What are we supposed to do?

“Do you know that God made you on purpose?” I asked my son one morning. He had snuggled up next to me on the couch, unconcerned about the work he was interrupting. The morning skies were still dark, and the cool outside temperatures could be felt even within the heat of our home.

He nodded at me without amusement as I brushed his wild hair to the side. Staring at his sleepy face and absorbing his sweet morning breath, I pulled the blanket higher and probed further, “What do you think God made you for?”

Shrugging his shoulders, he looked at me with uncertainty. I wondered if this was the same posture that, as adults, we portray towards God. What do you want me to do? we pray. But it occurred to me that morning that we already have more answers than we realize, if we just look at three familiar commands.

Pointing to our hearts and heads and flexing our biceps, we recited the greatest commandment, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Mark 12:30). It’s the Sunday school answer, but by adulthood, it’s the foundation we seem to forget and wash over most.

A while back, I saw a Facebook post from a friend detailing a list of reasons why she loved God. I stared at her list amazed, knowing my own list would be significantly shorter. But like any relationship that grows with time, our relationship with God is a journey. Our love for him increases as we walk – praying, studying his Word, surrendering to him our attention and obeying what he’s called us to. 

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 
– Psalm 34:1 

Continuing his response to the greatest commandment, Jesus teaches, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mark 12:31). It’s our Golden Rule. 

Mid-roadtrip with our kids one summer, we were on hour 14 of 19 and entirely dragging. We stopped at a terrible McDonalds for a quick break, and my baby spiked a 102.5 fever.

My heart sank. We gave up the idea of a hotel, grabbed an extra coffee, and got back on the road. My husband drove, and I prayed. Whatever it means to “pray hard,” I did, continuously begging God to protect my baby and get us home. Somewhere along the way, God spoke: “This is how you are to pray for others.” 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. 
– Philippians 2:4

We also know part of our role is to grow. Jesus charged his disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:19).

In the book of Esther, we read a story of a queen with opportunity to save her people from genocide. She’s wisely counseled, “if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). 

People everywhere are dying absent a relationship with the God who created them. But God has set us in our places, in this time, to be his witness. Even if we feel unqualified or think our scope is too small to matter, we can stand confident that God will bring about his plans. Relief and deliverance will come to his people. When God sets something forth, there is nothing to stop it. His church will multiply across nations and generations.

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 
– Isaiah 55:11

That chilly morning with my son was similar to many mornings in our home. After waking, my kids first find my husband and me. Stumbling out of their sleepy stupor, they get so close that we touch, whether cuddling up on the couch, a hug in the living room, or plopping – without any grace – right on top of us in bed. It’s only after this time together, doing nothing but soaking up each other’s presence, that I scoot them along and request that they get dressed, make beds, brush teeth. 

But like kids grow up and veer away from morning snuggles with their parents, I fear that we too, as adults, absently surrender that morning embrace with the Lord.

Through Christ, we are saved into relationship, that we can call God “Father” and find him first each day for nothing but presence. It’s here that we gaze into his eyes and see his love and affections towards us, here where we’re reminded that we matter and were made on purpose. It’s only after this that we can be scooted along–to love God back, to love others and to spread his gospel message. 

[1] 1 John 4:10