Archives For purpose

Don’t Give Up

samuel kee —  April 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

IMG_1246[1]If you were walking in the woods and found a watch on the ground, you would not assume that it was there by chance.  You would not for a second think, “Given enough time and the combination of the right elements, this watch randomly appeared.”  Poof.  Just like that.  Even if the watch didn’t work, you still wouldn’t think that it was the result of rain or mud or sunlight.  You would look at the watch on the forest floor and know that it was left there by someone.  You would assume that the watch was made by an intelligent person, not unintelligent elements.  The watch is too complex to assume anything different; besides, complex things just don’t “happen” on their own.

Now imagine that someone is walking in the woods and bumps their toe on you!  You are laying on the forest floor, just like the watch was.  Again, what would you assume?  No one would ever assume that you had been laying there for all eternity, or that you were the result of enough time and elements.  How much more complex are you, than a watch?  You are far more complex, far more beautiful, and far more impressive than a watch.  No one in their right mind would ever think that you were the result of too much sunlight, mud, or rain.  I would take one look at you and realize that you were made by an Intelligent Person and placed there by an Intelligent Person.  Someone as magnificent as you could not just “happen” on his or her own.

In the Hebrew portion of the Bible, this word “made” is often translated as “create.”  And when it comes to creating things, only God is the subject of this verb.  No other people, gods, or things are given the right to “create.”  This is simply staggering.  Elements don’t create; accidents don’t create; events don’t create; demons don’t create; only God creates.  This means that if something is here, then it was only made by one Person: God.  And if God made you, then he wants you here.  And if he wants you here, then you have a great purpose.  The One who gives life also grants purpose.  Every creature that God creates, he infuses with a special purpose.

The best way to find your purpose is not to demand that God shows you; rather, the best way to find your purpose is to wake up on the forest floor, look around, and see what needs to be done.  Who needs love right now?  Go love.  That is your purpose.  Who needs help right now?  Go help.  That is your purpose.  What injustices need straightened out?  Go serve.  That is your purpose.  As Victor Frankl asked, “What is life demanding of me right now?”  Is life demanding that you be strong?  Be loving?  Stand up under trial?  Suffer well?  Then these are your purpose.  We are called to turn every hell into heaven and give heaven to every hell.

I fear that too many of us have been looking into the wrong mirror.  We look into broken mirrors, the result being that we only see broken people.  We need to look into the perfect face of Jesus in order to see who we are.  We are not accidents, incidents, or detriments.  We are the bold creations of a loving Creator, who put purpose into every drop of our being.

Don’t give up on your purpose, because your purpose has not given up on you.

© Samuel Kee, 2013

In Cultural Issues, Finding Hope, God's Existence , , , ,
permalink

Would You Rather Have Pleasure or Purpose?

samuel kee —  December 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

UnWasted - TitleWould you rather have a life in which all of your material longings were met or a life in which you knew your purpose?  I’d bet that you’d rather side with the second, rather than the first.  Why?  Because human beings can’t live for long without knowing why.  We would rather have a short life that’s filled with meaning than a long life that’s purposeless.  Anyone who’s honest with themselves will admit to that.  The thought of living a meaningless life scares us to death, even more than the thought of not having possessions.  We’ll choose purpose over possession every time; those who don’t are fools.  That’s why Scripture says:

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

The wise person, not the fool, knows that life is too short to live without meaning.  I have twelve thoughts to share from this verse.

