Skip to main content

Strands of Purpose DNA








For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

          Think about Stephen Hawking, brilliant scientist and ALS victim. Think about the guy on the street who reeks of sweat and worse, digging through trash for food. These tragic plights are used by some as reasons to say that God does not exist, and that we don’t have a purpose. To this, Ravi Zacharias says:
I think it is here that we make our first very subtle mistake, both in our logic and in our experience. It is shallow reasoning to deduce that because pain or unfulfilled dreams have brought disappointment to experience, life itself must be hollow and purposeless. In fact, this conclusion may miss the deeper problem within our common struggle to find something in life of ultimate purpose. (Recapture the Wonder, p. 3)
       The mistake to which he refers is the belief that those who are so afflicted are seen as being further from having a purpose than those who are perceived as being great. When the stars speak out on any issue, we need to listen because they’ve clearly got it together – or at least much more together than we. Yesterday morning I read the testimony of a woman who started her career as a doctor by performing abortions.
         It was clear to me that she gained a great sense of purpose in helping women who were in tough situations. She thought she was doing the right thing. Over time, however, she came to see that the women who sought abortions weren’t all noble. In fact, she discovered that some were uncaring, some were hostile, that those who had abortions were often more traumatized than those who had given birth. After the birth of her own child, she came to understand that she had been digging through “garbage” to find her scraps of “purpose.” Neither she, nor the women she had tried to help, were made better by what she was doing. 
          I remember the outpouring of grief over the deaths of Michael Jackson and Robin Williams. They were perceived as being great, talented, successful people. The reality is that they were just as desperate as the man looking for food in dumpsters. Poverty, pain, and darkness do not take away purpose. Success, fame, and fortune do not provide purpose. 
          Some will say that such is further proof that there is no purpose. I would like to ask such people why they are so insistent that there is no purpose. Do they not see convincing others of the purposelessness of life as their purpose, at least for the moment? It is a frequent claim among Liberals that our purpose is to love, and to accept all people as they are. Like the one who claims that there is no purpose, they are determined to change those who don’t love according to their definition or who don’t “accept all people as they are.” 
         I agree with what the Liberals say, and with what they do in this sense: I agree that our purpose is to love people. I also agree that our purpose is to speak and stand for the truth. Where I disagree is with their definition of love and truth, and therefore with all that is built upon those definitions. These are the two strands of our purpose  DNA. Replication errors produce mutations; mutations (contrary to depictions in popular culture) are almost always harmful and sometimes deadly. 
         If at least part of our purpose is to love others and to speak the truth, even desperate circumstances do not stand in the way of a purpose having purpose. Tragic circumstances do not disprove purpose. Those circumstances sometimes make the purpose clearer and simpler. There’s less chance for mutations in our purpose DNA.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more