A Purpose in Jesus Christ

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” - Matthew 16:25

Please Heavenly Father, help me to write these words accurately and with pure intentions as a testament to your existence and glory. Holy Spirit guide me with wisdom so that more people can come to see that Christ is our Lord and Saviour. 

We spend most of our lives living inside a house and hoarding material objects. Some we ascribe sentimental value, other things we keep around purely because we are used to having them. This can also be said regarding our aspirations, dreams and hopes for the future.  

We find ourselves in a perplexed state of attachment, and when we lose something or something doesn’t go the way we hoped, we begin to panic and find ourselves in a state of despair. It’s interesting how many of the things we hoard, we actually pay very little attention to in every day life. 

However, simply knowing it is somewhere there in the background brings a sense of comfort. We rarely access these possessions, and with our hopes we rarely achieve them, yet we persist to hold onto them with everything we have got. We refuse to give up on them.  

  

At an earlier point in our lives, they once meant something to us; a photograph, a birthday card, an old item of clothing that is no longer worn but reminds us of a child’s infancy or a late parent’s presence. The feel, the smell, the memories and emotions they invoke, momentarily satisfies our need to remember. 

   

One might question, why would we want to forget? yet one day all that will remain of these things will be gone. The dream you once had will be lost, the clothes you held onto so tightly will become someone else’s cleaning rag. So it’s pointless hoarding onto the things that will one day perish. 

   

I say this too about your life. For such things are only useful when there is a need or a necessity. When a sofa becomes worn, it is thrown out and replaced. When a dish cloth has received its fair amount of usage, it is discarded and replaced. This can be said regarding everything that you see around you. This is the purpose of the material world. We can attest to this truth as we have witnessed the same can be said of our bodies. We know the body dies. 

   

Yet what separates us from such temporal things is the life within us. It is something a sofa or dish cloth lacks. We have the eternal breath of God inside of us and we can either choose to hold onto the things that we will inevitably lose or we can hold tightly onto something far greater and everlasting. 

   

For a very long time, I’ve searched this world for belonging and purpose, only to find myself feeling more isolated and lonely. I’ve held onto and fought for dreams that would never materialise. Living in impoverished states made me think that my only way out was to do something quite the opposite.  

   

Seeking success, yearning for fame, begging to be recognised, to become rich enough to make all my problems disappear. I found that even when you attain your 10 minutes of fame, you are no more successful for it, that fame-dom is short lived, and it’s not long before they all forget about you. Even if it lasts longer than 10 minutes, you find yourself giving more of yourself away to please the thirst of others. 

   

It made me profoundly question myself and my intentions. It felt like I was selling off large parts of who I truly am and the type of person I really want to be, simply to satisfy the needs of someone else’s entertainment. I would go to bed in the early hours feeling drained, wake up mid-afternoon lacking motivation and the entire time, all I was ever seeking and all I was ever longing for was to be loved and accepted. 

   

If love is genuine, it is eternal and unconditional. If acceptance is genuine, it is perpetual and comforting. You can dig deep into the ground and travel each continent of the Earth but you will only ever find such things in God. We cannot give what we don’t possess. Like a car salesman cannot sell a car he doesn’t have, someone without eternity can never offer it to you. 

   

We surround ourselves with so much clutter that we prevent the light from entering. We hold onto the apple knowing it will soon rot. We attach ourselves to all the wrong things that will only satisfy our pallets momentarily. Like having a hole in your pocket, you will always need to find more coins to fill it. 

   

When you come to Christ and are born again, you must empty your house and throw your old life away. Come to realise that the things you once thought were of value, aren’t really of any value at all. The only photo album worth holding onto exists only in the Kingdom of Heaven, and accessing that requires you to get there first.              

   

You see, it states in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”  I encourage you all to throw your pasts away, let go and forgive your transgressors, forget your aspirations for this world, repent of your sins and ensure that you make it through the narrow door at all costs. 

Find love and friendship with those who turn away from separation and put as much efforts as you can in becoming a signpost for others to do the same. As to go through the narrow door requires you to leave temporal things behind. As Midas touch turns to gold, you need to touch and grip onto the eternal to qualify for eternity. Let go. Hold onto Jesus Christ and hold him with everything you have got. 

For there will always be those who blame God for all the misfortunes of this world, but many of us holding onto the truth know better. We know that grievance can only ever exist in things that perish but with the Lord our God there is eternal life. Knowing this is a reason to rejoice, not grieve. Praise be to God.