Purpose by Design:

    In the quantum realm, the realm upon which all that's physical rests, reality is so nebulous, so statistical and spectral, that physicists question if anything is real. No matter how hard you try, something gnaws at this sensation of meaninglessness. If nothing else, "existence" alone contains within itself the concept of "meaning"; To exist is to mean, even if the meaning is unknown or even unknowable. To mean nothing is, still, to mean. It would seem using cold logic that life as we know it is dismal at best and meaningless at its worst. Logic is easy, logic taken to its logical end isn’t.
    Some believe, “We are stranded, third rock from the sun, in a cold, dead universe that will one day fold back on itself and suck into oblivion all endeavors, loves, passions, and dreams.” Albert Camus, The Nobel prize winner for literature in 1957 said, that we live in an “absurd godless world”. Nietzsche proclaimed that “GOD IS DEAD” Pascal, another French philosopher, speaking of our universe said, “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.” The South African, Lauren vander Post thought life was a “burden of meaninglessness”
    Humanity’s worst fear is discovering not that we got the meaning wrong but that there is none…Is it not interesting that the finger has its purpose. The eye has a purpose. The ear has a purpose. The air, the sun and the moon all serve a purpose. Then how can these that are so finely tuned and majestically woven together ultimately end in purposelessness? More finely tuned than Pachabels Canon in D, more complex than Boolean algebra, and deeper dimensionally than Michelangelo’s Creazione di Adamo. How can it nevertheless culminate into nothing? With so many individual and finite things – replete with points, opulent with purpose themselves – How can something so beautifully, precisely, and artfully put together as a human being climax into blunt nothingness?
    We live in a culture in which many things are disposable. We have disposable contacts, disposable cameras, paper plates and soft-drink cans, plastic syringes, shavers and wait for it.....disposable diapers, YES! But a disposable mania leads to a significant problem: We sometimes regard human beings as cheap and disposable. Recently a young woman left her high school prom, went to the bathroom, had a baby, disposed of it, and returned to the dance. Dr. Kavorkian in Michigan is forcing us to ask if our elderly people with life-threatening illnesses are disposable. Can we put them to sleep as we do diseased animals? Or, is there something fundamentally different about human beings? Not many years ago in the Netherlands, physicians participated in over 6000 active euthanasia cases. They injected lethal doses of morphine to end the lives of the old and seemingly useless. Will such practices become common in America? We are raising a generation of people who feel disposable, unworthy, unloved. Many children from divorced backgrounds wonder if they caused their parents' breakup. Sometimes victims of abuse have the irrational view that somehow they deserved it. When we feel unworthy, we don't take care of ourselves. We eat too much or smoke or overwork. Or we starve ourselves, thinking that if we are thin enough, we might be valued. And if things get bad enough, we become suicidal. Obviously, if things get that bad, we need immediate therapy and medical intervention. Is there a cure for this terribly distorted view of ourselves?    
    We must first understand how and why we were created. Return with me now to the sixth day of creation. In Genesis 1:24 and 25 It is here that we discover that God created the cattle and creeping things and all the beasts of the earth. God must have had a blast—painting the stripes on the zebra, stretching the giraffe's neck, fine tuning the songs of birds or increasing the decibels of a lions roar. But then came afternoon of the 6th day. It was time for the climax of creation. With creative flair, God grabs a handful of clay and begins to shape it with a special gleam in his eye. As He works that clay, he thinks out loud, "This creature is going to be different from all the rest. This one will be family, not a creature really but one with the potential to be my son or daughter." And so, God created man and woman in his own image. What does that mean? The word "image" means "exact resemblance." Haven't you heard the old saying, "She is the spitting image of her Mom." Or, "He is a chip off the old block." A chip of God is in you. Stamped upon your DNA is the hallmark Made by the Lord God Almighty. Essentially, you are not an earthly creature. You were designed by heavens order and for a heavenly purpose. You were created by a Holy Being for a Holy purpose. Though this world may condemn you, reject you, and kill you, But it cannot banish from you that spark of divinity, that inexorable reflection of God that is inextricably bound up in you.
    What evidence is there that God's image is in us? For one thing...our ability to reason. Our minds are incredible computers, God-like NOT  ape-like. Animals do not possess the capacity for knowledge and understanding. They cannot think in abstract terms. So our ability to reason sets us apart and distinctively shows our uniqueness.
    Another evidence that we are made in the image of God is our conscience. Animals cannot reason between right and wrong. As far as we know, we are the only species on earth that wrestles with matters of right and wrong. Surely that is a sign of the image of God within us. And while we must admit that sin has warped our consciences. Because sometimes we rationalize and excuse everything from adultery to murder. We humans, despite our consciences, are the most dangerous creatures on earth. Yet and still our ability to reason and our conscience prove that we are made in Gods image.
