In his book, Ideas Rule the World, Pastor Sam Adeyemi traced the origin of everything in the world to the seed of idea, first in the mind of God then in the minds of individuals. Admittedly, nothing happens in the world without passing through the incubating stage of idea. The question is which idea really rules the world and how can that idea be generated?
It is safe to say that many people want a life of effect, whereby they are in the position to influence the lives of others. As a result, in history, we see people maim, kill and offer all manners of untold sacrifices to attain this innate desire. Yet, in the end, only a few attain their coveted goal. For these few, not all have their works universally accepted on the tenet of nobility. Certainly, people like Adolf Hitler did not. Besides, when universally acclaimed, how many can really conscientiously say that everything ends here? This is where the question of idea generation for a purposeful living comes in. The truth is, not all ideas can be said to be purposeful. Even when we claim our own ideas are, it poses the other question of, which purpose, or better put, whose purposes are they serving? Do we just wake up one morning and create what the purpose for our lives will be? How exactly do we know our purpose prior to fulfillment? I think it was in this line of thought that Saint Augustine of Hippo was once quoted, ‘Thou hast created us for thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in thee’.
Our purpose can only be discovered when our heart find its rest in God through relationship in his son Jesus Christ. Every other ambition pursued outside this will eventually turn out to be an exercise in vainness. The bible says in Revelation 4:11 that ‘Thou art worthy, o Lord … for thou art created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.’ Simply put, we were created by God and for God, and to chase any other life ambition outside this, will be loathing. Isaiah 43:21 says ‘This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.’ I once read about the incredible story of a rich man who lived once in America, his castle sat on 265,000 acres in California. It was also on record that at a time, he owned 50 miles of California coastline and collected art works for 88 years, including a 3500-year-old Egyptian statues. After about 90 years of owing things, this man died. Today, we learnt that people go through his properties and they all say the same thing that he sure had many things. That was the end of the story. He went through life, had many things, and then died, leaving everything behind.
The story of purposeful living is not about how many things we possess, or the chains of investment we control. Rather, it is a story of meritorious service to God. Inasmuch as our service to God may involve making money, doing businesses and undertaking other legitimate procedures, the core of our service should be how well are we performing in accordance to His specifics. This is what makes a life of relationship with Him a prerequisite, since we can only follow and obey someone, we already know. Prayer happens to be one of the main keys of maintaining godly relationship and generating purposeful ideas for living. Prayer to a Christian in preserving his life is like water to a fish. I doubt if a Christian can truthfully survive or amount to anything in life save through an effective prayer life. Prayer is pivotal to the day-to-day living of any Christian to the extent that it has even been noticed overtime that a Christian cannot live to his true potential (his real life) except he has a cordial prayer relationship with God. This is essentially what guides the Christian’s life.
As a result, the bible urges Christians to’ continue in prayer…’ (Colossians 4:2). In Luke 18:1, Jesus says men ought to pray always and not get dizzy. The bible comprehensively encourages Christians to cultivate the habit of persistent prayer, especially prayer offered in the Spirit (Jude 1:20, Ephesians 6:18). The admonition to offer prayer especially in the spirit, or still more in ‘the Holy Ghost’ as mentioned in Jude 1:20, more or less limit effective prayer to the confine of people having the Holy Spirit, that is, those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and savior. Suffice to say that most Christians can readily testify to the fact that life is practically useless and uninteresting without a consistent life of prayer thereby, making the routine of prayer essential to his overall existence.
It is however unfortunate that instead of consciously existing to develop our relationship with God and in the process discovers purpose, a typical Christian want to do it like the man next door. Consequently, he runs the rat race like an ordinary man. He lives and wishes to establish a lasting legacy like some natural notable men of old. He fights and sweats to build physical and ideological monuments that never last.
Inasmuch as these desires are stately in themselves, the truth is, one day all natural achievements will most likely be trashed within a blink of an eye by an enfant terrible from nowhere. After all, prior to setting his new world records most people had never heard of Usain Bolt. And most athletic commentator would tell you that a 9.5 over the 100-metre-distance was a pipe dream. But Usain Bolt did, and the rest is now history. His 9.58 seconds over the distance was phenomenal and unequal by any man until date. However, who says another man will not break this record soon. Besides, I do not ever remember people talking about the man who broke the 100-metre record some fifty years ago. I certainly do not know, and I do not want to know. It is hard to imagine that this man must have been the Usain Bolt of his time. The truth is, when it comes to the crunch ties, the only things that will stand the test of time are those of eternal worth. This is the stage where God is the only arbiter and the rewarder of human worth and works.
Finally, there was a story once told about Dr. James Dobson. In college, he had the ambition of becoming the school’s tennis champion. He felt a high sense of achievement when his trophy was displayed in the school’s trophy cabinet. Years later somebody mailed him that trophy; they had found it in a trash can when the school was remodeled. Recounting this experience, Dr Dobson remarked: ’Given enough time, all (our) trophies will be trashed by someone else.’ The only things that will be worth mentioning are things done to satisfy our unseen God. Perhaps, we will realize hopefully not too late, that the only things worth all the hoots in life are God-inspired endeavours.