Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJV): For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
WE were created for a purpose—to ACT and DO something, to ACCOMPLISH a mission, to OBEY a command, to FULFILL a destiny, to BE someone, to BLESS someone, to GIVE something, to SHARE a gift, to MEET and ADVISE someone, to RESCUE someone's life, to SAVE someone's soul, to TESTIFY of God’s Love, Goodness, Grace, and Mercy, to GLORIFY and to WORSHIP Him--GOD.
Our Savior, Lord, and Redeemer, JESUS CHRIST, is the WORD made flesh (John 1:1)--the expression and manifestation of GOD--and we as believers and followers are His ambassadors—today’s living Bibles—sometimes the only ones an unbeliever ever reads. We are today’s billboards—the advertisers to this generation’s lost, wounded, betrayed, rejected, hurting, depressed, angry, bitter, resentful, and alienated. We are GOD's espistles, His love letters, redeemed by His love, blessed by His grace, resurrected by His power, cleansed by His Son, JESUS, and empowered by His Holy Spirit, so we can GO as witnesses and sons and daughters, sharing this TRUTH to all generations of men, women and children throughout the nations of the world: We serve the LIVING GOD because our GOD is not buried or dead; JESUS CHRIST is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, and no one comes to the Father except through Him; and GOD is GOOD, GOD is JUST, and GOD is LOVE.
We are GOD's children, wonderfully and fearfully created--born of His Word, His breath, and His Spirit, and washed by His blood--and we’re blessed to bless, loved to love, forgiven to forgive, and saved to save, for it is not God’s pleasure that any should perish, that any should be lost. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus gave us, His followers, the Great Commission, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [He has] commanded,” and in Matthew 12:30, He says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” If we’re not serving God, then who are we serving—ourselves, our employers, our family and friends, or the adversary—our soul’s enemy? If we’re not promoting God, the Father, or Jesus, His Son, then who are we promoting with our time, our resources, our gifts, our talents, our finances, our actions, and our words? Are we gathering for God, hoarding for Self, or scattering for the world—for the enemy of God and man—the devil? Think about this: When we die, we cannot take a U-Haul truck to heaven; all we can take with us sincerely are those treasures recorded in our heavenly account: SAVED SOULS--ours and, hopefully, others. And truly the best gifts we can offer GOD, the Creator of everything, are billboards and living Bibles--lives fully-committed and fully-commissioned and SOULED-OUT for HIM, GOD the FATHER and for HIM--GOD the SON, JESUS CHRIST.