    A third one is our longing for eternity. Deep in our psyche, we know that we are transients here on earth. We can't ever really settle down here. All human beings ponder eternity. Some yearn for it; some are terrified by it. But none can ignore it. Why? Because we are made in the image of an eternal God. The average person uses only 3% of their brain. Genius’s use upwards of 10 %. What’s all that remainder of grey material for? And wouldn’t evolution have discarded the unused portions long ago? Evolutionists do not have an answer for this mystery. But God does, you see God created us to live in eternity, to experience and explore a boundless universe. So it only stands to reason that he would equip us with a mind that could comprehend it all. That would have the capacity to learn new things all though eternity.
    A final evidence of our kinship with God is our capacity for fellowship with God. There is a God-shaped hole in our psyche that nothing but God can fill. Who created that God-shaped hole, the sense that something is missing? God did, when He made us in his image. I remember when I was lost...No matter what I did, peace and fulfillment alluded me. No matter how many pills I popped. No matter how many blunts I smoked. No matter how many beers I drank. No matter how many relationships I took advantage of. There was still an aching void in my heart. That void like sensation is the absence of God in the heart. Jesus placed a vacuum in each and every one of us, that can only be filled by his love. God intrinsically put within his creation the immutable notion that we ought to be better than we are. Mary Magdeline after allowing her body to be used like a doormat, she came to her senses. The prodigal son while gnawing on corn husks in a pig troth came to his senses. The leper who sought healing. The rich, intelligent Nicodemus who sought true conversion but didn’t know it. God has put within the psyche of every man woman and child the rational that something is missing. Even though sin may have dulled our need for God. Something within us yearns for God like a drowning man longs for air, like a shipwrecked sailor longs for a rescue.
    God does not create trash or disposable people. The world puts dollar values on people. In a recent court case, the estate of an unborn child was awarded damages totaling $75,000.  An economic index used by the government for health planning put the value of a 34 year old white man at $328,000 and an 85 year old black woman at $236. The Holy Bible blows away those kinds of calculations. 1Peter 1:18, 19 tells us that we were bought with the precious blood of Christ. That dope addict who will spend tonight in the cold dumpster on some lonely alleyway is worth more than all the bank deposits in the world. You may look down on the homeless. You may recoil at there stench. But do remember they just like you where made in God's image, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for him. Its and affront to Gods creative powers when you think you are worth nothing. Such sentiments denies God's creation and Christ's sacrifice. If you treat yourself as trash, you insult your Maker!
    God can help you redeem any failure and overcome any tragedy. He has a wonderful plan for your life. There is purpose in Christ. 1John 3:2  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Isaiah 43:7 tells us that we were created to glorify God. God never purposed for you to die of lung cancer. It was never in God’s plan that you die from aids. It was never his intention that you would grow up on welfare. He never purposed for you to live in foster care. It was never his design that you smoke those coffin nails. It was never his hope that you got high on dope. You and I, we were intended for higher things. That cold flat apartment is not a permanent situation he has a mansion awaiting your arrival. That broken body of yours is but a temporary shell…there is a new sinless body that awaits you. You’ll not have to worry about obtaining riches…because in glory the streets are paved with transparent gold…The walls are made of crystal jasper…And doors are hewn from single pearls. 
    Life has purpose, and it is only reasonable, It can only make sense when seen in through the eyes of Jesus. Would you like to purpose in your heart to be like Jesus? Pray to Him, ask Him for forgiveness and mercy and it will be granted.

Unfortunately life is not all undiluted happiness and success. The threat of danger hangs over all life's endeavors. No matter how good life gets, we know we're dying. We begin with high hopes and bright dreams, with energy and drive. But all to soon the accelerating years cruelly assault our bodies, minds, and plans. Stealing away much of what makes life worthwhile. We've only just begun to live, it seems, when suddenly its time to die.
The daily news forcibly reminds us that, for all the admitted good it may possess, our world is nonetheless blighted with an appalling burden of evil. Here where we live the tears never stop. The hospitals are never empty. The jails are always crowded. The nations are never at peace. Here, the daily news is of terrorism, scandal, divorce, starvation, child abuse, drug addiction, and death. Here on our planet, violence is entertainment and life is cheap. Decency and morality must fight to survive. It's as if good and evil are locked in desperate combat. Is it possible that behind all the wars of the earth a much greater war rages? The Bible says that there was a war in heaven and that the fallen angels where cast out of heaven unto this earth. See Revelation 12:7-9
Now that leads us to a number of important questions: Why does God continue to permit sin? Did he create evil angels? The Bible claims in 1John 4:8 & 16 that "God is love" but how, when it's so evident that there is evil in the world? In Genesis we see that everything God created was good or perfect. So were did all this evil come from?
In Mathew we see it's Lucifer that sows seeds of evil in the earth not God. See Matthew 13:24-28, 38&39.
