I Have Purpose

In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it. (Mark 11:14)

According to Mark’s gospel, when Jesus cursed the fig tree He never technically pronounced barrenness over the tree, he only removed its purpose for being. According to Jesus’ pronouncement, there may even still be fruit, but for one reason or another people would not gather and eat it, or carry it to their table.

From that moment the tree became insignificant. There was no reason for it to take up space. Within 24 hours it had withered from the roots up.

If not having a purpose is a curse, then discovering one’s purpose for existence is the beginning of walking in the blessing. A person who has heard God’s call, maybe not an audible voice, but the assurance of knowing “I was made for this reason,” is beginning to move into living the blessed life.

All schooling should have as its goal to bring young people to the place where, after having examined all the letters and numbers, theories and histories, there begins to stir an inner resonance that moves them into the work that has been prepared for them by the One who knows them and made them.

To attempt to educate children in an institution that wants to avoid any mention of God, and make every attempt to explain away Creation, is to plunge them into a culture of insignificance. All the humanistic refrains to “believe in yourself” and “you can do anything you want to” are meaningless until the question of origin is answered. “Where did I come from? and Why am I here?” are too basic to be brushed away or satisfied with scientific conjectures about random cells morphing over millions of years.

The youngest have a love of learning because the world carries with it a certain fascination, but when preadolescence is undirected toward spiritual and moral Truth, restlessness begins to develop that soon matures into rebellion against a world that has no obvious place for them.

Christian in your daily prayers, proclaim that Jesus is Lord over our education system, and pray for your child’s teachers, and for your school administrator and board of education.