Focus: The Reason You Live

Text: 1Jh.3:8

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."

Have you ever asked yourself why you are here in this world? Why did God let you exist? What's the main thing about your being here on earth? Is your life tied to any noble or worthy purpose? Is the life you are living in perfect agreement with the main reason for your existence on planet earth?

Are you busy doing anything and everything else other than your primary assignment? Do you even know your life's assignment? Are you really aware of what your destiny on earth is all about? Do you have any inkling of why you exist?

Jesus Christ came to earth to fulfill a divine destiny, and that destiny was to live and die for man to be saved from God's wrath and eternal damnation.

While here on earth He got busy with His Father's business, He healed the sick, cured the leper, and He delivered the oppressed, suppressed, afflicted, and possessed of demons. He set the captives free and restored sight to the blind. He did miraculous things and even raised the dead. But if Christ had done all these things except die on the cross, He would have failed in His life's main purpose of saving humanity from Satan, sin, and death.

While on the cross, dying to save mankind, He made a profound declaration. He said, "It is finished." What that bold declaration means is that He was not done when He healed the sick. He was not done when He cast out demons from people. He was not done when He went everywhere doing good and setting free the oppressed. He was not done when He cleansed the leper and gave sight to the blind. He was not done when He helped the helpless and gave hope to the hopeless. He was not done when He cured the deaf and incredibly touched lives in many ways, and He was not done when He called the dead back to life. He could only say that it was finished when He was crucified, because that was the main thing that brought Him into this world. Nothing He did could have mattered if He hadn't died a vicarious death for all men in all the world.

John tells us that it was to destroy the works of the devil that Christ came into this world, and Paul makes it clear that it was on the cross that Christ rendered null and void the works of the devil.

He says, "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in IT" (Col.2:15). That little word IT refers to the cross. It was right on the cross that He destroyed the works of the devil and finally finished Satan. John says, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" (Jh.19:30). He completed His assignment before yielding His spirit to His Father. He did not die after doing the miracles and uplifting the hearts of ordinary people.

The cross was it for Jesus Christ. Our salvation happened through His death on the cross. Creation was redeemed by His death on the cross. A brand new humanity came about from the death that He died on the cross. The cross guarantees our eternal hope and eternal life.

Just before Christ went to the cross to fulfill His reason for being born into this world, He said to His Father in His high priestly prayer, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jh.17:4). He spoke to His Father in anticipation of the cross. It was after that prayer that He proceeded to the garden of Gethsemane, and from there He went to the cross, and died.

Today He sits by His Father's right hand side. The Father has exalted His name above all other names. Knees bow before Him in honor of His accomplishment.

Identify your destiny and fulfill it. Find that singular purpose for which you exist, and fulfill it. Stop being busy here and there without facing the main task of your life. Stop being 'jack of all trades and master of none.' Stop doing many things that amount to nothing. Don't live your life in vain. You are a creature of purpose. Find that purpose and pursue it. Find the reason for which you live, and let your being and doing reflect it. Be an expression of your heavenly destiny.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter