Billy Graham once said that one of the most surprising things he’s observed about life is how fast it goes by.
With each passing year, the clock and the calendar seem to speed up until it feels as if birthdays come every month instead of once a year.
Jesus’ earthly life was brief by 21st-century standards. Thirty-three is very young today. Yet His life was filled with accomplishment. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, fed the multitudes, and turned water into wine. He preached a new message of love and forgiveness. He exposed the falseness of legalistic, self-righteous religion. And He pointed the true way to God.
In His greatest act, Jesus went to the cross to pay for sin and to destroy death forever. His short life forever changed history.
God has created each person with a purpose, a role only he or she can play in history. He puts that desire into every human heart and equips us to fulfill that role. But we must pursue it and work to achieve it with God’s help.
Second Thessalonians 1:11–12 says,
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our real purpose is to bring honor to the name of Jesus, fulfilling the unique role God gave each person.
As Mordecai asked Queen Esther, who was to risk her life to save her people, “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).
Yes, life on earth is brief. But God brought you to where you are for just this time in history, a time to serve Him as only you can. So spend it well. Pursue your purpose!’
