“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!” (John 12:27 NLT)

The reason for our existence sometimes takes time to discover.

As a child, staying with my paternal grandparents was second nature. When I was pre-school age, my grandmother was my babysitter. I rode with her in her 1930s green Chevy and helped her to ring doorbells — though I never heard her say, “Avon calling.”

One day, then as a middle-school-aged child, while reclining on the bed beside my grandmother, I confessed, “I think that God wants me to be a Bible teacher.” I had believed in Christ several years prior and was now considering the question of why I had been placed on earth. Although it took cascading through some years of rebellion, I finally succumbed to God’s will. I’ve been a Bible teacher and a pastor. God’s plan for me has changed and developed, but I’m still reminded of that moment when I discovered why God placed me here.

Jesus, too, had to discover why He was here. When the Father revealed that, I’m not sure, but He did. As Jesus thought of the cross, He was repulsed, but He knew that it was why He was here.

Above all else, we’re here to glorify God. He created us, and each of our thoughts and actions, by their purity and holiness, should reflect Him to others. Jesus said that we should let our lights shine so that others can see Him through us and glorify the Father in heaven.

We’re here to serve God. Beyond loving Him with our entire being — which Jesus said was the greatest commandment — we’re to love and serve others. Jesus even went so far as to say that that’s how we serve Him. Sharing God is vital to our walk with Him. We share by telling why Jesus was here, by showing the difference that He can make in a person’s life, and by giving ourselves to Him and others.

We’re here to allow God to form us into Christ’s image. Sometimes, we don’t enjoy the avenues that He chooses to do that, but bucking Him won’t yield the results that He wants. Submission and obedience — regardless of the intensity of God’s efforts — will.

When we live out the reason that God put us here, we’ll enjoy life and live it fully.

Prayer: Father, thank You for creating us with purpose. Guide us to live out Your plan for our lives. Amen.

Copyright © 2022, by Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA

Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission