PURPOSE: Restored

A sense of purpose isn’t only about your career; it’s also about what you believe in, what you value in life, and what motivates you. 

Having a sense of purpose gives us clear reasons for what we want to do. People with a sense of purpose are diligent because of a true interest in their goal, rather than because they have to.  There are three components of a sense of purpose: 1) goals related to sense of purpose are more stable and far reaching, e.g. loving God, managing his creating, raising a family, etc.  2) there is an external aim that reaches beyond the self, e.g. to help others, to safeguard family, work against injustice etc.  3) it is achievement driven. Sense of purpose works from one achievement to the next building and growing throughout life.

There’s evidence that having sense of purpose maintains health and well-being across your lifetime.  Sense of purpose also helps you through the low points. When things go wrong, sense of purpose helps you to put this in perspective, preserving self-esteem and giving you the resilience to push forward. It helps maintain optimism about the future, and that underlying belief that you can do it. In other words, having a sense of purpose builds your growth mindset.

PURPOSE: Abandoned

The quarterly tells the story of a grand piano and how it was repurposed.  In part the story is:

I was given a grand piano.  It only cost me the lunch that I bought for the men who helped me get it home.  A local church wanted the piano removed because its soundboard was cracked and it would no longer stay in tune.  

Over the next several months this grand piano resided in my garage as I slowly worked on it and gave it a new life as a bookcase.  Another free lunch for the men who helped me move the piano bookcase to my office was all it took to give the old piano new life.  It now resides next to my lamp–that was once a clarinet.

While this repurposing is not uncommon, it is not the original purpose for which the instrument was created.  The same is true for us.  Many have lost the purpose for which God created us...a creative relationship with the creator.  Instead of returning to God to regain that purpose and make beautiful music together, many settle for something less re-creating them selves in some other creative purpose.

PURPOSE: Questioned

The world claims that a LOT of things will give us security, happiness and a sense of well-being.  From buying the right kind of diaper to investing in the right kind of insurance.  There are NO shortage of external things that claim to provide security, happiness and a sense of well-being.  

While in the extremely short term, when compared to the length of eternity, such things may provide a measure of internal happiness or joy.  But material things by definition are NOT eternal and do not provide eternal, or even long lasting joy or happiness.  Chasing these things in life one often finds that they fail to deliver.  Like running on a hamster wheel, we expend a lot of energy, but get now where.

Baruch and Jeremiah

Today we look at Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah. We will see that God will reward your faithful service.

According to Josephus, Baruch was a Jewish aristocrat, a son of Neriah and brother of Seraiah ben Neriah, chamberlain of King Zedekiah of Judah.  Baruch became the scribe of the prophet and wrote down the first and second editions of his prophecies as they were dictated to him.

Baruch remained true to the teachings and ideals of the great prophet though he was at times almost overwhelmed with despondency. We see today that while Jeremiah was in hiding to avoid the wrath of King Jehoakim, he commanded Baruch to read his prophecies of warning to the people gathered in the Temple in Jerusalem on a day of fasting. The task was both difficult and dangerous, but Baruch performed it without flinching and it was probably on this occasion that the prophet gave him the personal message that we will read of at the end of the lesson.

Both Baruch and Jeremiah witnessed the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem of 587–586 BC. As an indication of his faith in the eventual restoration of Jerusalem, in the middle of the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah purchased an estate in Anathoth on which the Babylonian armies had encamped. 

Today we look at Jeremiah 36:4-8,16-18; 45:1-5.