Also, In the book of Luke we see a woman that was sick not because of a curse from God but because of Satan. See Luke 13:11-16.
We suffer disease and sickness because of Satan NOT GOD! Disease and Sickness is not a curse from God, IT IS A CONSEQUENCE! A consequence of living behind enemy lines! Sin's result cannot be traced to God but because of a separation from God.
With overwhelming evidence, strangely, most Preachers and laity alike don't believe there is a devil. They base all our social and economic problems on poor leadership, not the devil. They think, if we can just elect the right president…yet they fail to realize that leadership isn't the problem. Laws or the lack thereof isn't the problem. We don't need legislation we need conversions! But we have become educated. We say, "the devil is just a figment of our imagination, some childhood boogieman. But how can we with intelligence say there is no devil, while witnessing all the evil that's in the world?
Someone said: "IF THERE WAS A DEVIL HE CERTAINLY WOULD BE THE LAST ONE TO TELL YOU" Then who is this Satan, this Devil, this Demon of Rebellion? Our first description is found in (Ezekiel 28:13-14) No, Lucifer isn't wearing a red suit? He's not some cartoon caricature that has horns, a long tail and a pitchfork. This fallen angel does not originate in some hot spot in the center of the earth. Satan was once a beautiful angelic being. NOW NOTICE WHAT HAPPENED See Ezekiel 28:15 & 17. Something snapped inside that perfect angelic heart! He was PERFECT, TILL INIQUITY / SIN WAS FOUND In his heart!
HOW CAN THIS BE? If God made him perfect then why did he sin? Our answer is found in the second description found in (Isaiah 14:12-14). The sin that led to the fall of Lucifer is the sin symbolized by the middle letter of his name—"Luc I fer" Which is identical to the middle letter of "s I n " And the middle letter of "pr I de" I, I, I, I, I—Lucifer couldn't focus right because he had "I (eye) -trouble."
Notice a 3rd description in (John 8:44). How could Christ claim that Lucifer was a murderer from the beginning? Follow Christ's logic: The Devil, who covets God's position has only one option In order to sit on God's thrown, GOD MUST DIE! Which means he must discredit God as selfish, untrustworthy, & arbitrary. TAKE GOD DOWN AT ANY COST. And the Bible said, "And war broke out in heaven". God did not create Satan, God created Lucifer it was Lucifer's choice that transformed him into Satan which means the adversary of God. Now if you take away the power of choice, you take away the ability to love, because, love can never be forced. It must be chosen. For those of you who have children, aren't you glad that they love you because they want to and not because you smack them one if they don't. God wanted a companion, He did not want a robot. And so God gave us free will or the power to choose! Because, love can never be forced. It must be chosen. No one gets married with a gun to they're back. Weddings are beautiful because people have the ability to say no. The fact that my wife loves me is all the more poignant because she doesn't have to. No choice, No real love, even though God knew that one day His creation would choose to turn they're backs on His love! He still created us! Because He did not want robots,…. He took the infinite risk of giving us a free will, which ultimately caused the death of His SON!
In Chapter 12 of revelation we read that Jesus and the heavenly host cast Satan out of Heaven. The good news is, that every time Jesus meets Satan, Jesus wins and Satan loses. When there is a conflict in your life, when there is anger and hatred in your heart, when you have marital problems, financial problems. No matter what demon you face! The Christ that cast Satan out of Heaven can cast him out of your life!
The Devil lost the war in Heaven……he lost the war at the cross……there is only one last battle ground! See Revelation 12:17. Listen if you had to fight somebody wouldn't you attack where you could inflict the most pain? Now think, where can Lucifer inflict the most pain in God the Father's heart? By attacking His children! You see, murders, thief's, tornado's, earthquakes, & floods, newspapers claim they are an act of God when these things happen. But I'm here to tell you, God had nothing to do with it they are acts of Satan.
Satan claims this world and its inhabitants! Even Jesus called him the prince of this world. BUT EXACTLY HOW DID EARTH GET INVOLVED? See Revelation 12:12. If you read the Genesis chapters 1-3 essentially what you will witness is Satan's cosmic accusations, His charge that God is unjust, unfair, arbitrary, and that God's laws are too restrictive!"
