Session 13

Live With Purpose

From Romans: A 16-Day Devotional

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Can you remember the first time someone asked you that question? The emphasis on our future career and our need for a life purpose starts early. Embodied in this question is the idea that if we want to be successful tomorrow, we have to start planning today. But what if we were to reverse that notion and lived today as though it was our last? What if we spent less time planning for tomorrow, and more time experiencing the purpose and hope in front of us today?

On the other side of each step of obedience is a closer, more intimate relationship with God.

There are no guarantees in life. Romans 13:8-14 reminds us that we are not promised a tomorrow to do what we are called to today. When the Holy Spirit prompts us to do something, we should do it immediately.

Too often, we're quick to fulfill deadlines at work and commitments at school, but slow to respond to the Holy Spirit's nudge to invite the barista to church or call the friend we haven't seen in a while. We look at our calendars and to-do lists and think:

Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?

It’s not urgent. It can wait.

What we’re forgetting is that our real lives — the abundant lives Jesus died to give us — happen in those Spirit-led moments, not in the completion of a checklist. On the other side of each step of obedience is a closer, more intimate relationship with God.

Living for today is approaching each day with the hope that Jesus has gone before us and is coming back for us. This is not easy in a world that values achievement more than relationship. But we have the strength of Jesus and a community of Christians to help us along the way.  

Reflect:

• Have you ever felt prompted to do something for someone and resisted? What was it?
• Compare that experience to a time when you’ve been prompted to do something and responded right away. What did you experience in that moment of immediate obedience?
• What’s one thing you’ve been putting off and need to do today?