  1. Notice that Moses prays, “teach us” to number our days.  This means that in order for us to get a heart of wisdom, we need God to show us, to teach us.  It’s not something that we can discover on our own, apart from God.  This means that finding the meaning of your days begins with a dependency on God in prayer.  To pray is simply to talk with God about your life.
  1. Humans are good at calculating and keeping track of so many things.  We can calculate the distance to the stars, our grade, batting averages, etc.  But wisdom begins when we calculate the one number that we don’t want to think about: the length of our life.  The fool spends his life calculating everything in his life but his own mortality.
  1. It’s madness to ramble about as if we were not going to die.
  1. There is a huge difference between this transitory life and blessed eternity.  We’re in huge danger if we ever confuse the two.  This is not Paradise.  We must never live like it is.  We must set our hopes on eternal shores, not on anything here.  Those who try to suck all of their meaning out of this life and this world alone will never be satisfied.
  1. In order to learn your aim in life, learn to aim your life.  Point your life at something that matters, that’s beyond you.
  1. The primary motivation in our lives is our search for meaning.  A heart of wisdom knows why it’s here.  We all need something to live for.  When we count our days, our days begin to count.
  1. Our main motivation in life is not pleasure, gratification, or the satisfaction of drives and instincts; our main motivation is our search for meaning.  This means that if you’re living for pleasure, gratification, etc., then you’ll never be satisfied.  You’ll never fulfill the vast emptiness in your soul.  Nothing of this earth can fill its voracious appetite.
  1. Our quest to find meaning is regularly frustrated by sin and circumstances.  So, we constantly have to be taught or reminded of what we ought to live for.  We need to submit ourselves to teachers who can put us back on the right path, for it’s easy to go astray.  Allow yourself to be corrected and guided by others, lest our natural narcissism keep us blind.
  1. Nietzsche said, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how.’”  Those who know that there is a task waiting them to fulfill are most able to survive.  It becomes easier to see the tasks that are truly necessary the more we number our days.
  1. Only when we live with the tension of having our days numbered, do we begin to grow.  We were designed for challenge, not ease.  If we want spiritual and mental health, then we won’t allow ourselves to be comfortable.  Don’t settle for the status quo, but reach for new levels of naïveté.  We only grow under conditions of striving and struggle.   To strengthen a tree, let it grow up in storms.  Your days are numbered.  Convince yourself of that and be shocked out of your apathy.  Remember, you’re now one day closer to death than you were this morning.
  1. Life is finite.  Our days are numbered.  God has placed you in certain situations of circumstances for a reason.  Don’t look at your life and moan, “What is the meaning of my life?”  Don’t sit there and try to figure it out like a giant puzzle, how all the pieces fit together.  Rather, be the missing piece!  Give all the pieces meaning; see what life is asking of you to do and find the best way to give it meaning.  A heart of wisdom is not passive, but active.  It activates the meaning within every circumstance.
  1. Don’t make life about yourself, but forget yourself and serve a greater cause or person.  Some things you cannot attain by pursing them directly.  You cannot find the meaning to your life by pursuing it directly.  Just like you cannot find happiness by pursuing it directly.  You have to pursue the causes and people around you who need help.  Only when you deny yourself will you find yourself, as Jesus said.  Only when you make God the goal of your life, will these other things be added to you.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

In God's Existence, Knowing God , , , , , , , ,
permalink

You Complete Me

samuel kee —  November 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

Though I haven’t seen the whole movie, nor do I plan on it, I have seen a well-known clip from the movie Jerry Maguire.  It’s the scene where Jerry lovingly tells Dorothy, “You complete me.”  Dorothy tenderly replies to Jerry, “You had me at hello.”

In just a few words, Jerry encapsulates humanity’s greatest search.  Every human is searching for something or someone to complete them.  Every person is aware of their own inner emptiness, a voracious vacuum in their life that’s trying to suck meaning from every encounter or experience.  We’re haunted by the emptiness within us; we’re afraid that it’ll catch up to us before we can satisfy it.  We’re quick to try to fill it, to make it go away, to act like we have a handle on it.  But when we’re alone, we hear only the vacuum, the emptiness is just as empty as it ever was; we hear only one question, “Why am I here?”  We realize that our existence is incomplete—that something is missing—and we’re longing for something or someone to complete us.

But we must go deeper than the surface level in order to satisfy our emptiness.  You’ve probably heard of the phrase “unconditional love,” right?  Unconditional love is love without conditions.  Through sickness and health, poverty or pain, your spouse is to love you.  Even when you’re ugly, you’re partner is to put no conditions on his love for you.

