Thinking about life’s pathway over the last few days, I sought to boil down what it is that I want to do with the remainder of the second half of my years.  Statistically, I’m beyond the chronological mid-point of the average lifespan for an American male and there cannot be the option of shuffling my feet, stuffing my hands in my pockets and living out my days curious (but not committed) concerning who I should be and what I should do.  My nightmare would be to finish up my years and discover my faith in God always rested in the realm of the theoretical or potential…but never in an actual outflow that brings glory to my King and blessing to other people with whom I shared life.  After a prolonged period of pondering, I realized that I could reduce my purpose to this simple statement: I want to be used of God to help people know Him more fully. The Apostle Paul once wrote of Jesus Christ:

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” – Colossians 1:28 {ESV}

Presenting people mature in Christ is what I hope to accomplish.  It’s not that I am approaching this like a laboratory experiment with people in a petri-dish and me squeezing little droplets of truth on them.  I’m thinking more along the lines of my life touching others in whatever beneficial way God would allow so that the things I believe, learn and treasure attach themselves in a significantly helpful way to others.  To finish my life in this way I will need continual faith.  So will anyone I am allowed to help.  The grand purpose of faith is not that we would have better lives on earth.  The purpose of faith is that we would know God.  Faith is not primarily for us to accomplish great things.  Faith opens us up to the very real existence and activities of the invisible Creator.  Faith is not a crutch, it is a cannon that demolishes the limitations of time, space and human reason and opens our understanding to the realm of eternity.  As deep and vast and unfathomable as God is, that is the degree to which we have room to grow.  We are on a pathway of spiritual growth and we experience this maturation by the proclamation of Christ, believing that proclamation wholeheartedly and living in it accordingly.  We believe it to be a good thing to seek to help other people know Him more fully while we grow into that fullness at the same time.  I want the second half of my life to be spent doing exactly that. That would be a very happy endeavor.

I hope you will join me in the patient seeking of God to learn how we might accomplish that with our lives.  If you commit to this pathway, you’ll have to renounce other pursuits.  You will not be able to be instantly satisfied when you live to help others know God.  Temporary pleasures will be replaced by the seeking of substance which endures.  Some people are certain to reject your attempts and dismiss your desire to help them know Him more fully.  This pathway is not largely populated so there are sure to be seasons when you feel alone.  This world and Satan are going to encourage you to leave the path after you have been on it for a while.  There is very little applause along this way and, if you are walking as you should on this path, you won’t hear the applause if it does happen to arise.  By the way, you will be walking with Jesus every single day – that’s good news, right? Sometimes He will speak precisely and you will bask in His affirming voice.  At other times He will choose to remain silent, allowing you to recall what He has already said to you in earlier portions of this pathway.  Expect to be occasionally frustrated when He stops and requires you to do the same while it would seem to you that moving on more quickly would be wiser.  No, He will never rush and you will need to learn the glory of stillness.  In the end, when you arrive at the end of the path you will have new eyes that will allow you to see what He did with you along the journey.  He will show you that you were an instrument of His which made a difference.  Not a small difference, but an eternal one.

Yes.  That’s what I want to do. Let me help people know God more fully.  What a purpose…what a privilege.