{"id":436,"date":"2014-03-12T18:44:58","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T18:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redeemedman.wordpress.com\/?p=436"},"modified":"2014-03-12T18:44:58","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T18:44:58","slug":"why-am-i-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/?p=436","title":{"rendered":"Why Am I Here?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For we are God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
\n<\/i>Ephesians 2:10<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jesus<\/a>
Jesus the Carpenter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year, in my Blog, I posed the question \u201cWho am I\u201d, and concluded I was a redeemed image of Jesus. As I write today, a few weeks ago my father passed away. As you will see from Eulogy to him in last month\u2019s blog, I am unsure what his faith was when he died. This has led me to ask of myself, \u201cDid I reflect the Image of Jesus well enough, did I fulfil my created purpose?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that is a very poor question that I asked of myself, very negative and self-pitying; definitely feeling sorry for myself. What I should have remembered is that as a redeemed image of Jesus, I am God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ to do \u201cgood works\u201d. Not only that but these \u201cgood works\u201d have been prepared in advance <\/strong><\/em>for me to do by none other than the God of the Universe, the Almighty, Sovereign, everlasting Lord and King of Kings! It is not up to me to decide what \u201cgood works\u201d I am going to do; I don\u2019t have to find these \u201cgood works\u201d; nor \u00a0do I have to worry about whether I can do these \u201cgood works\u201d. God foreknew and predestined me (Romans 8:29<\/strong><\/span>) and chose me in Christ from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4<\/strong><\/span>). God \u00a0knew who I was going to be, knew that I would belong to Christ and so prepared these \u201cgood works\u201d in advance for me to do! So how can I fail in these \u201cgood works\u201d, \u00a0how can I fail in my created purpose?<\/p>\n

It was He [Jesus]who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God\u2019s people for works of service,…..
\n<\/i>Ephesians 4:11-12<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Just because I did not evangelise my Father as I thought I should, and I did not bring him to salvation as a mighty warrior of God, does not mean I failed. We are all created by God for a purpose, some to be apostles, some to be evangelists etc. Only some are chosen for each purpose, but we are all created to do \u201cgood works\u201d. Our job is to seek God\u2019s face (Psalm 27:8<\/strong><\/span>), to worship Him and to listen out for the jobs He has for us. And we can be sure in the knowledge that however weak we are, we can rely on Him for the strength and ability to do these \u201cgood works\u201d (Philippians 4:13<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

So, why am I here? I am here to do \u201cgood works\u201d, created in advance by my Heavenly Father. As a redeemed image of Jesus, an instrument of God\u2019s workmanship, I am created to do \u201cgood works\u201d, as God directs, and to do them in God\u2019s strength, not mine.<\/p>\n

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
\n<\/i>Hebrews 13:20-21<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For we are God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 Last year, in my Blog, I posed the question \u201cWho am I\u201d, and concluded I was a redeemed image of Jesus. As I write today, a few weeks ago my father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}