Modality: Move with Purpose
When Jesus asks us “What did you do with what I gave you?”, all our small striving won't matter.
All of our greatest successes—
…making money, raising kids, losing weight, traveling the world, planting churches, building a business—last but a breath before a new vista elbows its way into our periphery. These wins are never the end, just another step towards an ever-moving target.
Some of us are trapped in the search for pleasure, others for significance and success, and most are concerned with the comforts of the middle class. But who has set their eyes on the consummation of all things, striving, struggling, and spending all to see it done?
If we strip away the material world that dominates our efforts and look solely at character and relationships, we’re closer to it. But even becoming Christ-like or participating in life-giving community isn't the end.
“Fear God and keep his commandments.” Yes, that's a bit of it, but more like the method as you go about the real business. “Eat, drink, and be merry.” Okay, but that blessing is a byproduct of a soul brimming with experiential purpose.
A local business sign haunts me each time I drive the parkway to work.
“Modality: Move with Purpose,” shouts at drivers from the roadside, constantly dredging up the missionary calling, urging us to give everything to the great end-all as the nations rush to their close. There is a grand final purpose and we must move out to pursue that Great Commission. Let some of these small dreams and lesser goals combine, working towards the greater good, the premier prize.
Yes, some send, others go, still more work to finance the mission. But the average believer isn’t moving with Kingdom purpose. Most have stopped shy of the main thing, content with half-baked success and community and a semblance of God’s favor upon their burgeoning lives.
When we look into the face of Jesus on that final day and he asks us the great question of accountability: “What did you do with what I gave you?”, all our small striving won't matter. The one thing—the only thing—was him.
To know him and make him known.
He is the prize. He is the goal. He is the ultimate. And if we know him, we don't crowd him out with all the many things. And if we love him, we are compelled to tell the world about him—especially those who have never heard and don’t have a clue that he loves them to death.
It wearies me to even think of making a career out of convincing sheep to love their Shepherd better, or to improve on their bleating character. There are lost and dying sheep at the edge of eternity who haven’t yet imagined they could be a part of the great family of God.
Every pursuit must be aimed in the right direction. The bullseye of discipling all nations must color every decision, each prayer, all efforts at money-making, the use of time and energy. It's a tough way to live, but what else is worth it all?
We wake up in the morning, feeding and exercising our bodies so we will be fit to serve God.
We linger in prayer and the Word to prepare our spirits for another round of development towards the prize. We work to supply for our families and have extra to give towards the salvation of nations. We plan, strategize and prepare to personally go and train others to win unreached souls. Everything we crave, everything we undertake, is for that crown on the final day—the souls. The new languages heard in heaven. The joy of Jesus, the worthy Lamb who was slain.
He is the ultimate goal. Pleasing Him. Loving Him. Fulfilling His mission. Walking in the calling is just taking our places in the army as we go out boldly to win the world until the final day. We are racing towards the finish line and he is worthy to receive them all.
We do have a purpose and we must move with that purpose.