Not Position but Purpose

It’s not our position in this life that matters, but our purpose. 

Looking into the eyes of a human being who holds the knowledge that they will soon pass, is one of the most difficult things that you can experience. Unfortunately, many of you may know this firsthand. Oftentimes, these people have simply accepted their destination. They lie in their beds in the midst of the most overwhelming countdown, for the day that the Lord invites them home and says “well done good and faithful servant.”

I stood next to the bed of a man the other day that had accepted his destination. He could barely speak, IVs in his arms, blood draining out of his body and into a bag. Weak and beaten down, he laid there awaiting what he was sure would happen. Seeing the loss of hope in his eyes for whatever drop of life he had left, we quickly decided to pray for him. After praying, our leader Alvaro began to share with him how the Lord had a purpose for every bit of pain and suffering he was experiencing. He shared how Paul suffered in prison for many years but continued to rejoice in the fact that he was doing the Lord’s work even in the depths of his despair. Paul was sure of his destination but focused on the present, not letting his circumstances diminish his joy. Alvaro then turned to me and asked me to pray for this man one more time. I prayed in Spanish so that he and his wife standing next to him could be encouraged by the words I spoke. Honestly, I don’t remember a lot of what I said but I do remember saying this: “Señor, oro para que sane a este hombre no solo físicamente sino también espiritualmente en el nombre de Jesus.” (Lord, I pray that you would heal this man not only physically but spiritually as well, in the name of Jesus). After I finished praying this second time, I saw peace in the eyes of the man. What I had seen before was worry and acceptance of hopelessness, but once I finished praying, what I saw was peace and a hunger for the Lord. He asked Alvaro to continue to share with him the Word of God. Alvaro shared with him that one day he was going to be able to walk with the Lord in heaven and worship Him for eternity. He shared more about how the Lord has a purpose for his pain and for his suffering here on Earth. That was the moment in which I noticed a change in the heart of this man we were talking with. It seemed as though he had truly accepted the fact that there was more for him beyond this Earth, and that there was purpose in his pain. 

The man began to share his testimony with us. He had grown up in a Catholic home with a devout family, but around the time of his teenage years he had realized that what he believed to be true about God was not considered true to those in the Catholic Church. He started to pray directly to God and to walk in the authority that Jesus gives us through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord used this shift in mindset to minister to people at his workplace. This man talked about how once he recognized the full power of God that his life shifted completely. He began to be a better father to his children, he had a hope that he could not express into words, and he felt a kind of assurance that only comes from God. Tears began to fill his eyes as he talked about the purpose for his pain and what was to come. He had finally accepted the fact that his trials would not be fruitless. He began to get emotional talking about leaving behind the people He loves, however, his focus was miraculously shifted towards the Father and his hope in the promise of an eternity dwelling with Him. The man was absolutely enamored by this hope. His wife, grief stricken when we arrived, began to smile and her heart was evidently refreshed by the Spirit who was interlaced throughout the words this man was speaking to us. He had found purpose in his pain. Those like us, who often go to pray for him, became his ministry opportunity instead. It was my squad mates and I who came in to encourage him and pray over him, only to then end up being encouraged and prayed over ourselves. He praised God for the fact that he had the opportunity to speak to us, who had came all the way from the United States. He praised the Lord that He was using us to bring the love and the Word of God to the people here that need it. He proceeded to encourage us even further in the work we are doing here, and to pray for us even in the midst of his own pain and suffering. 

This is a theme that I have seen a lot on my race so far. Oftentimes when we go to minister to others, we become the ones being ministered to as well. However, what stuck out to me about this man was the counter cultural attitude the Lord had brought to him through our prayers. Instead of accepting his position he accepted his purpose. His position was painful. He was in physical pain from the problems with his body, he was in emotional pain because he knew he was soon going to be leaving his wife, and he was in spiritual pain because he did not fully recognize that there would be purpose behind his suffering. Once he accepted his God given purpose, his life changed. His position and circumstances became inconsequential in the light of His Savior and the purpose He had set forth for him. His pain was overcome by his gain. His life was radically changed.

Our lives are not defined by our position but they are defined by our purpose. No matter how old you are, how young you are, how many sins you’ve committed, or how broken you are, the Lord has purpose for your life. Your position is never what mattered. Jesus’ position on the cross is not what mattered, or else His death would mean nothing to us. His death mattered because of the purpose set in place to wash away our sins and offer us the free gift that is Heaven, to spend eternity in paradise with our creator. This gift is ours to simply accept. Even in being beaten, hanging on the cross, dying in the most horrific way possible, mocked for all that He had done, and being tortured in the presence of many people, Jesus had made His focus His purpose, not His position. If He had made His focus His position of pain and suffering instead of His purpose, He as the son of God could have come down from the cross, and would have therefore eliminated the hope we have in eternal life with Him. Instead He chose to embrace His purpose, resulting in the salvation of the man on the cross next to Him along with the entire world, and made a way for us to be able to embrace an eternity with the Lord. What would eternity look like if He had made His focus His position instead of His purpose? 

If Paul, suffering in prison for the sake of the Gospel had made his focus his position, we wouldn’t have many of the books in the Bible we base our lives upon today. The churches at Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Galatia, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica would not have been encouraged or radically changed by the letters he wrote to them. He would not have made the impact on the early Church that he did. He was suffering because he desired to be with the people he wrote to, he desired to go and see these people he loved , and he was left rotting in a prison cell. He had every reason to check out of life and sit back waiting for his death to come and the Lord to call him home. Instead of letting the circumstances of his position in prison capture his focus, he accepted his purpose for being there and fulfilled the work that the Lord had set out for him to do. What would today look like if he had focused on his position instead of his purpose? 

My encouragement to all reading this is to make your focus your God given purpose, not your position, no matter how old you are, how young, how broken, how sinful, or how hurt; no matter what season of life you are in, what church you go to, what job you have, how much money you make; no matter what you did in your past, no matter how many people you have hurt, no matter how bad of a person you think you are. Despite any position that you find yourself in, the Lord has given you a purpose for your life that only He can define. That man we talked with could have focused on his position and suffered with the assurance of heaven in his belt but I would not be able to tell this same story to everyone reading. If this had been the case we would not have been encouraged in our faith by this man, and his wife may have never walked into the hope the Lord provided, even in her grief for her passing husband. The Lord would not have been glorified in the way He was. Our purpose was written in the plan of God before we were even created. (Jeremiah 29:11). Your purpose can change the world, it can change the lives of those around you. Our focus should not be how big our purpose looks in our meager earthly perspective, or comparing our purpose to others. Our focus should be the fact that we have a Father loving enough to give us a purpose within a Kingdom he could fix with the snap of His fingers. It’s about our purpose, not our position. So, reader I challenge you, to focus on your purpose each day you wake up, not your position.