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For those who are in Christ, who share his life, trust his promises, believe in his death for them, and expect that in his mercy he will raise them from the dead, the purpose of their life is to serve the fulfilment of God’s purposes.

You see it is not the other way around. God does not exist to serve our purposes. Sometimes we can act as though we were the chief planners and organisers of our life (or church) and call on God as a kind of divine assistant, or benefactor. But it is God who is the planner and organiser.

This does leave us in a scary and vulnerable position. Sometimes we think we need to go half way with God. Like Gideon who knew God wanted him to do a certain task, but who thought he was the one to work out the method. Get a large army together to defeat the Midianites was the plan. But God said no. They would take the credit themselves and say, ‘We did it.’

What is God up to? Which part of his story are we serving? That’s the word. And what servants need to do, said Paul, is to be faithful.

Dale

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