Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Connecting Life with Faith: Knowing Your Destiny

The sky over the freeway in Chiba Japan

We often hear the word "destiny". We hear it on TV, movies, in our churches, at seminars and in stories of all kinds.  The word "destiny" is both profoundly inspiring but also infinitely puzzling.  Many speakers and politicians use it to motivate or manipulate an audience, claiming we all have a great destiny or purpose.  This certainly is exciting to hear but I think if we simply transpose this idea of manifest destiny solely to the earthly realm we will no doubt end up disappointed.  Here is a hard truth, one we all must face, when it comes to life on this planet, we all have a destiny, and that is to die.  That is the destination of our physical person. We are born and our destination is the grave. It is unavoidably terrible and it is often something we put out of our minds.

When we settle for this life and the things of it, inevitably, physical death will be our end. If you try to fulfill a destiny by looking to this world you will find yourself chasing after the wind and when you arrive at your destination you will stand face to face with death one day and he will take everything from you.

So what are we to do? What kind of destiny should we hope to have? If we are to focus our eyes beyond this life beyond what is finite and onto what is eternal I think we will begin to understand what our true destination is and discover the path which is our eternal destiny.  This can only happen by fixing our eyes past the horizon of this life and onto the north star of human existence, Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah.  We all internally have a need for a personal God, one who knows our struggles and who can relate to us in every way.  It is He who will teach us the path to walk and where to go.  We will travel the walk of faith that tests the heart and makes one worthy to receive the crown of glory awarded by the grace of God. II Timothy 4:8

Jesus said that we ought to store our treasures in heaven because where our treasure is our heart will be also. Matthew 6:19,20 We are to invest our lives not in a destiny that ends on earth in death but we should look to life beyond the temporal. The good works we do and people we love into God`s kingdom are treasures to be unveiled in heaven.  They are incorruptible and deserving of our attention in this life.  Unfortunately, much of our time can be spent chasing after a perceived destiny on earth that will only satisfy our fleshly desires and our pride.

However, it is not all about seeking "eternal wealth" that is most important, as if greed was an eternal virtue. The important thing is knowing your destiny is not something that ends with your last breath on earth. God is wanting all to come to repentance and is waiting for many who are called and destined to be with Him to awake. II Peter 3:9 Time is short and it is time to seek and know our destiny.

Be bold and do not be satisfied with what the world offers you.  You were made for greater things, destined for eternity through the work of Christ, the Messiah.

1 comment:

  1. Nice post, very thoughtful. About destiny I think nobody is born into earth to be an utter nuisance or a nothing, but each person is a potential solution to a problem irrespective of the level he does it. But more importantly, it is your responsibility to discover that good in you and develope it to help human solution. We are not called to be famous, but faithful. Know your calling, be faithful in it.

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