, wherever purpose He has for me is a glorious one, one that He created me specifically to fill. One that He has been using my studies and my experiences to prepare me for. The purpose He has called and created me for.
Great work Corri!!!!!