I want to introduce the idea of “unconditional meaning.”  Unconditional  meaning is meaning without conditions.  No matter what you’re going through, you have meaning in your life.  The meaning in your life is not conditioned upon your circumstances or experiences.  It supersedes conditions.  It’s meaning that can be found in sickness and in health, in suffering and in prosperity.

The trouble with Jerry Maguire is that he was finding completion in a conditional relationship.  His being “completed” is dependant upon Dorothy’s existence.  Were she to leave (through death or divorce), the plug would be pulled on his life.  The meaning would drain from it and, once again, he would be incomplete.

Our souls are not searching for conditional completion, but unconditional.  Only unconditional meaning will be able to fill the empty space in our souls.  Jesus Christ is the source of our unconditional meaning.  To him we must look and say, “You complete me.”  How is it that Jesus can do this but no one else can?  Jesus was both fully God and fully human.  Thus he brings to our souls the infinite satisfaction of man’s pursuit of God.  He brings to us not only a complete identification with our emptiness, but also the complete power to fill us.

The way to find meaning in your life is to find him.  “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25).  This is the paradox of meaning.  To find your meaning, you must not look for it; you must only look for him.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

In God's Existence, Knowing God, Relationships , , , , , , ,
permalink

You Are the Light Now

samuel kee —  July 4, 2012 — Leave a comment
In Videos , , , ,
permalink

Mosaic

samuel kee —  June 28, 2012 — 1 Comment
In Finding Hope, Videos , , , ,
permalink

How To Find Joy

samuel kee —  June 24, 2012 — 1 Comment

Psalm 118 contains an intoxicating verse, which will give great joy to those who drink it deeply into their heart.  “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).  There are seven things that I want to point out.

First, we learn that God has a job: God is the Maker.  He is the only one who made this day.  This day would not have spun into existence were it not for him.  Neither you nor I invented, manufactured, initiated, or fastened together this day.  God made it and it’s here only because of his will.  He wanted this day here and that’s why it’s here.  Were it not for God, then this day would have never happened.  “This is the day that the Lord has made.”  He is the visionary, architect, and builder of all life, especially today.

Second, we learn that we have a job.  If God’s job is to make this day, then our job is simple (though not always easy): to react.  Actually, the verse specifies not only what we are to do, but also how we are to do it.  We are to react with joy and gladness.  To be happy, in other words, is our job.  “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  You and I both know that we always seek happiness, all the time.  We never veer from this path.  According to this verse, we never ought to stray from this course, either.  Our job is to rejoice and be glad.

Third, we learn the pattern of grace before works.  Most of us have this backward, getting us in all sorts of spiritual and existential trouble.  Our default line of thought is: works before grace.  We think that we have to do good deeds in order to get good things.  So it is with everything else in our lives.  We work really hard, we get good pay.  We study really hard, we get good grades.  We practice really hard, we make the team.  We make all of the sales, we get more recognition.  Then we carry over this line of thought to our spiritual lives—and here’s where it really gets dangerous!  We do enough good stuff in order to tip the balances, and God will let us in.  We do good deeds and God will have favor on us.  But that is not the pattern that this verse gives us.  In Psalm 118:24, grace comes before works.  God gives us the “day” first.  God initiates first, God provides first, and God acts first.  Only then are we called to “work,” rejoicing in what he has given by his grace.   Whenever this pattern of grace-before-works is upset in your life, disaster will follow.  We need to live by God’s pattern.  He loves first and only then do we react to his love.

Fourth, you already have something to rejoice about today, so don’t miss it.  “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  There is something special about this day that God has waiting for you.  I know that life is tough, as we’re surrounded by constant tears.  I’ve walked through the valley, too, many times.  But I also know that even in the valley, there is something to rejoice about.  God is not overwhelmed by the trials.  If he were, then the trials would be “God.”  But my God is bigger than all trials and can redeem even the wickedest day.  There is something about this day that is worth rejoicing over; and if we only focus on the trials then we’ll never see the triumphs.  Go confidently into this day, knowing that there is something to rejoice and be glad about.  Hasn’t evil done enough damage in this world?  Why then should we also allow it to take away the joy that God has for us in today?   I say, let us not feed the fire of sorrow, so that we might fan the flame of joy.

