Because He Came

After walking through advent season and looking forward to Jesus’ second return to earth, and having written a previous post, What If He Hadn’t Come, I was compelled to write this one. Because He DID come, we have been given an assignment.

In my final week of Joy to the World (LifeWay Women), the focus was Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8: go and make disciples and teach them everything Jesus taught. We will be witnesses wherever He takes us. That is our purpose on earth. Whether we do that as employees, parents, siblings, neighbors, or ministers. 

Because He came, we are sent!

Jesus came to bring salvation and His last words to the disciples were to go and tell it.

I love that Paul’s words in Philippians 3:7,8, and 10, show us what his life goal was:

That should be our goal as well as we enter 2025. As we grow in Christ, we need to ask ourselves, with whom am I sharing what I am learning? In her book I Surrender All, Priscilla Shirer said, Maybe the fulfillment you seek is found in giving away what you’ve been given.

We give it away, on our way, wherever we are, just as Jesus ministered.

She shared this prayer: Lord, open my spiritual eyes to see the opportunities You will give me to represent You to others today. Give me an unusual sensitivity to the places where You are already working and where You’re inviting me to partner with You in the life of someone else. And give me an overflow of resources, both tangible (like money) and intangible (like time and patience) that will allow me to be the answer to someone else’s prayer.

We need to daily pray this prayer!

Then she wrote: If you will begin to pray like this, I can assure you from my own personal testimony that you’ll immediately begin to recognize a new pattern forming around you. You’ll see that many of the things you used to call interruptions are actually divine interventions and holy invitations for you to partner with your Lord in His sovereign plans and purposes.

If our goal is to know Jesus Christ more deeply, remember it’s not about perfection or a TO DO list, but about intentionality and consistency as we learn how to walk as He walked and give away what we learn so others will know. 

Is this your goal for 2025? If not, what is? If so, what do you need to do this year to reach it?

Banner photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash