Purposeful Living

 

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

—John 2:1-11

Have you ever watched a person build something? Maybe you’ve watched someone in your neighborhood remodel part of a house. Or, maybe you’ve seen construction workers building a new house, or working on a new office building around the corner from where you live.

It’s fun to watch people build things. Every time we pass the location where construction is going on, we can see something new happening. It is kind of exciting and lots of fun to watch a new building being built.

It’s fun to watch people build things in factories, too. Maybe you’ve visited a factory and watched the workers build something. It’s fun to watch how they start out with very little and add more and more pieces until whatever they are building takes shape.

Out in Appleton, Wisconsin there is a company called Pierce Manufacturing Company. Do you know what they make at that factory? They make fire engines and fire trucks.

When you were a youngster, did you have a fascination with fire engines and fire trucks? Most kids love to visit their local fire house. By the way, do you know what the difference is between a “fire engine” and a “fire truck”? A fire engine carries hose and pumps water. A fire truck carries ladders and tools. Each type of fire apparatus serves a specific purpose.

When you watch a fire engine being built, it is quite a neat experience. You watch them start with a heavy metal frame, add the water tank, and then build all the metal compartments. You can see them place the diesel engine on the frame and mount the pump. Every part of the fire engine goes in a specific place on the vehicle and serves a particular purpose.

When they are almost finished building the fire engine, what do you suppose is one of the last things they do? They paint it. And, what color do you suppose almost every fire engine gets painted? That’s right. They paint it red. Long ago someone decided that the color “red” represented the color of flames and helps warn people of danger. The people who choose to paint the fire engine red do so for a purpose.

The Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post from the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus attending a wedding at Cana. This is a really interesting story where Jesus performs an amazing miracle: He turns ordinary water into wine. Jesus did this miracle for a purpose. He acted deliberately.

God wants us to do things on purpose. In fact, there are a number of purposeful things God wants us to do every day. He wants us to spend time reading the Bible because it’s the way He chooses to communicate with us. Likewise, He wants us to communicate with Him by talking to Him in prayer.

God also wants us, purposefully, to always tell the truth. He wants us to purposefully verify information we receive from first sources. When someone tells us something—even when that person is an authority figure—we need to verify that what we’re being told is the truth and contains the full and complete details of the particular situation.

God wants us to show His agape love to others. God wants us to treat other people with kindness. He wants us to extend His mercy and grace to everyone who crosses our pathway. He wants us to give generously of our time, talent, and treasure. And, God wants us to become keenly aware of the leading of His Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

Many years ago, I first heard the following poem by Helen Kromer during a performance of the musical drama For Heaven’s Sake ¹ at my beloved Alma Mater, Houghton University. It sums up well what it means to live life on purpose:

A drop in the bucket is only a drop,
A minor and moist detail;
For a drop can’t change the color or taste
Of a ten-quart watering pail.

But if the drop has the color of love
And the taste of tears divine,
One drop, dropped into the vessel of life,
Can turn the water to wine.

You see, as we learn more about God, He wants us to come to understand that He wants all of us to live every aspect of our daily lives with purpose.

 

______________________

1 Kromer, Helen (lyrics) and Silver, Frederick (music). For Heaven’s Sake. Boston: Baker Plays, 1961 and 1963. Please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Showing Love

 

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

—Matthew 25:31-40

“Love” can sometimes seem like a hard thing to talk about. If I cup my hands together and hold them up high, I could tell you that I am holding some “love” in my hands. But, because you can’t see “love” the same way you can see one of your most prized possessions, you can’t really tell whether I have “love” in my hands or not.

But, do you know what? We actually can see “love” every day. That’s right. Every single day, each one of us sees examples of “love.”

Last night, or early this morning, when we finished our bath or shower and grabbed a nice soft towel to dry off with, did we realize, when someone washed that towel and placed it there for us to use, that was an example of “love”?

This morning, when someone made a nice breakfast for us, did we realize that was an example of “love?” Even if we did these things for ourselves, they were acts of “love.”

When we attended church this last weekend, and we sat down in a freshly dusted pew or chair, or walked along the hall with a nice clean floor, the fact that one of our church’s staff members, or maybe a volunteer, had carefully cleaned the church so we could worship there, that was an example of “love.”

Everywhere we look, we can see examples of people’s “love” for us. Every act of kindness, every carefully prepared meal, every single thing anyone does for us that helps us, these acts all show us “love.”