Fifth, we do it together.  This was very profound for me to see.  The verse does not say, “Let me rejoice and be glad in it.”  Rather, it says, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  In other words, it’s easier to rejoice with others than it is by yourself.  Listen, it is very helpful to depend on others in your pursuit of daily joy.  Having joy by yourself is good, but it pales in comparison to sharing joy with another.  As C. S. Lewis observed, sharing our joys with others actually completes our experience of joy.  That’s why we share good books or movies or restaurants with friends.  When your faith falters, you can depend on their faith.  Two are stronger than one, in this fight for joy.  If you’re having trouble finding something about this day to rejoice over, then go find someone else to rejoice with.  Having a joyful life is more like a potluck, where everyone brings something fresh to the feast, and less like a microwave dinner, where you eat alone, merely warming up some frozen thing from the past.

Sixth, this verse is not only the plan for your life today, but also for the rest of your life.  “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  This verse is a microcosm of the whole thing!  This is the pattern for today—and for forever!  God’s pattern does not shift.  He is our Maker today and forever.  We are to recognize him and have joy in him today and forever.  The whole of your life is to fit this remarkable pattern that God has established.  In other words, this is also your life strategy for tomorrow, the next year, and the next decade after that.  You will never grow too sophisticated for this life strategy.

Seventh, therefore, if you can’t find joy today, then you’ll never find it the rest of your life.  All the ingredients for true joy are present today.  “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  If you’re waiting for something “good” to come true, then you’re seeking an inferior joy.  If you’re waiting for something “bad” to come untrue, then you’re seeking an inferior joy.  Don’t hear me wrong, we must strive to rid life of evil and there’s nothing wrong with looking forward to the various celebrations in life.  However, these are not the source of joy and if we look only to them, then we will be crushed.  If we look only to them, then we will fail to look to God.  The great secret of this verse is that it gives us the roadmap to joy.  Unfaltering and eternal joy is found only in God.  God is the source of lasting joy.  The source of joy is not contingent, but constant.  Joy does not depend on how things turn out, but on God, the one who gives and retrieves each day.  Look around you; joy is lurking near you today.  If you can’t see it, then you may never see it.  God, have mercy on us; help us not to be entranced by the episodes and evils that steal our eyes from you.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

In Finding Hope, Knowing God , , , ,
permalink

You’ve wandered long enough

samuel kee —  May 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

ImageGod’s people had wandered long enough.  They were on the edge of the Promised Land and it was time to go in.  “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain’” (Deuteronomy 1:6).  Then Moses added, “Turn and take your journey” (7).  They had been wandering for forty years in the wilderness, learning lessons from God.  They learned the extent of their trust; and they saw the faithfulness of their God.  They were tested, cleansed, and taught.  They were protected, nurtured, and lead.  Now it was time to go home.

“See, I have set the land before you.  Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers” (8).  God didn’t want them to wander any longer.  He wanted them to go in and claim their Promise.  He had taught them what he needed to teach them in the desert.  He brought them out of slavery in Egypt, gave them an identity as his people, and now he’s ready to give to them this next gift. 

It’s time to move on.  You’ve been wandering long enough.  Now is the time to get up out of your sin and go home to God.  Maybe it’s not sin that keeps you wandering.  Maybe wandering from God is what’s comfortable, controllable, and convenient.  No matter how much you say that you want to be in the Promised Land, there’s something about it that keeps you in the wilderness. 

Maybe you’re afraid of failing?  Maybe you’re afraid of something that’s not familiar?  After all, you’ve been in that spot your whole life—it’s all you’ve ever known.  You can’t imagine what it would be like to be free.  The wilderness is our old friend.  We love to hate it.

