JESUS AND PURPOSE
- Rev. Dr. N Patrick Marica
- 13 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Five years ago, I contracted Covid. I walked into the hospital with an A1C of 11.7 and a creatinine level of 4.4. The doctors put me on dialysis that week. (I came off dialysis after 22 months - Praise God!) Last week I heard these words I never expected: “I wish all my patients were like you. Your results are phenomenal.” A1C now 6.3. Creatinine down to 2.9 and still falling.” He asked, “What do you account this to?” I gave him the only answer that makes sense: “two words—Jesus and purpose.”
Without purpose, you die.
I don’t care how much money you have, how many followers you have, or how healthy you look on the outside. If you’re still breathing, God has a purpose and a calling on your life. The only question is whether you believe it.
Everything “Under the Sun” Is Meaningless
Solomon—the richest, wisest, and most powerful man who ever lived—tried everything this world offers. Pleasure, projects, palaces, etc.; you name it, he built it, bought it, or bedded it. His one-word review? Meaningless. Fourteen times in Ecclesiastes he calls it “chasing after the wind.”
Don’t mistake Ecclesiastes for a downer. Strip away the cynicism, and you’ll find one of the most hopeful messages in Scripture: everything here in the natural is temporary. Only the spiritual and the eternal will last. The stuff “under the sun” will burn. The stuff done for the Son will remain.
Purpose Isn’t Found—You Surrender To It!
Here’s the truth: we are not here to fulfill OUR purpose. We are here to fulfill HIS purpose for us. Proverbs 19:21 says it plainly: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” When we finally quit negotiating with God about where we will serve, how much we will give, and what we’re willing to risk, something shifts. Dissatisfaction turns into holy restlessness, and that restlessness drives us to pray the most dangerous and life-giving prayer in the world: “Lord, put me where You want me. I’m 100% yours.”
Finding your Godly purpose brings rest and peace. Jeremiah 6:16 tells us “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
Where Purpose Shows Up in Everyday Life
Purpose isn’t always a stage, a microphone, or a passport stamp. Most of the time it looks like ordinary obedience in ordinary places:
· In your work – Whether you’re planting flowers or pulling a perfect pizza out of the oven at 9:30 on a Friday night, you’re not selling mulch or pepperoni. You’re selling beauty, satisfaction, and a glimpse of order in a chaotic world.
· In service – Isaiah 58 promises that when we share food with the hungry and clothes with the naked, our light breaks forth like the dawn and our healing quickly appears. Heaven’s economy always pays dividends.
· In your calling – 2 Peter 1:3 is unambiguous: His divine power has already given us everything we need for a godly life. You lack nothing except the willingness to say yes.
· In influence – You don’t need a platform. You need presence. The atheist coworker who mocks your Bible on the desk might walk away speechless when you quietly show him Isaiah 40:22 “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…” Your simple faithfulness in your oikos (your household of relationships) is the assignment.
· In giving – You cannot out-give God. Tip the waitress double and bless it. Pay for the car behind you in the drive-thru and bless it. Watch God return it in ways that money can’t measure.
· In bearing fruit through your spiritual gifts – God will send people into your life who name the gift they see in you. Listen to them.
· In making disciples – Sometimes discipleship is a lifetime of mentoring. Sometimes it’s one sentence spoken at the exact moment someone needs to hear it. Both count.
Leave a Legacy That Outlives the Landfill
A hundred years from now, no one is going to remember you. No one is going to dig through a box of your old photos and care what you had for breakfast in 2025. The hand-stitched 50th-anniversary pillow that means the world to your daughter today will probably sell for a quarter at somebody’s yard sale or wind up in the dump.
What about the people whose lives are different and changed and influenced because Jesus lives in you? That’s the legacy that lasts. In the end, what lasts is the legacy of people you influenced for Godly change.
The Question That Changes Everything
So here it is—the question you and I have to answer: When you got saved did you merely “add” Jesus to your life like a helpful accessory that makes you a nicer person or did you lose your life to Him?
Jesus said it without apology: “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) Lose your life to Him—completely, recklessly, joyfully—and you will finally discover the purpose you were created for. The miracle is that a stubborn, selfish man finally woke up and said, “Whatever You want, Lord. Wherever you want me.” Say it today. And watch what Jesus does with a life that’s fully, finally His. He’s not done with you yet. Actually, he’s just getting started!
About Reverend Nick: Rev. Dr. Nick Marica is the Vice-Chancellor of Amherst Theological Seminary, and he has a D. Min. from Amherst Theological Seminary. He has his MA from Liberty University in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is the author of the book: "The Walk Applied: Living the New Creation Life as a Citizen of God's Kingdom in a Secular World". He has also written "The Fasting and Prayer Handbook". Nick has been married to Kathy since 1985, and they are the proud parents of 3 children.
Contact Reverend Nick at:
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