Ephesians 4:13 (ESV)
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
This verse is taken right out of the middle of a paragraph that addresses the purpose of the church, the responsibility of church leadership and the end result of the Body of Christ. By doing so, we leave other, very important truths, off to the side. But, in this one verse we have man’s sole purpose for life: To mature to the stature of the fullness of Christ.
There is a lot of talk in the world today about finding one’s purpose. It is a billion dollar industry. It is ironic that for free the Apostle Paul tells us. Now, it is true, those who reject God (because of the pride) must spend a billion dollars trying to find their purpose. Note what Paul states after this in subsequent paragraphs about those who don’t see the above verse as their purpose in life:
Ephesians 4:18-19 (ESV)
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
The problem with the Body of Christ is that we forget that this is the entire design of their life. There is NOTHING else for them. Ball games, careers, possessions and/or countless other pursuits are NOT our purpose in life. Finding comfort in this world is not our purpose in life. Raising a family is not our purpose in life. Yes, all those things can contribute to our purpose, but they are ONLY spokes on the wheel. The above verse is the HUB, it is the CENTER. When we drift to others things and try to make those the goal of our lives, we will lose out on the blessings God has for us. Our entire energy level is to be devoted to this one, single purpose.
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