At some point, just about everyone asks about their purpose in life. Recently, I ran across a blog post that briefly explored the subject. While the author keeps a positive spin on it, he offers no solid answers. Thankfully, God does provide a response to this critical subject.
Prov 29.18 Where there is no vision, the people perish
A few days ago, a friend spoke to me about how his church prayed for God’s direction in what they should do next. He struggled a bit with this because he lacked clarity about God’s Will in his own life! (more…)
Salutations!
As I posted earlier in the week, this blog is mostly a place where I’ll be sharing my experiences in writing short stories. As mentioned in “The Purpose,” the reason I do this because I love God and I wish to glorify Him with my talents (humble as they may be).
I believe in the importance of standing up for what you believe in. Of course, that means different things to different people. By and large, my observation of others in my culture would indicate that many do not have a strong faith in anything, or if they do, they are careful not to stand up for it. After all, many feel is is rude, and even inappropriate, to mention God, religion or faith in mixed company.
I certainly understand the sentiment, to a degree. As a Christian, I face this challenge every day. I wish to share my faith, and yet, because of my culture, I could be offending or turning off the very people I hope to share my faith with. I ask God on a regular basis for wisdom in knowing what to say, when to say it and whom to say it to.
Thankfully, alternatives exists for those who wish to share their faith, but find it difficult to find many openings of self expression in this day and age. I choose to write short stories, drawing comics and doing blog entries. Many other alternatives present themselves to others who wish to share their faith with the world at large. Making sure your voice is heard requires dedication, a bit of creative thinking and persistent application.
Of course, there are no shortage of people expressing themselves everyday through a rising number of mediums. Of greater importance, one must consider their message and the reason behind expressing it. In other words, one must ask, “What do I stand for?”
A cursory examination of videos on YouTube reveals that people stand for a plethora of interesting reasons. There are volumes of videos about entertainment, political opinion and even thoughts on religion. The Bible says that “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Watching random videos can certainly give one a perspective of what it important in the hearts of Americans. I certainly gives me pause for concern. However, at the end of the day, I can do little to address those shortcomings. I can, however, examine myself and seek change where desired.
So, ask yourself, what do you stand for? Day after day, week after week and even year after year, what do your forms of expression communicate? What words are on your lips? What do they reveal about your heart? And once you have chosen what to stand for, how will you communicate it?
In speaking with people regarding entertainment, I noticed that a number of them mention that they do not care for forms which have messages in them. So many things, hear and watch we read have an agenda attached. Tired of the pandering, many people have turned to less cerebral media, hoping to avoid those who seek to change their mind on matters of the heart which they already settled on.
So what will make my writings different?
Well, for starters, my agenda is not hidden. From my pen name, “JCServant”, through the closing remarks on anything I do, I make it crystal clear that I follow the Lord of the Bible and seek to glorify Him through my efforts. Second, I act independently. I have no ties with any religious or political organization; outside of those I have created myself, by God’s grace. Therefore, no man behind the curtain pulls the strings. Everything you see comes directly from my own mind and heart. This also means I have no political agenda. I simply want to glorify my Lord. If my works draw you closer to God, or encourage you to do also glorify God through your talents, than that, of course, makes me quite happy. However, it is not a pre-requisite for what I do.
Finally, I write from experience, as one who has walked an imperfect walk with God for two decades and still learns something new everyday. My works will reflect such, rather than be filled with hypotheticals. Of course my stories will feature fantastic situations, but the people in the stories will be quite realistic. They will have faith, but they will falter, fail, doubt and question just like any Christian. The Bible does a very excellent job of showing the ‘saints’ as very real, fallible people, and I intend to follow that pattern. I believe this approach will show my audience that I respect their intelligence.
So, there is an agenda, but it is not hidden. If that agenda offends you, then we can agree to disagree and you can stop reading here. Like any entertainer, I fancy the idea of having hordes of people reading my works. However, I do what I do in order to glorify God first. And if that offends every person on the planet to the point where not a single one reads what I have so carefully, and painfully, written — then so be it.
Salutations.
Some people, myself included, believe that the reason behind an action can be just as important as the action itself. A person who breaks the law in saving a life is treated far differently than one who does so for selfish reasons. Knowing the destination, or end goal, which I wrote about earlier provides the direction; the purpose provides the drive to get there. Many projects fall by the wayside because they lost sight of the reason they began that project to begin with.
Simply stated, I wish to glorify God through my best possible effort in this endeavor. In the 20+ years I have been serving God (stumbling many times along the way), He has been faithful to me. He has given me life when I was dead in my sins, and given me direction that I may not parish. That may all sound a bit overly spiritual and cryptic. Rest assured, I will provide numerous examples and further dissertation through future entries. Doing so makes for great writing exercises!
It is really that simple. I have no hidden agenda, or motive. Any work I distribute will be done so freely as to avoid the very appearance that, perhaps, I write simply for my supper. I am not part of any larger political or faith based organization, so I have no pressure to slant my message. However, I have a number of close friends who I share my deepest thoughts and works with to insure that I do not stray from the central message that God lays out in His Word. Sharing a mutal love for Christ, I depend on them to help keep me focused when I get distracted by those things which might distract and pollute my thoughts from that which God has called me to do.
And that, as they say, is that. Should you have any questions or thoughts about my purprose (or anything else I’ve written thus far on the blog), please feel free to comment below. Until next blog, may God bless you!
Lightwaves 