Misappropriation

If you have a big blank space where a life-purpose should be, you should seriously consider getting involved in Chinese missions. Better yet, if you have a you-shaped blob where a life-purpose should be, you should consider getting involved.

‘Don’t I need to be called?’

Right. You need a special call from God to share the Gospel with the lost of China. But you don’t need a special call to stay home, be a computer technician, make money, buy an iPhone, and take a vacation to Florida every year. Not that I’m against any of those things (anybody wants to send me an iPhone, I will send you my address!) – my point is, one life is clearly the more comfortable of the two. So why do we think that the life of luxury is by default God’s will?

Because it’s available to us, I imagine. So it must be God’s will, we reason. Why would he put me in a country where I could make six figures a year unless it was his will that I do so? There’s more than one way to read that evidence, though. A CEO of a large corporation could see that he has the authority over and access to large amounts of money. But it would be irresponsible (criminal!) for him to assume that the money is there for him and his comfort.

One of the great sins of Western Christianity: misappropriation of funds. Of blessings. Of manpower.

The truth is, every one of us is spending our lives, our money, and our ability on a call, on a life-purpose. There really are no blank spaces where a life-purpose should be. If you can’t state your life-purpose on demand, I’ve got some bad news. It’s highly likely your life-purpose is your own pleasure. You are misappropriating God’s gifts; you are wasting your life.

What to do? Spend some time alone with God. List out for him all the blessings that he’s dumped in your lap. Then beg him to tell you why he chose to give you so much. Ask him for the purpose.

*note – I’m using ‘life-purpose’ here as differentiated from your ‘purpose.’ It is entirely likely that God has purposes for your life that you couldn’t understand or dream of, and which will only reveal themselves after many years of apparent randomness (Gen. 50:20). What I mean is some goal, principle, or determination that you can understand that guides you through all the junk that you can’t understand (the course – Ac. 20:24).

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