Likewise, if we have an opportunity to do something for someone and decide not to do it, that decision keeps us from showing “love.” When someone asks us to do something and we decide not to do it, in that moment at least, we decide not to show “love.”

Now in many cases, it may seem that showing “love” is really hard. But, all we have to do to show “love” is to do whatever another person asks us to do. So, showing “love” really isn’t that hard at all.

God has shown His love for us, by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Savior. God expects us to show Him our love, by obediently giving our “love” to others. When we say a kind word to someone, we show them our love and God’s agape love, too. When we help someone, we show them our love and God’s agape love. When we gladly do what someone asks us to do, we show them our love and God’s agape love.

So, the lesson for today is that God expects us to show Him our love, by showing His agape love to others. Now, let’s go out into this new day and do so.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Importance of Prayer

 

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

—James 5:13-18

I am fairly certain that every one of us knows at least a little bit about “praying.” We all tend to think of prayer in terms of a quick shout toward heaven whenever we get into a jam. We shouldn’t feel badly about that. God certainly understands that sometimes we only seem to want to talk to Him when we’re in some kind of trouble.

But, the truth is that prayer forms an important foundation for our daily walk of obedience with God. He wants us to learn what He expects by reading our Bible. He also wants to listen to what we have to say through prayer. And, in the quietness of time spent communing with Him, He will often give us a sense of the path He wants us to take for that day.

Whenever we take time to pray, the Holy Spirit—who dwells within the hearts and minds of everyone who believes that God has given us the gift of salvation from our sins through His precious Son, Jesus—nudges us forward in our walk with God. The Holy Spirit lays out the pathway of Christian spiritual formation before us. He encourages us to follow that pathway. He empowers us to move ever forward, in a walk that leads to holiness. The Holy Spirit uses our times of prayer to teach us the way of trust and faith in the God who loves us with His unfailing, undying love.

If we were fortunate enough to be raised in a Christian home, we likely learned about prayer when we were quite young. For most of our young lives, our moms and dads, or grandmas and grandpas, or our uncles and aunts, taught us about prayer. We watched these dear ones pray. We heard the content of their prayers. We observed the importance that they placed on the role that prayer played in their lives.

When it was time for meals, we were taught to bow our heads and thank God that He had provided the food that we were about to eat. When it was time to go to sleep at night, our moms and dads tucked us into our beds and took time to pray with us, or to listen as we prayed.

In our bedtime prayers we probably thanked God for the day He had given us. We probably thanked God for our moms, our dads, our brothers and sisters, and our grandparents. Maybe we even thanked God for our uncles, aunts, and cousins. We probably asked God to keep us safe through the night. Then, there may have been some other special requests that our moms and dads helped us include in our prayer.

As we grew older, we learned that prayer is a very, very important part of our relationship with God. It’s our opportunity to talk with Him and tell Him what’s on our minds. It’s a time when we can tell Him our deepest feelings. It’s a time when we can tell Him the things that make us worry, or anxious, or feel sad. It’s a time when we can tell Him the things that make us happy or feel joyful. It’s a time when we can express to God the deepest needs that we have in our minds and hearts.

When we pray, it’s a time for us to tell God how much He means to us, how much we love Him, how grateful we are for His Son, Jesus, and how very much we appreciate the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, most of all, it’s a time when we can ask Him to help us do the things that the Bible tells us He wants us to do.

Even if you did not grow up in a Christ-honoring home and came to know Jesus after you had grown, you certainly have learned—and continue to learn—the enormous value of prayer.

So, what I want us to remember about our time together this day, through this blog post, is that prayer must always remain a very, very important part of our relationship with God. He uses prayer in a very powerful way in our lives. Okay?

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A New-Creation Gathering

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

—2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Have you ever wondered why we go to church each weekend? If I were to ask each one of you why you will be in church this weekend, most of you would probably answer, “Because it’s just what I do.”

Maybe your mom or dad started bringing you to church when you were a little child. Or, maybe you discovered church as a teenager, or as a college student, or even as a mid-life adult. Whatever circumstances started you connecting with church, you’re still attending.

This weekend, if you look out over the group of people in the sanctuary of your church, you might wonder: “Why are they all here today?” I mean, look at them. You will see some young people. You will see some students in middle school or high school. You will see some college students. You will see some young adults. You will see some adults in the middle portion of their lives. And, you will see some older people. You will see a whole room full of people who, for some reason, decided to come together for worship.

