The Highest Purpose

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!”

Romans 11:36

One thing I loved about the new “DAVID” movie is the role of David’s mother. I appreciate how the writers used a biblically respectful imagination to portray her possible influence on David’s life. After all, someone had to tend to the heart of the king after God’s own heart. She isn’t mentioned in the biblical account, though, so all we really know about her is her connection to the king.

I was thinking about that this morning while listening through yet another list of names in the Bible. The genealogies were important to contemporary readers but mean pretty much nothing to a modern-day lay reader like me. It’s in one ear and out the other (except for the brothers Uz and Buz in Genesis 22- I want to meet those parents!). As the latest list washed over me today, however, I realized that I do know the most important thing about each person. Uz and Buz and all the rest are a part of God’s plan for the redemption of His people, and their names are not listed to draw attention to themselves, but to highlight God’s faithfulness to generations of His people.

Even the superstars of the Bible, whose words and actions changed the course of history, have one primary purpose: to point to Jesus. David’s many victories, for example, highlighted not his own courage but the strength of the One who fought for him. His life and reign pointed to a greater King that God would send to rescue his people from the bigger giants of sin and death. That King’s own genealogy is comprised of generations of people who lived in imperfect, quiet anticipation of His coming, their purpose rooted not in their talents or accomplishments but in the way they pointed to Him (Matthew 1:2-17). The most important thing about all of them is their connection to the King.

It’s good to be reminded that the highest purpose of every life is to point to Christ. Especially now, because for reasons only He knows, God has ordained that one of the ways my life will point to Him is cancer. It’s a humbling prospect. I like to be cautious and in control. As a little kid on the soccer field, I would hang outside of the mob to assess the situation before going after the ball, and often I would spend so much time analyzing my next move that I missed the opportunity to play. I have lived much of my life that way. But after my diagnosis, any delusion of control I had over my own life disappeared. As treatment continues, I often feel weak and just…small. Over and over I have been stripped, literally and figuratively, of pride I didn’t know I was harboring. Sometimes it makes me fearless and free. Other times I feel like one of those meaningless names on a list.

So, it was providential that the first book I was given to read this year was The Selfless Way of Christ by Henri Nouwen. In it, Nouwen writes of three major temptations of the human heart: to be relevant, to be spectacular, and to be powerful. Cancer has brought to light all of these temptations in me by taking away my ability to achieve them. Relevant, spectacular, and powerful are off the menu. Instead, I am scarred, unimpressive, and exhausted.

It is a hard gift to be forced to confront my pride in this way, but I’m finding that God’s purpose for me is so much better than any relevant, spectacular, or powerful life could be- He wills that my life should point not to my own waning power, but to His eternal power that works in me (Ephesians 3:20). And if a scarred, unimpressive, exhausted vessel is the one that best showcases His power, so be it.

I have bad days, when shame and discouragement threaten. But many days are good days, when God reminds me that there’s nothing wrong with a life characterized by weakness; in fact, this may be one of the greatest gifts He gives me. It’s the life He chose for His Son: “he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power” (2 Corinthians 13:4). And it’s not as depressing as it seems. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10). 

God has given generation after generation of His people the gift of pointing to Jesus- in strength and weakness, victory and defeat, fame and anonymity. As for me, I am a continuation of His family line: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 1:4-5). The most important thing about me is my connection to the King. I’m not in the spotlight. I’m not even directing the spotlight. May I seize the opportunity cancer provides to take my place alongside David’s mom, Uz, Buz, and all the others as part of the stage on which He shines.