What is God’s agenda for our lives?

Jesus had no agenda of His own, but what about us? How are we living for God? Is what we are doing to gain praise from man or from God? We need to be honest with ourselves about this

Source: My Little Corner of the World

Do we have an agenda? This is a good question to ask ourselves and then to think about. If we do have an agenda, then what is it? Is it in line with God's agenda for our lives? What is God's agenda for our lives? All pretty deep questions on the surface, but if we break them down it's really quite simple. We'll look at what God's agenda is for our lives toward the end of this article, but first let’s look at:

'What was Jesus' agenda when He came to earth'? - Well, Jesus was quite clear about this; when coming to be baptised by John He said in Matthew 3:15  ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness’. So Jesus was being baptised to fulfil all righteousness, He was consecrated, set apart, called by the Father into service for Him here on earth. In essence Jesus' agenda was to fulfil the Father's agenda. He makes this quite clear in John 5:19 ‘Jesus gave them this answer: 'Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’. John 8:27-29 also tells us; ‘They did not understand that He was telling them about His Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him’. So the bible shows us that Jesus had no agenda of His own.

Source: The Blueprint

Now, what about us?: 'What's our agenda now that we are in Christ'? - It's clear from scripture that many people in the bible had their own agenda. One good example of this can be found in Acts 8:18-24 where after Simon the sorcerer had believed in Jesus, he followed the disciples and when he saw that the Holy Spirit was given and received by the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money and said 'Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Peter answered: May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God’. He was then told to repent. So, is our agenda to do God's will our way, is our heart right before God? The bible tells us in Matthew 7:21 that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is going to get into Heaven ‘Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’. We have already seen that Jesus had no agenda of His own, but what about us? How are we living for God? Is what we' are doing to gain praise from man or from God? We need to be honest with ourselves about this.

Lastly: 'What's God's agenda for our lives'? - Well I believe it’s the same agenda that Jesus had; to glorify God, to say what He tells us to say and to do what He tells us to do. Quite simple really when you think about it, but that's often the problem, we think about it. We then try to reason with ourselves about it and ask ourselves 'what God might want from us?' Even if we know what He wants from us we often decide to do it our way, which then introduces our own agenda and usually results in us being honoured for it instead of God. So, how can we be sure of what God wants from us? Well that's even simpler, it's not a secret, He's made it crystal clear in His Word of what He requires from us. Micah 6:8 'He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’. Now, ask yourself this question; 'Who do you love more, yourself or Jesus?' but before you answer think for a moment and really consider what this question is asking you. Then be honest with yourself before you make your decision. If what your heart is telling you is yourself, then consider the scripture above from Matthew 7:21. However, if your answer is Jesus, then I leave you with this from John 15-24 ‘If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’ Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me’.

So God's agenda for us is...’To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’. And to obey the commands and the teachings of Jesus. Forget what you're good at, what you can offer Him, what great giftings you might or might not have, it has nothing to do with any of that and if we're not careful these things can become stumbling blocks to our walk with Him. God simply wants a love relationship with you and me, He proved that on the cross. My prayer to finish, is that we let Christ Jesus be our example and that we follow in His footsteps.

To God be the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Author: Kevin Hunt

May God bless and enrich your life   
  
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