Thou Art Peter
The biggest infirmity in the world today is not CANCER, it’s not HIV, it’s not even EBOLA, the greatest infirmity in the world today is simply ignorance of what to do with our lives, Romans 8:26. The question of purpose is the biggest question in the hearts of men. It’s the biggest QUEST in all EONS. What on earth am I here for? How to maximise your life! Making your life count! Discovering your purpose! Fulfilling destiny! And many more of such book titles have we read and studied, just to discover at the end, that the book only contained principles in discovering purpose, and would not necessarily unveil our individual purpose on earth.
The reason is because no man can reveal you to you, not another man, not even yourself. Jer 10:23. We go for seminars and learn that how to discover purpose is by checking what makes us happy when we do it, how we feel about some situations as it points to the fact that we’re the solution to it, what gets us angry, our natural gifts and abilities, etc. As helpful as those could be, they are flawed by the ageless truth of God’s Word. How does God want us to discover our purpose on earth? Do we have to see a vision? hear a voice? Go for all self help seminars or just hope that one day we will find our perfect niche?
Mat 16:13-18
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist:some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus begins by asking the disciples about who men say He is, and they all go ranting about how men say He’s like the Weird John the Baptist, The Violent Elijah, the Moody Jeremiah or even one of the random prophets. Then he asks, who do you say I am? This time, everywhere goes dead silent, then their spokesman came to the rescue and goes You Are The Christ, Son Of The Living God! Jesus is taken aback and in response (this time not to the 12 as earlier directed, but to Peter alone) says to Peter that no flesh could have revealed that to him apart from His Father in Heaven, and then Jesus reveals Peter to himself for the first time.
This is the drift, Peter was in no mission of discovering who he was when he did, or how to fulfil his purpose, all he did was fellowship with the Father, the Father revealed Jesus’s identity to him, and then when he told Jesus, Jesus was obliged to reveal him to himself. Notice Jesus did not reveal others identity to them? The only person that really can unveil you to you is Christ, the creator of all things, but we must understand that our ultimate purpose is to know Him(intimately) by fellowship. Romans 8:29, 2Cor 3:18. Don’t ask me how, but I know this, that when you know Jesus intimately via His Word and The Spirit, it will become impossible for you not to fulfil your purpose in life.
Lose yourself to Him and find yourself in Him. Quit looking for how to discover your purpose and seek to pursue the Father’s heart. David, Joseph, Esther, Moses… These guys cared less about how they could fulfil their own purposes, they simply loved God and pursued Him and His agenda. Who even called it your purpose in the first place? It’s His purpose for your life not yours. God is more passionate about making sure you fulfil purpose than you can ever be about fulfilling it. Before Peter could give up on purpose, Jesus had prayed for him for him to be strengthened.
It’s God’s purpose, it’s God’s plan, it’s God’s agenda. Pursue Him, fellowship with Him, run after Him, be like David:
Psalms 27:4
4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
… And you’d find yourself in Him.
Acts 13:36a: For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on asleep…
Nothing could be clearer.