SO WHY DIDN'T GOD JUST WIPE SATAN OUT? Why didn't God program Adam and Eve's mind against the deceiver? Why didn't God strike Satan down with a lightning bolt from glory? Imagine if you will the President being charged by congress with embezzlement and gross immorality. Unfortunately in this day and age its not to hard to imagine! The President which is the commander and chief of the military then signs a decree that states, "everybody who charges me with embezzlement and such gross immorality will be killed". If the president did that, the whole country would be convinced of his guilt, not his innocence! So understand, For God to rid the universe of Satan and sin -- He had to let Lucifer show just how demonic he was! God is allowing Satan's rebellion to mature, so everyone will know how demonic he really is! And the Cross is the ultimate example of that fact! Looking back to the cross of Calvary we see true love stand face to face with true evil! God's true character was revealed at the cross as well as Satan's. If God would have destroyed Lucifer: It would not have proved God's innocence, rather it would have showed that He is guilty! Killing Satan would not have rid heaven of the questions Lucifer had raised, rather it would have raised even more questions. If God would have stopped Satan in the Garden from tempting Adam and Eve. Satan would have said before the whole universe, "God is afraid to give Adam and Eve a choice because he knows my way is better." So God gave Satan his chance to prove his point, Adam and Eve were given a simple choice. Don't eat of the tree in the center of the Garden. That's mine. It was a test of loyalty…. A test of obedience…. A test of allegiance. Yet Eve fell for his lie, and today the trickling effect of sin is seen in the Billions of lives that have fallen for Satan's same deceptions. The way of the Bible is too narrow, he says. If you give your life to Christ, Christ will limit you. He will limit your freedom. If you follow Jesus, he will restrict your joy. Remember, Lucifer wanted to be like God in Heaven, He wants to usurp God's throne, he wanted to command allegiance rather than to be obedient. Lucifer said to Eve, "you can make your own rules, do what you want!" And Eve was faced with a choice!
Just as in the garden so it is today, everyone must choose! When they choose to follow another master, God told Adam and Eve they had to leave the Garden. Now don't think that God was punishing them by kicking them out of the garden. The Garden wasn't any more beautiful than the rest of the world. It was just the home of Adam and Eve. But God knew that if they stayed in the Garden they would eventually eat from the tree of life and sin would have been immortalized. Cancer would have been immortalized! AIDS would have been immortalized! Imagine having cirrhosis of the liver throughout eternity! Or Breast Cancer! In kicking them out of the garden, God was being merciful not vindictive! As God breathed life into the inanimate clay, it was not His intention that we would experience death! Sickness and disease was not in His plan. Living in a broken home wasn't in the blue prints. Drug abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, parental abuse, and child abuse was not suppose to be our lot.
If there is anything that I want you to learn as you have taken the time to read this, it is that while Satan may have claimed this world after Adam and Eve sinned! JESUS RECLAIMED THIS WORLD ON THE CROSS! The devil will do anything to keep you from knowing that! Movies, television, alcohol, drugs. This world has been redeemed by our Lord. It belongs to him! Christ on the cross won the battle when He said, "it is finished".
Sometimes you may feel that God has forgotten you! Its easy to be forgotten in a world of chemotherapy, a world where cancer wracks these bodies of ours, a world of car accidents and birth deformities, a world of drugs and divorce, a world of broken homes and broken hearts! You may have said, GOD, DON'T YOU CARE? Jesus says, "I have not forgotten you, I have engraven you upon the palms of my hands!" See Isaiah 49:15&16. I SUFFERED PAIN, TOO. I hung on a cross with nails through my hands. I hung on a cross with a crown of thorns upon my head. I know what it's like, my child, to suffer pain. AND YOU -- YOUR NAME IS WRITTEN ON THE PALMS OF MY HANDS. When you look at the blood that flows from Calvary, I want you to know, I suffered physically on the cross. When the pain of arthritis and rheumatism strike, I know what that is like. When you're lonely, I know what it's like. When your husband betrays you. When your wife betrays you. When your kids betray you. Jesus says, I know what it's like to be betrayed. Judas betrayed me. I was sold out for 30 pieces of silver!
There is a war-taking place! Not in heaven, not on earth, but for the control of our hearts and minds! JUST AS THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN WERE LED TO MAKE A CHOICE. Just as in the garden, so today, Jesus leads you and I to make that choice. Its not always going to be easy to chose Jesus. But I guarantee you it will never be easier than right now. Will you choose Him? Maybe you thought cool music, but as you began to read, you began to since there's a great battle between good and evil happening. You feel it inside yourself. You hesitant to make a decision for God. You sense the battle between good and evil going on in your heart. Going on in your mind. Maybe you have never given your heart to the Lord and for the first time you would like to make that choice. Today you want to say, Jesus, I want to take your hand. I'm not strong enough to fight the battle. You're discouraged, marriage problems, financial problems, health problems. Whatever condition you may be in, you want to say in your heart, please Jesus give me the strength to follow in your steps. I want peace from the internal war raging in me! Is that you desire? Then simply pray and ask Jesus to wash you and cleanse you, to forgive you your every sin. So you too may be prepared to meet Him.
If you would like to know more just send me a message. I know I risk ridicule, and alienation but for His sake, I'll take that chance. May the Lord Bless your decisions my musical junkies, sincerely a fellow music junkie.