But it’s time to go into the Promised Land.  It’s time to test God on his promises.  It’s time to receive the gifts that he has for you. 

There’s a huge difference here, however.  It’s the difference between Moses and Jesus.  Moses represents the law.  He is the one to whom the law was given; he is the one who led the people in the wilderness for so long.  Moses, nonetheless, will not bring the people into the Promised Land, for Moses sinned against God.  Moses himself was banned from taking one step further into the realization of God’s promise. 

Not Jesus, our new and better Moses.  That’s the difference that you need to hear right now.  Whereas Moses represented the law, Jesus represents grace.  The law cannot get you into the Promised Land; grace can.  No matter how hard you try—as when you try to keep the moral law—you will fail.  No wonder you want to stay in the desert: you can’t get out of it on your own.

God knocks our excuses away when he sends his Son Jesus to us.  Jesus is the better Moses, who helps us get into the Promised Land.  With Jesus, we’re going to make it and we’re going to be alright.  He brings us all the way into God’s promises.  With Jesus, it is possible to evacuate your sin. 

With Jesus, you can not only escape your sin, but also you can enter all of God’s promises. 

You’ve wandered long enough.  It’s time that you grab hold of Jesus and ask him to take you home.

© Samuel Kee, 2012     

In Knowing God , , , ,
permalink

For those who struggle with how things are turning out

samuel kee —  May 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

Image

You are the artwork.

I love writing poems, doing artwork, writing stories, blogging…pretty much creating anything.  Building anything.  I love building little cars with my boys, constructing anything out of wood or metal or plastic.  I love creating.  Maybe you’re like me.

It’d be absurd, however, if one of my “creations” decided to rule my life or think it’s more important than me.  However that might happen, if it were to come alive, have a voice, whatever, and demand that the world orbit around it, that would be laughable at best, and condemnable at worst.  The object must never get more glory than the one who made it.  The purpose of the art is to point to the artist, to reveal more about the creator.  The purpose of the art is not to worship the art or to surrender to the art.  That’s a good litmus test for insanity.

When it comes to you and God, who’s the interruption?  Do you feel like it’s a waste to seek God, spend time getting to know God, or worship God?  Is it a waste to attend a worship service, devote your holidays to him, or give your money to organizations that serve his causes?  Is God just an interruption in your day?  In your life?  Do you feel like you’d be better off if you were allowed just to live your life, cut-free from thinking about God or having to deal with God?  Just to live for yourself, your purposes, your morality, your goals, your agenda, your plans, your comfort, your priorities, your values? 

You are the artwork.  I mean that in both senses.  You are a dazzling creation, full of beauty and genius.  You were hand-crafted by the Master. 

But, you’re mere artwork.  You’re not the Artist.  You’re not the Creator.  You’re just an interruption.  Life is not about you, because it’s about the Creator of Life.  The heartbeat of life is God.  The background music behind everything is a tune about God.  God is not an interruption; he is the eruption.  This whole world is exploding with God and his glory, not yours.

The more you can walk in step with the cadence of the Creator, the more that life will make sense to you.  You’ll begin to see that your life is not the main agenda.  You’ll learn that only those who lose their life will find it, while those who hold on to their life will lose it.  You’ll begin to understand why there’s nonstop worship in Heaven, because in Heaven we’re finally catching on. 

It’s not that there are no interruptions in heaven or that your life is not important here on earth.  That’s not at all what I’m saying.  Your life gains value not by taking the central place, but by taking a spot along the edge.  When you put God at the center of your life, then you have God at the center of your life!  You have life, beauty, vitality, strength, love, hope, and joy, right at the core of your being. 

Our job is to display the majesty and wonder of the One at the center, by life or by death.

© Samuel Kee, 2012 

In Knowing God , , , , ,
permalink

Purpose

samuel kee —  May 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

ImageHere’s a definition of purpose I came across.  Purpose: the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. 

