Challenge Central: a CBC devotional
by: Pastor Alan Rietberg
I really enjoy reading books about history and real-life stories. I just finished reading a book called, “The Vanished: The Evaporated People of Japan”.
Japan has a population of 125 million people who live in an area slightly smaller than Newfoundland & Labrador, and this book recounts the stories of a sad, modern-day phenomenon where 100,00 citizens ‘disappear’ annually.
As I read the personal stories recounted by the reporter, my heart was moved as most were running away because they felt hopeless, alone, or without a significant purpose. They decided to withdraw from their jobs and families with little or no forewarning—abandoning their devastated relatives, friends and co-workers, and what they thought was a life of entrapment.
I thought of the sorrow felt by those left behind, and the deep distress of the person who ‘disappeared.’ This is not the kind of life that God wants a person to have, feeling hopeless, helpless, or alone. But people do, and they continue to seek fulfillment in places that only temporarily satiates their emptiness.
We can find fulfillment in following God’s plans for mankind in general and in our personal lives by bringing glory to God. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We find our long-term satisfaction by yielding to God’s will for our lives. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we see that bringing glory to God is to be our purpose in life.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We then blend that together with Matthew 5:16, where it says: “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Mark 12:30 resonates with God’s purpose for our lives when we read “… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
The last verses I’d like to mention are found in 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 where we read: “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honour God with your body.” (NLT)
Where do we find fulfillment? In following God’s purpose for life!
What is our purpose in life? Bringing glory to God in all we think, say, and do!
Where do we find hope? Through forgiveness of our sin by trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross and becoming a child of God!
Jesus declared in John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.“
If a sense of purpose, fulfillment, joy, hope, and peace have been eluding you or someone you know, it may be because those things (and more) are being sought in the wrong places. Please be assured of God’s help by trusting Jesus’ words in John 6:37: “…I will never refuse anyone who comes to me.” (Philips)
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