Thinking about why we come to church cuts right to the heart of what our church and our worship are both all about. It gets right to the very most basic truth of all that the Bible has to say. It sets aside all of the frills and fancy stuff, and deals with the complete and unadorned truth.

And, do you know what that truth is? The whole reason why every one you see has gathered in worship, the whole reason why we even have churches, is that: “Jesus loves us, this we know, for the Bible tells us so!”

That simple truth is what drives the whole of the Christian faith. Our response to this simple, yet very important, truth is why we gather for worship.

The fact is that, in the Garden of Eden, Adam broke the relationship he had with God by disobeying God’s one commandment. As a result, the curse of that sin has fallen on all of us, down through the ages, right to this present day.

But, the wonderful part of the story is that God—in His mercy, love, and grace, through the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary—has paid the penalty for our sin and restored us to fellowship with Him. This wonderful love of Jesus has brought us back into fellowship with God, both now and for all eternity.

So, when we gather to worship God, we do so as a people who have been given a magnificent gift—the gift of new life through Jesus Christ. And, that is truly a reason to celebrate—to worship—the One who has given us this great gift.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

We Gather Together

 

Those who accepted his [Peter’s] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

—Acts 2:41-47

Are you one of those individuals who especially has fun when you meet with your friends? Oh, it’s okay to do things by yourself. Sometimes, it’s truly enjoyable just to be by yourself and do what you want to do without anyone else being around. But, I am willing to suggest that the most fun you have takes place when you gather with other people and you all undertake an activity together. There is something energizing to listen to what other people say, to observe what they do, to laugh together, to see the world through the eyes of your friends. Even someone like me, a dedicated introvert with very poor social skills, who often feels extremely uncomfortable in social gatherings, experiences some vicarious positive vibrations on those rare occasions when I participate in some activity with my friends.

When we do get together with other people, we also notice how much more fun it is when we engage in some activity that involves all of those present at the same time. It may be sort of fun to be in a room with our friends where each person is doing his or her own thing. But, the really fun times occur when all of the people present gather around and do something that includes every, single person. There is a bonding that takes place. A shared experience produces a sense of oneness that generally cannot be achieved in any other way.

There is just something about being together, doing the same thing, at the same time, for the same purpose, that brings a great deal of joy and excitement. All of our differences seem to take a backseat when we participate in a shared activity.

In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, found in the Acts 2:41-47, the Bible tells us that the early church was just like the situation I’ve been describing. There is no doubt that each one of the early Christians set aside time to be alone with the Lord for prayer and meditation. During those times alone, each Christian was able to concentrate on what God was doing in his or her life, and express praise and thanksgiving to God in prayer for who He is and for what He has done for that one.

But, the really exciting times came when the Christians would all gather together. As a group of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christians had a special bond with each other that made their times together exciting, spiritually electric, and very fulfilling.

The Bible teaches us that this is exactly what God intends for His people. He intends for them to have the greatest sense of joy, the greatest effectiveness in doing His work, and the greatest expression of His Power within them, when they gather together and devote themselves to a single purpose.

That is really what the Sunday worship service at our churches should be all about. We experience the excitement of God’s Presence in our midst. And, we want to have the joy of the fellowship that we can have with each other. Each one of us is a part of this gathering at our churches. The fact that each of us is present for worship helps everyone else experience the kind of joy that God wants all of us to experience when we gather together to worship Him.

The next time we consider substituting some other activity for our time of worshipping God together, let’s remember that when we do so, we affect ourselves and we affect our brothers and sisters in Christ. We belong together. We should revere the time that God has given us to gather in His presence for worship, praise, and prayer. Above all else, we should value the relationships formed during this special time.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Think ...

 

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

—Romans 8:5-6

Do you ever copy what someone else is doing? When we were children, if one of our friends ran a little ways and then jumped, did we run a little ways and jump, too? Or, maybe we saw someone make a funny face, so we decided to make a funny face, too?

As an adult, if one of our friends shows us his or her new high definition television, do we find ourselves beginning to think about buying a new TV? Or, maybe our friend shows us his or her new smartphone. Do we find ourselves checking on-line to see if it’s time for us to get a new smartphone, too? On many occasions, whether we’re children, or adults, we see what someone else is doing and we decide to do the same thing.

