I will always remain sinful and will fall short of the ideals and goals I set for myself. I will never fully live up to a statement of purpose. Wow, what an pessimistic way to start out a post like this, you might say. I just know myself too well.
But at the same time I have Gospel hope. He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion in Christ. There are innumerable unfinished storylines in my life, weaving themselves together. The same is true for you.
I also believe that our God is a God of order. We experience cause and effect in our world because he set it up that way. All the order we perceive in the world is a reflection of the ultimate order that actually exists within God himself. As the Creator, his creation manifests and displays this truth about him. God is also a God of truth, so we become Christians by believing in Jesus. We have to know something about him in order to believe. We learn this through sentences and words, under-girded and brought by the blood-sacrifice of Jesus and the blood sacrifice of martyrs and missionaries who have given all to see these glorious truths go forth. We don't catch Christianity like we catch a cold. We must hear the actual truth of Jesus preached, and we believe, and the Spirit takes residence in us, and we are changed into the likeness of Jesus. There is an order and a necessary truth element to all of this.
So based on the orderliness of the way the world works and the hope that I have in God, I believe it is helpful to be thoughtful. He calls us to love him with all our mind, in addition to heart and strength. My thoughts shape the way I live. Your thoughts shape the way you live. And we ought to live in a way that is useful and pleasing to God. We ought to live for his glory and not our own. If our thoughts shape the way we live, and if we are to live in such a way that pleases God, thinking as clearly as possible about God's glory and desires for us is of great importance.
Praise be to God that we are not left in the darkness. He has spoken. He has given us his Word. He has not remained nameless and faceless in the dark, but progressively out of love he has revealed more and more of himself, and he has done so ultimately in the person of Jesus, God and man. It is to him that we are to be discipled. His Word and his words are to shape the way we think about how to live with God and for God and by God.
All of our lives are different. There is no single Christian life that we are all called to live. We are not Stepford Wives. We are not robots. We are to live in strict conformity to the way everyone else is. God paints with many colors, some of which we have not even imagined yet. The beauty and challenge and excitement of the Christian life is that Jesus is real and true, he loves us, he wants to be in relationship with us, and he gives freely His Spirit to take up residence in us and live the Christian life specifically from our own spot. I am not meant to be the next ____________. I am meant to be Daniel Richardson, follower of God.
I think, based on all these things, that it is helpful to come up with a statement of purpose. I know that my life is more complicated than may be captured in this sort of thing. But I do not think it is worthless, and only time may tell how helpful it would have been. It is good, nevertheless, at any stage to think about what is really important.
Here goes...
My purpose: To love God by worshiping Jesus, submitting to Him as Lord, enjoying fellowship and prayer in the Spirit, and daily growing in reverential knowledge of the Word. To love Nicole and others sacrificially by placing their needs above my own. To consistently disciple others, share the Gospel unashamedly in all opportunities God grants, and sacrificially support the spread of the Gospel to all peoples. To become a good, well-balanced, hard-working lawyer who cares deeply about justice for orphans, widows, and others in distress.
Maybe a little long, but it covers all the important things, I think. They will be good reminders...
