On Application

I’ve been thinking about “purpose” lately. No, no, not about “the purpose driven life.” But about, well, mission. Or perhaps we might call it “destiny.” Oh, I can tell you what my destiny and purpose is in good theological parlance. I can quote the Westminster Catechism about the “chief end of man,” or relevant Bible passages like Mark 12:30, but the issue in question for me is not so much the what but the how. Oh yes, I know that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, or that my ultimate calling in life is to love God with all my heart and all my mind and all my strength, but the difficult part, it seems to me, is in the application.

So then: How do I glorify and enjoy God and love Him with all my heart/mind/strength in my job, in my blog, in my relationships, in my ups and downs, comings and goings, political conversations, parenting, etc. In all of these matters we tend–or at least I do–to plow on through in a relatively unthinking way, never actually asking the questions, Does this really magnify the Lord? Will these words or that action prosper the Kingdom of God? Am I being salt and light in this particular situation? Or am I just plowing through?

Well, that’s what I’m thinking about these days. I want to work out in concrete terms, as best I can, my salvation. In fear ands trembling. Or, as the Amplified version of Philippians 2:13 says, “with self-distrust, serious caution, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ.”