Dear Friends and Family,

It was my paternal grandfather who gave me my uncommon Japanese middle name. We still have the paper he wrote and gave to my parents.

It’s a precious keepsake. However there’s one problem – we can’t read parts of it.

My mother couldn’t remember what my name means. And we haven’t been able to translate all the kanji characters. The kanji has since been simplified or are no longer used.

What we do know is that my grandfather gave me a name associated with writing.

My grandfather’s aspirations for me was to become a writer. What kind of writer remains a mystery.

While my mystery is uncommon, there are mysteries that are common to all of us.

For example, have you ever wondered – What is God’s purpose and will for my life?

This is one of the most asked questions in the church. Many of us worried when God didn’t answer.

And convinced ourselves that He would tell us in His time. And in the meantime, to sit patiently and wait until that day came…

Let’s see if God already answered that question by examining what the Bible says about God’s purpose and will. 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Greek word for ‘purpose’ means a setting forth, a predetermination. Like that found in the next verse in Romans.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”  ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God may have special purposes for each of us, but we all share this one purpose – that we be conformed to the image of His Son. That we become like Jesus.

To be conformed means to be sanctified – made holy. And to become separated from the world and consecrated to God.

Why become like Jesus? Because God is preparing us for the new heaven and the new earth, when all things are made new.

The Greek word for ‘will’ in the following verses means wish or desire. 

God has many wishes and desires of us. For example:

“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.”  1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬‬‬ NIV

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”  Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭36 ‬‬‬NIV

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You may have noticed that the word “do” appears in all these verses. God’s will is a call to action – to do good works. Why?

We know that doing good works glorifies God. But that isn’t the only reason why God desires good works.

He knows that doing good works benefits us as well. That “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”  James 2:17 NIV

Doing good works is essential to becoming more like Christ – to fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives.

St. Augustine had this to add. 

“None can become fit for the future life, who hath not practiced himself for it now.”

Let me close with one last observation about the verses above.

There are no specifics about the good works we can do. 

Recall what Jesus once shared, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…”  ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

That said, let’s be intentional about doing good such as being kind, serving others and showing our love to our neighbors.

Let’s look for opportunities to do so in everything we do, with everyone we meet and everywhere we go.

We don’t have to wait for God to give us our specific assignment. 

Let’s instead work on the assignment already given – to become more like Christ by dedicating our lives to doing good works.

And as we do so, He just might resolve our unsolved mystery.

In love always,

Pastor Dale
pastordale.church