God’s Purpose For Our Life

The students who are graduating are told by the commencement speaker that they are preparing to enter the adult world, and that each and every one of them have talents and skills they can contribute to making this a better world in which to live.

This is true, but if the commencement speaker was a Christian and wanted to tell them the whole story about their life, he would say, “God has a purpose for you being here, and you need to seek God to find out what His purpose is.”

This is what Paul was saying in Eph. 5:17, we read, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Many of these graduates start life off after graduation with all the vim and vigor they can muster up to find their niche in life.

Illus: Someone said this is what different college grads ask...

• The graduate with a Science degree asks ... "Why does it work?"

• The graduate with an Engineering degree asks ... "How does it work?"

• The graduate with a Business Administration degree asks ... "When will it work?"

• The graduate with a Finance degree asks ... "When will it turn a profit?"

• The graduate with an Accounting degree asks ... "How much will it cost?"

• The graduate with an Economics degree asks ... "Will there be demand for it?"

• The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks ... "Would you like fries with that order?"

Every year thousands and thousands of graduates are released into society to find out what God has put them here on earth to do.

HOW DO MANY GO ABOUT DOING THIS?

(1) MANY WILL FOLLOW THE CROWD

They think that if something works for others, it will work for them.

Illus: You have perhaps heard the story about the man from the back mountains of Tennessee who found himself in a large city for the first time, standing outside an elevator in a fancy hotel. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled into the elevator and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, beautiful woman walked out. The father hollered to his youngest son, "Hey Billy, go get your mama.”

Listen, what works for ONE person does not always work for SOMEONE ELSE! You can get your life messed up fast thinking you can follow a certain individual and you will get the same results they are getting in their life.

Following the crowd can mislead us about ourselves the same way many have mislead themselves, by WEARING WHAT OTHERS WEAR thinking it will look good on them! It doesn’t work that way!

Many young girls will watch a television interview of some movie actress, and they look at the way she wears her hair and how she dresses, and they think that if they do the same thing they will get the same results she got.

If many of the actors and actresses today were to walk out into the streets like the average person, without all this plastic surgery and cosmetics, they would look like most people and would not get any more attention than anyone else if no one knew they were actresses. They spend thousands of dollars on plastic surgery and hair-dos, and special people to pick out their wardrobe so they look nice. These people do not shop at Walmart!

The reason I mention these actors and actresses is because it is foolish to think that we can follow the lead of others and look a certain way. And it is foolish to think we can follow others and find the plan of God for our lives.

To find their place in life, many just follow the crowd. They are like the blind leading the blind, and one day they are all going to fall in the same ditch.

(2) MANY WILL FOLLOW AFTER EVIL

Many people who follow evil do not intend to travel this road all their life. Their plan is to make some big money fast and then take a different route one day and give their hearts to the Lord before they die. But their mistake is this, once a person takes the sin route, there are consequences that follow.

• SIN WILL ROB YOU OF YOUR HEALTH

Many people today are in bad shape physically because they chose the path of sin. Sin has really destroyed the life of many.

Illus: I heard that one doctor was so busy treating patients that he had to change the message on his answering machine. A transcript of the new answering service goes something like this, “Hello, and welcome to the Mental Health Hotline.

• If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.