Living on Purpose: Learning from the Life of Jesus
What is the role and meaning of our divine destiny?
The lessons of Holy Week help us better understand our true purpose.
“The hour has come,” and “for this purpose I have come to this hour,” said Jesus. The connotation is depressing if we think only of the immediately related events. It is reassuring, even inspiring to one who looks beyond the immediate to the ultimate.
“There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come,” declared the [writer Victor Hugo]. The life of Jesus was the embodiment of a world-changing idea.
A part of the greatness of Jesus was that He not only had and recognized a purpose in His life, but followed through to its fulfillment.
Hearing the Call of the Universe
There is a purpose for the life of each one of us. Some of us seem to sense this even before we can define it. And so we may say, as we face some climactic experience, “For this [hidden] purpose I have come to this hour.”
To have the conviction that there is a divine destiny which, as the poet says, “shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will,” can be very comforting and reassuring. In such a conviction we are reaching past time into eternity, wherein cause and effect, idea and expression, are not separated as they appear to be, but are one.
Cultivate a feeling for this truth and it will bring you increased confidence, a sense of adequacy, of purpose. Say, and let it be not from your intellect alone but from your heart:
“For this purpose was I brought to the time, this place, this hour. By God’s grace I am always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing in the right way.”
Such a realization is like a call to the universe. It helps to put us in tune with universal forces, and most especially to align us with the purposes we are to serve, the lessons we are to learn, the blessings we are to receive, enjoy, and share with others.
A part of the greatness of Jesus was that He not only had and recognized a purpose in His life, but followed through to its fulfillment.
What Is Our Destiny?
Does this mean, then, that the path of our life is predetermined, that we have no choice in such matters?
We have a destiny that is like the destination of a ship on a long sea voyage. The path of the ship may vary due to weather, but its direction is set. The passengers have considerable freedom—the freedom of the ship, but not of the sea.
Time is a characteristic of this plane of life in which “for a time” we dwell. We come to (that is, we approach) experiences in consciousness. Our recognition of purpose, our feeling of intent, evokes the declaration, “The hour has come,” or “There is a good purpose that brings me to this hour, this experience.”
Apparently, the psalmist recognized this concept when he cried:
“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it … This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:19-24 ESV
Excerpt from The Week That Changed the World, an enlightening study on the 47 events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, presented in the form of daily lessons.