Purposeful Living

An act of kindness or servitude is never wasted nor seldom forgotten. Therefore, never underestimate the difference you can make in the life of another. Don't aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference! (Mt 5.16)

It's easy to make a dollar, it's tougher to make a difference (Influence).

From the creation of man in his image (Genesis 1:27), to sin as falling short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and exchanging his glory for created things (Romans 1:23), to the apostolic call that we “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), Christian pastors and teachers often rightly emphasize “the glory of God” as the great banner flying over our lives, connecting us, in our smallness, to the bigness of God’s chief purpose in creation and history.

However, plain as it may be in the Bible, how many of us rehearse this enough? How easy it can be in the habits and patterns of our daily lives to go days, even weeks — perhaps months? — without praying, “Father, glorify yourself in me,” or consciously connect the smallest acts of our lives, our eating and drinking, and everything we do, to the glory of God.

Jesus not only modeled our highest calling. He also explicitly draws his people into this pursuit with him. Not only does he seek his Father’s glory, but he calls his disciples to do the same:

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)