Last semester, I took a persuasive writing/rhetoric class, and my professor said something that I thought was so, so true. In class that day, we were discussing advertisements and why they are framed the way they are. My professor said this is the reason why: "People are looking for purpose, security, and certainty."
My professor was not talking in a Christian/spiritual context in anyway, but God really used those words to show me something.
Purpose, security, and certainty. We're all looking for them.
How true is that?
We want to know our lives have meaning. We want to know that we are safe. We want to be assured that everything is going to be okay. But how?
Too often, I think we search for these things in all the wrong places. We think if we can just get this GPA, go to this school, date this person, get this job, or have this many followers, then we'll have purpose, security, and certainty. Yet, they all leave us feeling empty and unfulfilled.
The minute I heard those three words in class, my first thought was: Jesus.
It is only in Jesus that we find eternal purpose, security, and certainty, and it is our job as followers of Jesus to show the world the Way to what (or rather Who) they're looking for.
In Christ, what is your purpose? "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19 KJV). "And He said unto them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature'" (Mark 16:15 KJV).
In Christ, what is your security? "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8 KJV). "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (Hebrews 6:19 KJV).
In Christ, what is your certainty? "And He said, 'Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain'" (Exodus 3:12 KJV). "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39 KJV).
When we give our lives to Messiah, we have the purpose of bringing Him and His message of eternal life & forgiveness of sins to as many people as we can. We have security because we know He is protecting us. We have certainty because He promised that He would be with us and that nothing could separate us from His love (and of course the certainty of eternal life).
Do you want purpose, security, and certainty? Then, ultimately, whether you realize it or not, you want Jesus. Because those things are only found in Him.
Comments