A Reason To Live

I just returned from the mountains of Haiti and I am so thankful God has given me a reason to live. Talking with my brother the other day he reminded me of my age and that it is about time for me to slow down. While I know that at seventy I can’t do all the things I once did, I also know that the Word of God does not speak of retirement. Our purpose in life does not end at sixty-five or seventy. It is my goal to finish what God put me on this earth to finish—to say with Paul, “I have finished the course.” Last week as I sat in a tin roofed church building in the mountains of Haiti I could not help but think of so many people in America who have lost their purpose for life. They are just trying to survive old age and loosing the battle everyday.

Our purpose is not just to make it through the day, to go to Worship on Sunday and walk away to endure another week of purposeless living. God’s purpose for my life did not die with my first social security check. I wonder if many people don’t die before their time because they depart from the Divine Purpose for their lives. With reasonable care of my body and staying focused on God’s purpose for my life I expect to finish the course my Father set for my life.

I fear that we let go of the wrong things. As I get older I am letting go of many things but I am holding on to my reason for living. For thirty five years I owned and flew an airplane. I have now let go of that part of my life. Many other things I once did I seldom do anymore, but the one thing that I will not let go of is my calling, my purpose, I shall pursue it until the end. I am not on this earth to survive winter by running to Florida. I am not trying to survive old age by staying at home where I can be close to a doctor. No man is taking a chance when he is in pursuit of the Divine Purpose for his life. Survival should not be our aim in life. Saving our money for what might happen is not good stewardship. Investment in the Kingdom is. To all the SS’s (social security) and I am one of them, get out of the house and pursue your Divine Purpose. If Abraham could leave home at seventy-five in pursuit of God’s purpose for his life, surely we can get involved in reaching for a hurting world.

Ge 12:4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.