The Purpose


 "The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions." I Timothy 1:5-6

As a teenager in the 80's, I watched puzzled as Mr. Miyagi kept having Daniel LaRusso put wax on his cars in the movie Karate Kid. "Wax on. Wax off." He then told him, "Paint the fence. Up. Down." It wasn't until after days of this that Daniel ran out of patience and demanded to know why he was doing all this work. It was then Mr. Miyagi revealed that he had actually been teaching him karate defense moves.

Purpose. It's a big deal. We want to know the answer to the why question. Paul wanted to be sure he had clearly communicated that all important answer to Timothy. Specifically, "Why keep giving me all these instructions Paul?" The answer? To be sure all Jesus followers are filled with love. To get to the brim with love, a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith must be in place. Those are realized only through instruction.  

Too often, we miss this whole point. We think following Jesus is about everything else other than what it's about. It's about loving God and loving people. We follow the instructions provided by God in the Bible not because that's the answer to the why question, but rather because that's what will position us to successfully fulfill the purpose - to love like Jesus first loved us.  

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