Purpose.

Purpose. We all have it. In fact just about anything you can think about has it in some form or another. A football team’s purpose is to win games. An artist’s purpose is to create something out of what seems to be nothing. A musician’s purpose is to create beautiful and inspiring music. I can sit here all day and list just about anything or anyone and tell you what the purpose is of their existence. In my studies lately, I have been contemplating what this concept means and how it reflects in my life.

If I was to take my own life and write it down into a story, chapter by chapter, and hand it to someone and ask them to read it, what would they think my life was all about? Would they find my life inspiring? Full of adventure? Or would they find the purpose of my life to be full of selfish ambitions, missed opportunities, and constant failures and letdowns? Through the many plot changes, climaxes, and character balances that would be found in the pages of my life would the reader see a man who is living his life fully devoted to God? As much as I would like to answer this last question in the affirmative, I do not believe that I could while maintaining my integrity. Sure some of the chapters in that book would show a man living for God, a man who finds his purpose in what Christ did for us on the cross, but not all of them. And in my opinion, if there is any chapter in my life that is not centered around Christ’s death and resurrection than I am wasting my time and finding my purpose outside of God’s love.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

We have a purpose in this world, and that is to praise the glory of God with our lives.

This seems like such a foreign concept in our culture too. We live in a culture where we are taught from birth that everything in out lives is about our own story. We are supposed to do everything by answering for ourselves the question, “Is this good for me?” If the answer to this question ends up being no than our culture teaches us to just leave it behind and find something better for ourselves. But this is NOT what God calls us to do.

As I was considering this idea of purpose in my life I realized that it isn’t just about my own story. It is so much bigger than that because my story is just a sub-story to a meta-narrative which is the story of everything around us. A story that includes life, brokenness, retribution, deceit, murder, death, joy, a promise, danger, an adventure, and most importantly a hero, that is Jesus Christ our Lord. This is God’s story, and I feel lucky to be a part of it.

The conclusion that I want to draw out of this is that we are all made for a purpose. God did not mass produce us, he hand crafted each and every one of us. We were created intentionally and therefore we have purpose in our lives. It doesn’t matter what story you have lived in the past, because God doesn’t care about that. What he does care about is how you will live your life right now, tomorrow, and in the many days to come. It is never too late to rewrite your story. Just remember that when you do, write it for the one who gave you the pen in paper in the first place.

Prince of Peace.

Hello everyone! This is my first blog!! I have never blogged before but a number of people told me that I needed to start one so I figured, "Why not?" I really enjoy writing and putting my thoughts together so I think I will enjoy doing this. I'm jumping on the bloggers bandwagon!! So without further ado, welcome to "Drewing Conclusions". This will more than likely be a pretty random blog as far what I will be talking about. At times I might be sharing what I am studying at that moment in my life. I might also give a review on a book I am reading, a movie I am watching, or whatever else is inspiring me. I might also give updates on things that are going on in my life and in my ministry. So keep on your toes!! You never know what is going to come at you!! I hope you enjoy.

For my first blog I really wanted to share a little bit from what I am studying in the Bible. I'm really into finding out more about who God is and what His character is like, so this is what I have been digging into lately!

We have a God that is so amazing, so unbelievably perfect in every way, so indescribable that any language that we have developed has humans cannot captivate who he is with a single word or even a few words. In fact there are hundreds of references throughout the Bible that try to describe God and His character. I believe the better that we can understand God and who He is the better we can understand who we are as His followers.

While studying these names of God one stuck out to me above all other names. I think this is because that the meaning behind this title that has been given to God is so life changing, so unbelievably powerful that if we can just wrap our minds about it our lives will literally never be the same. This title is found in Isaiah 9:6 which reads:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Prince of Peace. What comes to mind when you hear that as a title of God? When I think of the word “peace” I think of things such as the abolition of war and violence, unity among all of the churches, and a comfort knowing that things are going to be alright. While these all deal with peace, this title of God is teaching us something different about our creator, and like I said before it is life changing! The Hebrew word translated "peace" is shalom, which also means "completeness," "soundness," "welfare," "tranquility," "contentment," and "friendship." Read over that list one more time. Completeness. Soundness. Welfare. Tranquility. Soundness. Our God is the Prince of all of these things. He has complete power over all of these areas in our lives if we only look to him for comfort through our struggles.

You might be asking yourselves right now, “Ok Drew, thats sounds great and all, but how is this life changing like you made it sound before.” Well please do not be disappointed just yet, because I am not done making my point!

When we have this kind of peace in our lives, we can look into the eyes of any kind of adversity that we are facing and be completely content with the assurance that none of it matters because we are protected by the love of God. We can be going through the darkest parts of our lives, whether it is persecution, family issues, a death of a close friend, the loss of a job, or whatever else you want to fill in this blank with and we can still come out smiling because we know that we have peace in God. And when we have peace in God it doesn’t matter what is going on in our lives because we do not have to fear anything but God himself. We do not have to worry. We do not have to cower away. We do not have to give up because our God gives us peace over all of this. We can be completely content through any temptation, any hardship, or anything else because our God is more powerful than any of that. When we accept this we can finally realize that our God is not only the God of the mountain top but he is also the God of the valley! And let me tell you right now that there is nothing more powerful than that!

Once you accept this truth of who God is you can look at any temptation that Satan puts in front of you and know that he has no hold over you in any way, shape, or form because our God is more powerful than any of that and that we can find a refuge and peace in him. When we find ourselves in financial problems, we can find peace in God because he is God over all things and we know that we are rich in Him, even if our bank account makes us feel hopeless and poor. When someone close to us dies, we can be comforted because we know that we are living for a God who has promised us eternal life if we have excepted him into our lives.

Once we can accept the fact that we can find joy in any trouble that we will face in this world we can take away a huge foothold that Satan has on people in our culture. We are not slaves to anything in this world. As it teaches us in the book of Romans, we are now slaves to righteousness. We are sons and daughters of a God of peace that is good and righteous and is chained down by no one or no thing.

• For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10)

• "And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. (Ezekiel 37:26)

I hope you enjoyed my first blog. If you have any comments or questions on what I talked about please feel free to leave them on here. I am looking forward to blogging with you in the future! God Bless!