Urgency of Purpose

During my devotions this morning I was reading an entry called, "I bless you with the peace of Jesus" out of a little booklet titled, Daily Spirit Blessings by Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter. It made me think about the "tyranny of the urgent" vs "the urgency of purpose."

No one walked this earth with an urgency of purpose like Jesus. He was pressed on every side by demands of the crowds yet He filled each day with those things that were priorities in the fulfillment of His ultimate purpose. John 5:19 says that Jesus told the Jewish leaders this: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." Or to put it in laymen terms, "I get my direction for everything I do from my Father. I only follow His lead." As He walked this earth, He accomplished more in the three years of His ministry than most people do in a lifetime and ultimately achieved His purpose in going to the cross. As I pondered this, I believe He was giving us a key to what it means to "walk in the Spirit" when He said He only did what He saw His Father doing.

So how do we accomplish that without being sucked in by the tyranny of the urgent that is around us and pressing in on us from all sides? For one thing, we need to develop that habit of constant communion with the Father, paying attention to the still small voice of guidance that He gives. In order to do that, we often have to quiet the clamor of our flesh and its desires that speak so loudly they try to drown out the Spirit's voice. And we have to discern whether we are listening to God's voice or satan's voice - anyone who has repented of their sin and trusted in Christ's sacrifice on their behalf, has become a child of God. Every child learns to know the sound of his father's voice and it's no different in the spiritual realm - but that's a topic for a different blog entry. Suffice it to say that the key to knowing His voice is spending time with Him, reading His Word and talking to Him on a daily basis.

Another thing we need to do is pay attention to peace. I have learned that peace, or rather, the lack thereof, is like a warning light on the dashboard of your car. When peace is gone, so is God's spirit. Jesus spoke these words in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you..." You can count on it; if peace isn't ruling in your heart, He isn't ruling either.

This line from the little devotional I read this morning stood out to me, "I bless you with being peaceful because you know ahead of time that your Father God will partner with you to provide adequacy for each day, whether a day with pain or pleasure." Peace comes from walking in that assurance that He is there, just as He said He would be, no matter what your circumstances.

All of what I've already said presumes that we know what our purpose and calling is here on this earth. Without a sense of purpose that gives us the urgency to accomplish that purpose, we will inevitably be driven by the urgencies of life; the tyranny of the urgent. Obviously there are things that are legitimate urgencies in our lives such as getting meals on the table, getting the laundry done, earning a living, etc. However, God also has a destiny He would like each of us to fulfill and until that sense of destiny becomes more urgent than the common ordinary urgencies of life, we will have great difficulty accomplishing our calling.

So today I bless you with the knowledge of your calling and the ability to walk hand in hand with Him to accomplish it.