I recently found an old book containing several scholarly articles on the topic of theology and science. I don’t recall ever reading much more than the title of the book, but at that moment I became curious and browsed through the articles written within it to see if there was anything interesting to read. I picked out one of the articles that captured my curiosity and casually began reading it. Before I had a chance to stop myself, I had read the entire article. I have to admit that a lot of the ideas presented were over my head, but there were some points made by the author that captured my interest, in large part because they were consistent with the teaching of the Bible.

The article that I read touched on a nuance of the creationist argument of intelligent design. The basic premise of intelligent design is that since the world has a design, it must mean that there is a designer. This article examined the interpretation of design in the world by asking a simple question; even when a design might be apparent, how can we know that the world actually is designed without knowing the intention of the creator? The observed world might appear to be designed, just as accidental paint splatters may form a pattern, but that doesn’t mean that we understand the purpose and intention of the designer. One of the conclusions made by the article is that we can only know if the world really is designed if we know that there is a purpose behind it, even if the purpose can only be understood by God. Whether the author is right or not, the idea of knowing God’s purpose begs the question — how can we understand the things that only God can understand?

This question about how we can understand the things of God is what stimulated my interest the most, and genuinely made me excited. To many people in the world, it really is impossible to understand the things of God. However, the Bible tells us how the knowledge of God is attainable. 1 Corinthians 2:11 explains this quite elegantly, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” The fact that God’s purpose and intentions may be known and understood with the help of His Holy Spirit living in us is very powerful. The human capacity to research and understand the world around us is limited, and falls completely short when trying to describe reasons why the world works the way it does. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit, God’s purpose may be known.

And what a glorious purpose God has for the world! The Bible clearly reveals that God’s great plan involves bringing converted Christians into His Family to inherit the Kingdom of God (compare Ephesians 1:4-5, 11). The words in the Bible are easy enough to read, but grasping what they mean and what to do with the information requires thinking and behaving in a way that conforms to God’s law, which is spiritual, but is contrary to the carnal ways of the world. Our minds must be renewed if we want to understand the Will of God (Romans 12:2). It is exciting to know that the ability to understand God’s purpose is within our grasp if we allow the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide our decisions. It is even greater to know that His purpose involves each of us individually.

The world will continue to argue about the nature of creation, the meaning of life, the reasons for existence, but without God’s understanding, any conclusions will be incomplete and wrong. It truly is a gift to know that the most valuable knowledge available to man is simple to obtain. For those who are called now and who will be called in the future, God’s understanding is available by repenting, believing, accepting the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and allowing His Holy Spirit to shape our thinking.

Every day we each wake up with another chance to try our hand at fulfilling the purpose that God has set before us. Every day God presents us with an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and overcome the carnal world in which we reside. Every day we are challenged in an individual, custom-made, and personalized way so that we may build the character that God believes we have the potential to achieve. Whether we notice it or not, all of this happens – every single day. With each of the personal challenges we face on a daily basis we can respond by becoming discouraged and giving up, or by getting up and continuing on. For this reason, we need encouragement every day as well. Be encouraged.

Jesus Christ Himself offered encouraging words to His disciples just before He was arrested and crucified, saying, “’These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’” (John 16:33). Jesus knows from personal experience how difficult it is to keep going and live a life that glorifies God. We can be encouraged to know that He has overcome the world, and for a righteous purpose.

But what is that purpose? Do you have a purpose that drives you every day? Is it clear? Our purpose must be clear. Even more encouragement is offered in Romans 8:28-29, where we learn that the events in our lives all occur for God’s purpose. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” With this firmly in our minds and hearts, we can overcome any discouragement that we may experience by simply accepting it as an event working for God’s purpose. Knowing that God has predestined those whom He calls to be part of His Family, and that all events work towards that end should give us the strength to turn any discouragement into encouragement. Our purpose is God’s purpose, which is to be part of His Family. It really is as simple and clear as that.

Even if our purpose is simple and clear, it still takes work. Getting up each day, with the purpose of overcoming the world takes the strength and faith of Jesus Christ working within us.  And fortunately, the strength necessary to fulfill the purpose that God has for us is freely available to us if we are willing to repent and become baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This strength is so powerful, that it allows us to do anything in accordance with the Will of God (Philippians 4:13). With every new day, we all have a chance to put that strength to work.

After reading about the events that occurred during the Boston Marathon bomb explosion in April, I was horrified like so many others. However, something I found very intriguing were the allegations that the bombing had been threatened ahead of time. The fact that people witnessed bomb sniffing dogs searching the grounds for explosives offers evidence that a bomb threat may have actually been called in. While the facts may remain a mystery, I could not help but reflect on the moral conundrum that the race officials would have been in, if in fact a bomb threat was received. In such an event a choice must be made to respond. Choosing to publicize the bomb threat may result in public panic, putting spectators in danger, potential humiliation if the threat was a fake, and a failed race event if cancelation was required. Choosing to keep the threat a secret, places the lives of spectators in danger, adds pressure to find the threatened explosives, and incriminates the race officials if the effort to find the explosives fails. One could make an argument that either choice is right, depending on the circumstances.

We may be fortunate enough not to be in the position to have to make life and death decisions right now, but we still have to make moral choices every day. When faced with a decision to make, especially when it involves a moral judgment, the clarity can blur between what is right and what is not. Fortunately, we have the Bible as our guide and rule book to help us judge righteously. Yet even then, the right decisions are not always obvious. In fact, we have proof that our moral judgment sometimes fails. As Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.” If our judgment and our actions based on such judgment were always righteous, we would not sin. While this is true, we cannot go through life refraining from making decisions just because it is difficult and we may fail. Moral paralysis is not an option for a Christian.

What we have to remember is the faith of Jesus Christ must guide our choices if we want to work towards becoming righteous. Any righteous decision that we may attempt on our own is doomed to failure without relying on God’s guidance. The carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7), and therefore cannot be relied upon to guide us down the path of moral righteousness. Paul understood this with clarity, teaching in Philippians 3:8-9, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…” The righteousness that we work to attain originates with God.

It is reassuring to know that we have the resources at our disposal to be right according to the standards of God. The difficult challenge that we must take to heart is to remove from the equation our own human and carnal assessment of what is right. Only God can inspire us to act righteously, through the faith of Jesus Christ working within us.