A Life With Purpose
God is eternal, and he encourages us to live our lives with an eternal perspective and purpose. In fact, his promise to us is that when we put our faith in him, we will spend eternity with him in paradise.
Eternal Promise
What do the following scriptures say about eternity?
(11) He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
(15) For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
(20) We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
What is God’s promise?
Who is the promise for?
World vs Eternal Perspective
What do the following scriptures say about life in this world vs life in eternity?
(17) The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
(18) For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
(19) Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
(20) But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
(21) who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
(19) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
(20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
(16) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
(17) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
(18) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
What is Paul’s perspective on this life and it’s difficulties?
What does he look forward to?
Eternal Purpose
(18) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
(19) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
(20) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
What does Jesus ask us to do?
What does he promise?
(18) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
(19) that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
(20) We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
What responsibility has God given us?
How do the following scriptures encourage us to live a purpose filled life?
(25) Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
(26) Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
(10) Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
(20) But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
(21) keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Ask
How does having an eternal perspective shape your life and priorities?
Application
What can you do, or change in your life to be more focused on eternity?
Prayer
Lord, please help me live my life with purpose. I want to treasure those things that have eternal value, like relationships and the people you have placed around me.
Key Verse
“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.”
