Our Significance & Purpose

This morning the Lord led me back to the day and scripture that He used to speak about my calling, my commission is what He called it.  I am reminded this morning of how important it is to understand our significance to God.  He loves us all deeply and has a purpose and calling for us all.  I was thinking about the fact that there are some individuals in scripture who were dedicated to the Lord by their parents at a young age.  The story of Samuel is of one individual who was dedicated to the even before He was conceived (See 1 Sam 1:1-28).

As I was thinking about Samuel's early life, I felt like the Lord said that He has dedicated each and every one of us, whether our parents did or not.  He is intimately aware of us, knows everything about us, and has a specific plan and call for each of us.  There are many people who are searching for their place, for significance, for lives of consequence, and the Lord wold say to us all, our deepest call, our deepest understanding of our purpose and significance can only be found in Him.

There are many men who desire to have their names on buildings and companies, who essentially build their own monuments to their own significance.  I believe the Lord desires us to have our true significance in Him first and then in the lives of people that we touch, in the lives of the people around us, our families and friends.  The Lord's command is to love Him first, and to love one another, as He loved us.  He desires those that lead by service, through humility and through relationship with others (see Phil. 2).

Paul talked about His purpose and significance this way - Philippians 3:12-14 NIV:

[12] "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

When I think about my life, I believe the Lord has been there for me every day.  He is aware of who I am, where I live, what I do, who I relate with, who I meet, and all of that matters to Him.  In Acts 17:26, Paul was speaking to the Athenians about every person in creation and he said the following, "...and he (God) determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."  None of our experience is by chance, but is pat of God's plan for us.  If our times and places are set by God, then with those circumstances, we also find Him at work, for we are part of families and have relationships within those places.  No one and nothing is inconsequential.

When I was a child we used to play hide-and-seek quite regularly.  In the game we played you could move during the game, as long as you weren't seen.  I found that the best place to hide, was where someone already looked, for they were always convinced that you were hiding somewhere else, and thus they never looked at where they already were.  In the same way, many of us are so convinced that our significance lies out there somewhere, that we never look at the place we already have been our whole life.  We seek after significance and the first and most vital connections for truly understanding who we are and what we are called to do has been in front of our eyes the whole time.

So, I guess in summary, I am encouraged today to see and understand that I am significant to the Lord, and to those around me. I need to rest in those relationships and invest in those relationships first, before I set my sites on other grand adventures and schemes.  God has purpose for me, and it involves where I live, when I live, and who I live with, in addition to being in relationship with Him!  The great adventure of our lives, the great treasure is found in our relationships with God and with those people we have been connected to through His plan and purpose.