Hebrews 9:11-14

I go out and I buy a notebook at the store. I pay a dollar for it, take it home, and it's mine. I can make paper airplanes out of it, write notes for school in it, use it for a journal, whatever I want, and nobody's going to call me out for misusing the notebook--it's mine, I bought it, I get to do whatever I want with it.

Makes sense, right?

At the end of this verse, we see a clause that recurs throughout the New Testament: "[Jesus redeemed us with His blood] so that we may serve the living God." (v. 14b) We see it in the scriptures all the time. In Ephesians, Paul says "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10) Jesus saved us, yes, and He saved us with a purpose.

Does that make Jesus' sacrifice into something self-serving or selfish? Does it mean God only uses us for His own gain?

Good reader, think not such things. If I sit down and make a pot out of clay, I can choose to make it a serving dish or a bedpan, and nobody will think less of me for either. If God crafted us, and if He did make us only to suit His own purposes, there would be no fault in it--isn't that what a creator does? Even if God did create some people only to be punished, that would be His prerogative, wouldn't it? (Romans 9)

But that just isn't the way God thinks--look at the Bible! In Ezekiel 18, God tells his prophet, "'Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?' declares the Lord. 'Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?'" (Ezekiel 18:23) In Hosea, He says, "My people are determined to turn from Me... I will not carry out My fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim, For I am God, and not man--the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath." (Hosea 11:7a, 9) In the New Testament, Peter says "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) Is this a description of a creator that creates some vessels for beauty and some for destruction? Rather, aren't these the words of a father that cares for His children, that longs for them to come home?

If we accept that God does care for us in all things and that He saves us in order that we might serve Him, then we must conclude that serving God is good. God saves us for our own good, and that good is to serve Him.

Have you ever longed for a greater truth in your life, for a greater purpose? Have you envied those that die for a cause they believe in, whose convictions and sense of purpose were so strong that they were willing to give their lives for their beliefs?

As Christians, we have such a purpose, given by God to us when He saved us from our sins. Before, we were unloved; before, we were not a people--but God has chosen to love us, and has made us His own people. Before, we were slaves of sin--but God offers us the chance to become servants of righteousness. (Author's note: I don't say 'slave' because we don't think of slaves as having a choice--this wasn't always the case. In Paul's day, I could sell myself into slavery to pay a debt. Once my debt was paid, I could buy myself back out of slavery. In Israel, a master was required to set all his slaves free every fifty years. The slave could choose to remain a slave, or he could take his freedom and go. This is the slavery God offers to us: we choose to serve Him, and we can choose to stop serving Him. This at-will slavery is completely foreign to a society that tends to consider any form of slavery as evil, and so I say: slaves (against our will) to sin, servants (by our choice) to righteousness in God.)

This is our purpose, this is our cause; yet, God doesn't force His will or His salvation on us. We can choose not to serve Him; but, by our natures, we must serve some greater master. If we choose not to serve God, then we must choose to serve mammon, the god of this age, the devil. On the other hand, we can choose to let God buy off our debt with the blood of Christ, and we can accept His purpose for our lives.

What choice will I make today? Will I accept God's purpose, or will I find my own?

The choice is mine.