This article is not about the current understanding of "Argument From Design" - proving the existence of God through the design of the universe. This article is about discovering man's purpose through design. It's based on the presupposition that God actually, intentionally, purposefully designed us with purpose built into our spirit, soul and body. It's an argument from design about the very purpose of man.
WHERE DID THAT WORD COME FROM?
What is Moses and the Apostle Paul saying when they use this phrase: "...the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it..."? [see Deuteronomy 30:11-16; Romans 10:4-10 - see below]. The right question to ask is this: "How did that word get there --- in the mouth and in the heart?" If God put it there, then everything we need to be saved, to follow God and to understand our purpose is already in our hearts ready to be believed, confessed and pursued. Could it be built into our very being?
Now what holds us back from believing, speaking and living by that word - the word of faith, the word of truth that is in our hearts? It can be many things: our fallenness, our pride, ignorance, stubbornness, rebeliousness. Nevertheless, that word is still there, ready to be believed, spoken, practiced.
WHAT PREVENTS US FROM BELIEVING WITH OUR HEARTS AND CONFESSING WITH OUR MOUTHS?
In Romans 10:8, The Apostle Paul says that this word is "in our hearts and in our mouths," but in verse 14 and 15, he says that we have to first hear the Gospel in order to wake us up to that which is already in our hearts and mouths. It's because sin has caused us to be blind to see Jesus and deaf to hear His word - that we were "dead in our sins" and that is why we need to hear the truth of the Gospel - that Jesus came to save us and restore us to our original design, to His intent, and to train us for a great Kingdom to come (see Romans 10:14, 15; Ephesians 2:1-10).
One has said it this way: "We know the truth in our knower." And what do we know in our knower? That we were designed to be with Jesus. We were created for Him - to be with Him, to please Him, to know Him, to partner with Him in His great love for people, to rule with Him in His Kingdom to come. Any other purpose we pursue is frustrating and doomed to fail because we are going against our very design and destiny, which is built-in to each of us human beings made in His image. Any pursuit other than pursuing Jesus, partnering with Him in His love for people and living for His reward (vs. man's reward) is actually a perversion of the very design of our being. No wonder nothing works but this.
PEACE & PURPOSE = LIVING ACCORDING TO OUR DESIGN; PERPLEXITY & PERVERSION = LIVING NOT ACCORDING TO OUR DESIGN
Don't believe it? Try living life outside of this purpose. ...oh, you have already. ...and you still are? How's it workin' for you? Want to get back to your design and destiny? The answer is not "out there" - it's in your mouth, and in your heart. And if you want to discover this and live it out, then nobody can stop you from connecting with your eternal design and destiny. Nobody, that is, except you.
.
.
..."For the commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it our of reach (far away).
..."It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?'
..."Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?'
..."But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
..."See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil;
in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord our God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it..."
,
.....- Moses, Deuteronomy 30:11-14
.
.
...For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
...For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.
...But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down),
or 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is to bring Christ up from the dead)."
...But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" - that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
...that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
...for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
...For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed."
.
.....- The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:4-11 (emphasis mine, quotes from Hebrew Scriptures)
No comments:
Post a Comment