The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Why?"
Part 3 - Raison D'Etre
"His dear Son… by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him" (Colossians 1:13: 16).
It says much regarding the darkly deceiving nature of sin that the human race exists by and for the Lord Jesus Christ, but even devoted believers find it greatly challenging to walk in the light of this most elemental reality of life and being.
"To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
A fallen world beckons to us with countless imposters masquerading as life, empowered by the great imposter himself, Satan, who continually beckons to us that good things are bad, bad things are good, deadly things are living, and living things are dead. Most of all, the world and the devil seek to distract us from focusing our hearts on the One for whom they exist. We must arise and stand against the darkness by considering the Apostle Paul's words above that "all things" exist by and for the Lord Jesus, and then make the matter as intensely personal as our hearts can determine. "I exist by the Lord Jesus, and for Him. He is the 'Why?' of my heart, life, and being."
The last sentence both thrills and troubles. To exist for One so winsome and wondrous as Christ fills the heart with hope. "In Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11). However, we also realize how little we really know of so glorious a reason for being, and how little, in real terms, we have responded to such grace and truth. "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2). Personally, the truth we consider in this series of messages has been the central theme of my understanding for more than four decades, serving as the light and life of more joy than I can express. As I type these words, however, my heart bows in shame for how minimal has been the response I could and should have expressed toward so wondrous a Lord, and so blessed a reason for being supplied only by Him, in Him, and through Him.
From everlasting to everlasting, God the Father works according to "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). Why? This is why, the most fundamental answer to every inquiry our hearts can devise. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else. Devils, the world, and the flesh - including our own - rail against this, the Divine reason that governs the heart and hand of God in all things. The Spirit of God and the Word of God counter by displaying the illumination that glimmers upon the Lord Jesus to reveal, as the French would say, His place as the raison d'etre of everything the Father has done, is doing, and forevermore will do. The purpose is eternal. The purpose is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The purpose is our Father's. The purpose directs the Holy Spirit's wind and current forevermore. It must direct ours as well.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."
(Ephesians 1:15-23)
Weekly Memory Verse
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
(John 8:36)
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