Now sometimes, doing what someone else is doing is okay. For example, when we were children, if we saw our older brothers and sisters, or our mom and dad, washing their hands before they ate dinner, and we decided to wash our hands, too—well, that was a good thing to do. But sometimes, when we copy what other people do or say, we can get ourselves into trouble. If we see someone do something nasty or mean to another person, we might decide to be mean or nasty to that person, too. Or, if we hear someone share a bit of tasty gossip about someone we don’t like very much, we might decide to pass that tasty bit of gossip on to one of our friends.

Or, maybe we’re in a meeting and we hear someone say something that doesn’t seem quite right to us. Instead of questioning what we’re being told, we remain silent and just go along with the crowd. We might even tell ourselves that by remaining silent we are “preserving the peace.” Instead, by remaining silent—by doing what the others in the room are doing—we may well be helping to create chaos.

But, do you know what? God has given us a way to help keep us from copying other people when they do bad things, or inappropriate things, or questionable things, or even things that are borderline but that we suspect might be wrong. That’s right. God has given us a brain inside our head. And, He expects us to use that brain. He wants us to think before we act.

So, let’s say we hear someone talking about another person in a very rude and careless way. Now, at first—particularly when we don’t particularly like the other person—we may think that we should talk rudely and carelessly about that person, too. But, just before we open our mouths to say something rude, we think about it and decide that it wouldn’t be the right thing to do. If we do that—stop and think about what we were going to do before we did it—we would be using the brain God gave us to help us decide what to do.

God loves us very much. He loves us so much that He wants us to use our brains to think about what we are going to do. He wants us to use our brains to think about what we are going to say. Instead of just doing or saying what we see someone else do or say, God wants us to think about it first. And, God has also given us the Holy Spirit to remind us to use our brains—to think before we act or speak. The Holy Spirit will nudge us to do the right thing, if we listen carefully to what He says to us.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Holy Manners

 

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

—Philippians 2:5-11

Looking back on the years while we were growing into adulthood, do you remember, like I do, how our moms and dads were always trying to teach us things? Almost every day, our moms, or dads, or both of them, would try to teach us something that would help us become the kind of boy or girl we ought to be.

For example, I imagine that mom and dad consistently taught each of us—and it took quite some time—to say: “Please,” “Thank you,” and “You’re welcome.” When we asked someone for something, mom and dad taught we to always say: “Please.” Then, when someone gave us something, mom and dad taught us to say: “Thank we.” And, they also taught us that when someone says “Thank you” to us, we should respond by saying: “You’re welcome.”

We learned that “Please,” “Thank you,” and “You’re welcome” were part of what mom and dad called “proper manners.” And, one of the things that marked a well-behaved boy or a well-behaved girl was a display of proper manners. That’s part of the reason why mom and dad insisted that we learn to say: “Please,” “Thank you,” and “You’re welcome.”

I wonder, if along the way of growing up, did we realize that when we enter the presence of a king, there is a certain kind of “proper manners” that we must also display, in order to show we understand that the king is in the room? That’s right. We can’t just march into the room and say: “Hi, King!” Or, at least we can’t do that and expect the king to think well of us.

When people enter a king’s throne room, those people must keep their heads bowed. And, when they reach the throne, they must kneel to show the king proper respect. The king has earned the right to be treated this way because, well, after all, he is the king.

In Revelation 4, the Bible tells us about a great day, coming in the future, when all of us will enter the throne room of heaven and approach the God of the universe. The Bible tells us that on that day, God’s throne will have a rainbow above it. God’s throne be surrounded by 24 other thrones, and on those thrones will be 24 elders dressed in white, who will have crowns of gold on their heads. Thunder and lightning will radiate from God’s throne.

The Bible also tells us that in front of God’s throne will be seven lamp stands and a sea like crystal glass. And, right in the center, near the throne, will be four creatures. One will look like a lion. One will look like an ox. One will have a face like a man. And, one will look like a flying eagle. These four creatures will have eyes all over them and each creature will have six wings. Over and over again, the creatures will say:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

The Bible also tells us, that as the four creatures begin to praise God, the 24 elders will stand up from their thrones, bow down on their knees before God, take off their gold crowns, and lay those crowns in front of God’s throne. Then, all together, the 24 elders will say:

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.

Now that’s a pretty amazing word picture of what it will be like on that great day in heaven.

You see, God is worthy of all that attention, praise, honor, and glory because He is Holy. And, it is the Holiness of God that motivates us to worship Him by devoting our lives to please Him in the way we live and to serve Him with all of our hearts.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}