You can only have a purpose if a Creator exists.  Otherwise, you have no purpose.  With that said, you would not exist at all unless you had a Creator.  So, by existing in the first place, you’ve got a purpose, whether you like it or not.  It may come as a relief to you that you don’t have to forge your own purpose in life, but it has been written on your soul, coded into your DNA. 

What is your purpose?  The Christian answer is “To glorify God and enjoy him forever,” according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  What does it mean to “glorify God?”  The idea behind “glory” is that of weight or matter.  To give something glory is to give it weight or emphasis.  To glorify God is to make him the most significant thing in your life.  You give God the most “weight.”  He is what “matters” the most.  Of all your boxes in life, the one devoted to God is the heaviest. 

This means that religion is out and encounter is in.  In order to learn how to glorify God better, you don’t need to be more religious or get a better religion, for religion is more about putting weight into human boxes.  To glorify God better, you need to encounter God.  God needs to become more real in your life; he needs to have more fat on his bones.  It’s not about manipulating God, but the complete opposite: you learn how he controls you. 

Encountering God means waking up to his reality and hitting the snooze on your little reality.  We think we know what’s significant in life, but were we to stand face to face with God, we’d shatter.  Our agenda would totally change. 

Knowing your purpose will give new meaning to the toughest parts of your life.  The trials.  The parts that don’t make sense.  When you lose your job, your purpose is to encounter God.  When you’re all alone, your purpose is to encounter God.  When you’re diagnosed, your purpose is to encounter God.  When you’re hurt, your purpose is to encounter God.  By living for any other purpose, you’ll have extreme cognitive dissonance, as you try to make sense of life’s trials and human-centered agendas. 

Encountering God is your agenda. 

© Samuel Kee, 2012

In God's Existence, Knowing God , , ,
permalink

Barth and Prayer

samuel kee —  February 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

Our noble calling as humans, is to participate in God's cause.

I’m reading Karl Barth’s little book on prayer; I came across this provoking thought:

In Jesus Christ, God has manifested himself as a God who, while being perfectly free and self-sufficient, yet does not wish to be alone.  He does not wish to act, exist, live, labor, work, strive, vanquish, reign, and triumph without the human race.  God does not wish, then, for his cause to be his alone; he wishes it to be ours as well.  

Barth agrees that God is self-sufficient; God did not create humans because of a lack in himself, in order to quench his divine distress or loneliness.  Neither was God somehow forced to created humans, by a greater power.  God is completely free and has no needs, neither does he have superiors.  When he created humans, he did so out of complete fullness, rather than lack.

He created us out of love, in other words.  He created beings to share his cause with, because he did not wish to be alone in it.  What is God’s cause?  God’s cause is the spread of his name, his kingdom, and his will, as Barth deduces from the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.  God did not wish to be alone in his cause; he wished it to be ours, as well.

Our noble calling as humans is to participate in God’s cause.  Within his cause, we find fulfillment.  As we cherish his name, acknowledging his presence and our dependence, his cause abounds.  As we sculpt this world into shape, turning wrongs into rights, and making the ugly bits beautiful, his cause abounds. As we give living performance to his heart’s will for justice and mercy and righteousness, his cause abounds.  And when his cause abounds, our satisfaction with life abounds, for we’re functioning in the ways that our Maker intended.

Living for our own name, our own kingdom, and our own will, is self-destructive.  Putting the human cause at the center causes us to implode.

But Barth goes on to acknowledge the rest of the Lord’s Prayer, which includes petitions for the “human” cause: daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil.  The Lord’s Prayer, while champing God’s cause first as foremost, does not hesitate joining it to the human cause.  We first are called to participate in God’s cause; then he participates in ours.  God and humans live life together.  Humans are not to live atheistically; God does not live humanlessly.

Today, my job is simple: I am to live for God’s cause.  Today, God’s job is simple: take care of me.  My cause becomes utterly glorious, his cause utterly loving.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

In Knowing God , , , ,
permalink