God’s Purpose

Many years ago I was walking down the street and I saw a man huddled in the corner of a building. I looked at him and my heart was moved with compassion or as the bible puts it, I had tender mercy for him. So I went over and asked if I could help him in any way. He was so thankful and appreciated that I actually saw that he had a need and that I was willing to help. He said, “yes” and thanked me so much. I took him in, gave him some clean clothes and food and then took him to some friends of mine and we made sure that his needs were met. He experienced the love of God through our lives and I know that he understood and experienced God in a way that he had never known before.

I mention this because I wanted to talk about God’s purpose. God looked on humanity and had tender mercy. He saw that we had a need that we couldn’t resolve and He looked at us and had compassion. I have discussed this in previous blog posts, but today I wanted to talk about God’s mercy and grace.

When God looked at us and had compassion – that was mercy, but when God gave humanity His only begotten Son – that was grace. When I walked by that man in the corner of the building and had compassion for him – that was mercy. When I reached out my hands to tangibly help him – that was grace.

These are examples of mercy and grace but what does this have to do with us? It is one thing to know the definition of something but it is another thing to experience the definition. We can understand that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16) for our salvation but really what does it mean to us?

Let’s look at this from the other side of the situation. What if I was the man in the corner and someone saw me and offered the same things to me? How would I feel? What would I have to do to experience the love that was being poured out upon me? The answer is nothing but to be thankful and enjoy and apply the resources given to me to bring healing to my life.

God’s purpose is brought about through His love, and His love for us gave us the Lord Jesus (John 3:16). And through the Lord Jesus we have the communion of the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – these are the resources we need to experience healing in our lives. Together we can fulfill the purpose of God as we continue to show His love to those around us.

Love is the source, grace is the expression of love, and communion is the transmission of love. We have to accept and apply the resources given to us and commune with God in order for His purpose to be fulfilled.