Purpose Vs. Calling

Purpose Vs. Calling

By Kaitlyn F.

We were talking one day in our Bible study, and at the end we were given the task of finding the difference between purpose and calling. From what I found, purpose is the reason or motivation of why you are doing something, while calling is a job that you do. They are not interchangeable, and even I have been found guilty of thinking that they are one in the same. If you are Christian then our purpose is to bring glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, 

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 

That sentence describes our motivation behind everything we do, and it is to bring glory to God. Calling is the job that you do, whether it be a teacher, or an engineer, or the CEO of a company. The members of Casting Crowns were called to work at their own churches, but they were also called to form a band and write such amazing songs for people. That is their calling. They do everything that they do to glorify God, and that is their purpose. 

I just want to make you more aware of the difference between these two words, because understanding the difference may help develop other understanding of God and yourself.

The Way to God

The Way to God
By Sarah P.

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6, NLT)

Have you ever felt lost before? Maybe you were physically lost, like being separated from your parents in the grocery store. Or, maybe you were mentally lost, like not knowing what the answer to a question on your homework was. What did you do? You probably found someone who could take you to your parents. In the case of schoolwork, you probably looked back over a chapter in your textbook for the answer.

These same solutions apply to being spiritually lost. If you’re wondering who God is and how to find Him, the answer is remarkably simple: look at Jesus and His Word, the Bible. It tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus makes a remarkable claim here. Think about what He’s saying. First of all, He says He is the only way to God. That doesn’t allow for anything or anyone else. Second, Jesus says God is His Father. He claims to be the Son of God. That’s a very risky statement; it’s the reason people ignored, hated, and eventually killed Jesus. If it wasn’t true, why would Jesus risk His popularity by saying it? His willingness to make and stand by these two statements makes Him different than anyone else who has ever claimed to know the way to God. Jesus doesn’t just tell us that He knows the way to God; He says He is the Way to God because God is His Father.

That’s incredible, yet it’s also simple! If you’re lost, all you have to do is believe in Jesus. In John 14:11, Jesus says, “Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) If you want to find God, Jesus is the Way!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

Our Future

Our Future

By Kaitlyn F.

I don’t care how much we try to avoid it, but we all have a future. 

Some of us think that our future is so far away that we don’t need to worry about it now.  Most of us are just trying to get through school, or college, or whatever we are doing. But we should be thinking about our future and how our actions can shape it.  

I was reading the beginning of Lamentations, and for those of you who haven’t read it in great detail before, it talks about the downfall of Jerusalem with heir sin and how everyone had turned away from God.  The one verse in there that stuck out to me was:  

Lamentations 1:9

Her uncleanness was in her skirts; She did not consider her future. Therefore she has fallen astonishingly; She has no comforter. "See, O LORD, my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself!

When the people in Jerusalem were sinning and turning away from God, they weren’t thinking of the destruction that it would have on the city later. Then the future came, and they were in deep with their sins from the past. And even though this happened a long time ago, it still can happen to us. If you are just worried about today, then you might go get drunk, or sleep with your boyfriend before marriage. But in the future those actions can have consequences like having an accident because you are drunk, or having to drop out of school because you have to take care of your child by yourself. I’m not saying that you need to worry constantly about your future, but keeping you future in the back of your mind when you are about to do something, might stop you from doing something you will regret later.