MESSAGE 6
"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou" WHAT GOD PURPOSED YOU TO BE. -- (PART 2)
Nehemiah 8:4 "made for the purpose"
Amos 2:11-12 "I raised up of your sons for prophets...your young men for Nazarites.."
Romans 9:17 "for this same purpose have I raised thee up.."
Young person, be thou what God purposed you to be in The Pattern of His Image, through The Perception of His Call, and in The Power of His Spirit, and also in the following ways:
In [THE PARDON OF HIS LOVE]...William Scott was a young Union soldier from Vermont during the Civil War. The Northern Army was at Chain Bridge, an area where it was important that their watchmen be alert. But, Will Scott had been without rest for 48 hours and fell asleep at his post. Because of the danger discipline had to be maintained, and Will was court-martialed and sentenced to be shot. Someone interceded for him with President Lincoln, and the day before his execution President Lincoln appeared in Will Scott's tent. After some other conversation with him, Mr. Lincoln said: "My boy, stand up here and look me in the face. You are not going to be shot tomorrow. I believe you when you tell me that you could not keep awake. I am going to trust you and send you back to your regiment. But I have been put to a great deal of trouble on your account. I have had to come up here from Washington, when I have a great deal to do; and what I want to know is, how are you going to pay my bill?"
With a deep sense of gratitude, Will Scott mentioned various ways in which he might, in time, be able to repay his debt, at least in part. But, placing his hands on Will's shoulders, Mr. Lincoln let him know that the only way he could repay that debt was by being, in the future, the soldier he ought to be: "If from this day William Scott does his duty, so that if I should be present when he came to die, he could look me in the face as he does now, and say, 'I have kept my promise, and I have done my duty as a soldier,' then my debt will be paid. Will you make that promise and try to keep it?"'
The promise was given, and it was kept nobly. Then, in one of the battles in Pennsylvania, William Scott fell, mortally wounded, but before his death he said to his comrades: "If any of you ever have a chance, I wish you would tell President Lincoln that I have never forgotten the kind words he said to me at Chain Bridge, and, now that I am dying, I want to thank him again because he gave me the chance to fall like a soldier in battle, and not like a coward by the hands of my comrades." (from 1000 Ill.G.P.Eckman) Young person, we all need to say "Thank you again, Jesus, for providing me with the pardon of your love that gave me a second chance to be what you purposed that I should be," and then we need to demonstrate our gratitude by doing our duty unto death.
In [THE PRODUCT OF HIS WISDOM], be what God purposed you to be. He didn't make a mistake. He really did make you just like He wanted you to be physically and mentally in this life. A minister visited an institution for the "deaf and dumb," as those who could not hear or speak were once called. The purpose of his visit was to test those who were there on their spiritual or Biblical knowledge. The minister wrote on a blackboard: "Who created the heavens and the earth?" A little boy came forward, took the chalk and wrote the answer: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Then the minister wrote: "Why did Christ come?" The little boy wrote in reply: "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Then the minister wrote a question, which, after the lad had read it, caused him to be momentarily crest-fallen: "Why did God create me able to hear and speak and create you deaf and dumb?" But God gave that little boy the answer, and he wrote on the board: "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight!" Young people, don't bemoan being what you are in the human. That "handicap" that you may have, or feel that you have could be the very thing that will help you the most to be a blessing to others and make it into heaven. "Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" Ro. 9:20 The answer to that question is always, No! He knew best when He made us like we are humanly, no matter how impossible it may be to understand why He did so.
In [THE PERFECTION OF HIS WORKMANSHIP], be what God purposed you to be: "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it -- (or, finish it, margin) -- until the day of Jesus Christ." Philip. 1:6 Among the art treasures of Rome, it has been said, there was a mysterious, unfinished statue of a barbarian king. The work was wrought with great care up to a certain point--then mysteriously, it was never finished. Why, no one seems to know. Perhaps the sculptor died, or for some other reason was simply unable to complete the good beginning he made. This never happens when Jesus is the Sculptor of one's salvation. He ever liveth and never faileth to finish what He has begun, if we allow Him to do so.
A little boy was building a snow man. He had it completed, all but one arm, when he left it. When he returned, the sun had melted his snow man into nothing but a puddle. Later, when the boy was up town with his mother, he saw a one-armed man walking down the street. Running up to this man, the little boy cried out: "Mr. Snowman! Mr. Snowman! Why did you run away before I was finished with you?!" Ha Ha! Yet, how sad it must make the Lord when someone that He is working on spiritually runs away from Him before He finishes the work which He is performing on their soul. Young person, hold steady during the grind of daily life or the fires of tribulation. He'll bring you out of it when He has finished the work He is doing for your soul.
In closing, be what God purposed you to be in [THE PURPOSE OF YOUR OWN WILL] A melancholy lawyer moved to a new town and began to immerse himself in his practice. He was observed sometimes walking along in the evening with shoulders slumped, head down, and a look of distress upon his face. One day, an artist who had a downtown studio struck up a conversation with the sad lawyer, and the lawyer told him that he had made one big mistake in his life. They parted, and for some time the lawyer didn't see that artist, but the day came when the artist invited the lawyer over to his studio to view a portrait which he had done and thought might be his masterpiece. Accepting the invitation, the lawyer was surprised to see, upon the unveiling of the painting, a portrait of himself. Only in the artist's painting he was standing straight, with head up, and a sunny look of hope and determination was seen in his countenance. Inspired by what he saw before him, that lawyer said to himself: "If he sees that in me, then I c an see that in me. If he thinks I can be that man, then I can be that man, and what is more, I WILL BE!"
Dear young person, Jesus does not simply see you as you are now. He sees what He can make of you through His grace. Like Daniel of old, purpose in your own heart and will just now to be what He purposes you to be, and you can be radiant with a positive glow of His grace from your being.
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