By Heather Cofer @heatheracofer
One Sunday afternoon not long ago, I found myself itching for an afternoon walk. With my toddler son in the stroller and my baby snug in her carrier, I set off around the block. Before long, my little guy asked to exit the stroller. Being in no rush, I let him hop out, and we slowed our pace to accommodate his little legs. But rather than sticking to the sidewalk, he opted to traverse the uneven rock terrain just next to us instead. He slipped and tripped more than once, but he was determined to stay the course to the end of the rocks. When we arrived back home, he asked to push the (now empty) stroller around by himself for a while. From my perch on our back deck, I watched as he shoved it into a brambly area on the side of our property, which I first thought was an accident. But no sooner had he cleared the sticks and rocks from the wheels and freed the stroller than he shifted it just a bit and pushed it right back in. At that point, I caught a little bit of his commentary, “Oh, it’s broken! Better fix it,” he said to himself. It was then that I realized he was getting the stroller stuck on purpose just so he could dig it back out again. Both with the stroller and earlier when he’d chosen the rocky path, he was intentionally creating difficulty for himself, so he had something to work for.
As I pondered this, it brought me back to a core truth we find about humans in Scripture: we were created by God on purpose, for a purpose. We were created to have a sense of direction and vision: a fundamental why behind who we are and what we do.
That purpose is not simply to live an easy life, but to work and be on mission in the earth as image-bearers of God.
In Genesis 1:27-28 it says,
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them,
’Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky,
and every creature that crawls on the earth.’”
This should fundamentally form our thinking in regard to how we spend our time, energy, and resources. But sadly, this wonderful design was tainted when our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God (Genesis 3). It made work hard; it brought about selfishness and laziness in us and strife with others in our work. However, God didn’t leave us this way. Because of Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection, we have the ability to be saved from our sin through Him. This is a reality that brings hope for all eternity, but it also redeems the way we live today, including how we approach our purpose and work. This should then shape the way we teach our children about their purpose. The world is constantly seeking to teach us and our kids in twisted ways about who we are, why we’re here, and what’s of value. So, if we’re not grounded in the truth found in God’s Word, we’ll be swept up in these false ideas ourselves and neglect the responsibility to prepare our children to think correctly about their purpose, too.
Here are a few ways we can lay the groundwork for thinking and living in light of God’s vision for our lives.
Know the Basics
From the time our oldest was about two, we’ve been teaching our kids some simple questions and answers based on what we find in Scripture (usually referred to as catechism questions). One of the very first questions we present to them is, “What is our purpose?” The answer is: “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” We then provide some simple explanations as to what this means. Glorifying God in everything simply means living as He created us to live, as outlined in the Bible. When we understand this most basic of questions, it provides a guide for every kind of decision we make, from the kind of spouse we choose, the vocation we take up, and the way we spend our money or use our free time. One verse that demonstrates this well is 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says,
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
There is no separation of secular and sacred in the life of a believer. Everything, even as elemental as the food we put in our mouths, is to fall under the banner of glorifying God. He created us to work, to play, to rest, to engage in fellowship, to feel, and to think. When we realize God is the Creator of all that is good, we can heartily work and heartily enjoy the good gifts of food, fun, and friends as He intended us to do. At the same time, we don’t have to stress about knowing every particular of what the future holds for us or be afraid that we won’t glorify Him if we, say, work a carpentry job instead of being an accountant. We can simply walk in God’s revealed will for us as believers (like the clear commands found all throughout the epistles), and as we do, we can trust the Lord to lead in the specifics.
This leads to my second point:
All Good Comes from God
The enemy of our souls and all the messages from the world try to convince us that God is a killjoy—that being a Christian keeps us from all the things that bring color and excitement to our lives. But this is the very opposite of what’s true. When we live in God’s design, we are returning to how He created us to live without the burdening effects of sin. God created us to pursue excellence in our work, to enjoy beauty, to get a thrill from adventure, to be creative, to appreciate delicious food, and to love others well. Then sin came in and messed it all up. What God called good was now marred. But because of Jesus, we have the ability to delight in what God called good once again without all the harmful effects that come from functioning in fleshly ways as we return to the pattern He set. Contrary to what the world says, living in God’s design actually increases our joy.
For example, we often hear that having freedom to love who and how we want will bring the most fulfillment in our sexual lives. However, recent studies disprove this. In fact, the New York Times published an article about studies done by Dr. Brad Wilcox that state, “Fully 73 percent of wives who hold conservative gender values and attend religious services regularly with their husbands have high-quality marriages.” It doesn’t ultimately matter what the world tries to tell us: God’s way is the best way, and we can take that to the bank.
Of course, it’s not just the world or the devil that will be trying to trick us into wrong thinking; it will be our own flesh, too. Because of sin, we have the proclivity to believe what isn’t true about who God is and what He desires for us. So, we have to continually go back to what the Bible says in order to renew our thinking.
As we encourage our kids in their schooling, future vocations, or even their attitude toward chores or how to wisely use screen time, we can confidently instruct them that God’s way is the best, even when our feelings in that moment tell us the opposite. My husband and I often try to remind our kids when they’re dragging their feet about doing work of some kind about the satisfaction it brings to accomplish something worthwhile and all the other healthy byproducts that come with being disciplined and wise with our time. This often motivates them beyond their momentary desire to slack off and helps them push forward to reap the reward of a job well done.
And last but certainly not least:
We Must Know the Word of God.
If we are to know who God is as He’s revealed Himself and how He created us to live in light of that, we have to immerse ourselves in Scripture. We can’t rely simply on our memory or what other people tell us: this will always leave holes in our understanding. We have to get the Word deeply into our hearts, allowing the Holy Spirit to renew our minds with the truth every day. As we do, we’ll be able to discern more and more what messages or life choices align with God’s will and which do not. The Holy Spirit will use our time seeking God prayerfully through the counsel of His Word to sharpen our minds and hearts to what truly matters.
And, as we faithfully fill ourselves with truth, God will be faithful in bringing it back to mind as we make decisions throughout our day, even when His Word is not directly in front of us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
God didn’t put us here on earth for ease or selfish pursuits; He put us here to display His glory through the way we live our lives. There is truly no better, more fulfilling, or worthwhile way to live than participating with Him in the work He’s doing here until Jesus returns.