Potential, Promise, and Purpose

Lasting Legacy

Mark Twain shortly before his death wrote,

"A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last--the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence,...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever."

I have seen something else under the sun:The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned;but time and chance happen to them all.

Eccl. 9:11

“He was a simple man who died of complications.”  

 “I came into this world without my consent and I left in the same

manner.”  

A dentist in Scotland left these words:“Stranger, tread here with gravity;

Dentist Brown is filling his last cavity.”

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.Deut. 4:8

This is God’s Word for my life in this Place and at this Time. Today I am a

new creation in Christ, I am God’s very own, and I KNOW He has a purpose for

my life.

I, Paul, together here with Silas and Timothy, send greetings to the church at Thessalonica, Christians assembled by God the Father and by the Master, Jesus Christ. God’s amazing grace be with you! God’s robust peace!

Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you’re in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn’t just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.

You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.

Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master’s Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say anything anymore—you’re the message!

People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.

1 Thessalonians 1

Potential, Promise, and Purpose

No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. Ecclesiastes 1:11

What We Remember

A good name (literally "character") is to be chosen rather than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”

Pr. 22:1

A LIFE DEFINED by GOD

True faith realizes that whatever God is calling you to, is the best use of your time, talents and resources.

I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24

A LIFE MOTIVATED by LOVE

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? Phil 1:21

A LIFE SUSTAINED by HOPE

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Rm 12:12

“Let your hopes, not your hurts,shape your future.”

Hope in a spiritual sense acknowledges the darkness at hand and asserts that even if things don’t get better, there is ultimately a light at the core of things, a love that will not let us go. Hope puts our despair on 'hold' so that healing can begin, gratitude can take root, and a new perspective can flourish.

A Legacy of Hope

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Gal 5:22-23 (Msg)