The Importance of knowing our "Why"

We’ve all been in a waiting room, whether at the doctor’s or the DMV, you know the experience. You flip through magazines copyrighted 2 decades prior, sit in chairs that aren’t ergonomically sound, and watch reruns of some random show on a standard definition television.

It’s the type of environment we want out of, fast. And some of us treat life like that waiting room. We think, if we can just get through this, we can hang on until heaven.

Your life isn’t a waiting room – it’s a racetrack.

The Book of Hebrews is a letter written to Jewish Christians who were struggling to understand what Jesus meant for them and how they should live their lives. And after 11 chapters of showing them what Jesus meant and what Jesus did, the focus turns to us.

We’ve been given a purpose not just to wait it out or survive, but to run the race – our race, with endurance. So, how do we persevere with purpose?

Hebrews 11
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Hebrews 12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Disengaging
We’ve all had those moments of questioning. Why me? Why now? Why here? And in those moments, we don’t completely give up, but we start to move to the sidelines. We begin to disengage and wait it out.

It’s not that we want to do this, but this is how we end up living, like our only goal is to make it to heaven. Living this way, we miss out on the purpose God has called us to in the present. However, purpose and endurance aren’t always glamorous or even desirable.

• Sometimes it means being misunderstood.
• Sometimes it means struggling.
• Sometimes it means feeling utterly alone.
  
  

We’re running a race because we have a role to play. And sometimes we don’t like the role. We love the idea of having purpose and living with purpose, but why is it so hard? Why do so many of us miss it, give up, or settle for the waiting room?

Purpose is inspiring, but also a little terrifying.

Committing
Have you ever asked for or wanted a dog? Only to find out the idea is what you were more excited about than the reality of the responsibility. When you commit to purpose, you’re responsible. You’re committing to a responsibility that you have to show up to again and again.

There’s another part to this – the catch to true, God-given purpose. The kind of purpose that you can run the race with, endure, and if we don’t understand the catch, we’ll misunderstand how God “does” purpose. Very often, this is what takes us out of the race, settling for the waiting room.

The writer of Hebrews tells the audience, "Because of Jesus, keep going." Then, in almost the same breath, he starts talking about all of these Bible characters who had faith, persevered, endured, and all with purpose.

But then, this…

Hebrews 11
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
 
That took a depressing turn. Why would you want to play a role when you can’t really see all the ways it matters?

Hebrews 11
40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Trusting
Even the greats like Noah, Jacob, or Joseph weren’t entirely in the center of God’s purpose at the start. They ended by realizing their lives were part of something greater than themselves. They trusted what God was doing in the long run.

We have Jesus, He’s here. He came for us. Not the teachings of Jesus, the inspiration of Jesus, but the person of Jesus, the salvation that comes from Jesus, the presence, spirit, and power of Jesus. We all have that!

Hebrews 11
Therefore, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus endured the cross, not because it was easy, but because His vision was greater than His suffering. His vision was us. Our salvation is the completion of the race. But the reason He endured the suffering wasn’t to win for Himself, it was to lose so that we could win. And since we’ve won in Him, we can lose for the sake of others. Jesus was the pioneer, but He invites us to follow Him in doing the same thing. And this is hard because when we don’t see how purpose benefits us, we are more prone to check out of the race and head for the waiting room.

True purpose is always a means to an end that is not you.

This is countercultural and could be seen as profoundly unpopular, but if we miss this, sin entangles us, shrinking our vision and making us settle for comfort over calling. It makes our lives about consuming instead of building something greater.

None of your suffering or sacrificial living will make sense if you’re the center of the purpose, but if Jesus is your vision, where you fix your eyes, that “something better” is yours.

Are you living like the goal is to get by, get through life, or get to heaven instead of walking with purpose?

What would it look like if you embraced where God positioned you, even if it’s misunderstood, lonely, or hard, because He’s working on a greater purpose?

Lead Pastor Michael Hoddy encourages you not to quit or shrink your vision, but to endure with purpose.