Fixed Purpose
It is necessary for us to have a fixed purpose if we are to do that which is well pleasing to our Lord and Master. There are too many Christians who seem to live and move by whim instead of by the will of the Lord. They are not steadfast to their tasks in life.
Let us draw an illustration from the nature of the Scotch shepherd dog. If he is left to guard his master's coat, for example, he will not leave it until the master returns. Nothing can draw him from the task to which he was appointed. A rabbit might run by, almost under his nose, but he will not move. A deer will break from a copse and go across the glen, so close to the quiet dog that it could easily have been brought down, but the dog will not move.
If the dog had the mind of some Christians he might reason, "Oh, my master was unaware that a rabbit would pass or a very valuable deer. Surely he expects me to use my intelligence and leave the thing to which I have been appointed and run after the game." Many Christians run away from the thing to which they have been appointed. The lure of the great or the showy draws them away from the steady devotion to the humble task to which they were appointed. For example, the will of God for a high school or college student is that he do his work well and get marks consistent with the degree of intelligence with which he has been endowed. No side work, even Christian work, should take the Christian student away from his task. He should maintain his soul with God in devotional study, give all the rest of the time required to his studies, and any remaining fraction should be spent on the active work.
No woman was ever called upon to neglect her home, even for child evangelism to other neglected children. If she does, she has left a coat to run after a rabbit. No man with a wife and children is called to enter the ministry if it means the neglect of the family, which must be his first consideration. If he does so, he is like the dog who has taken its eyes away from the coat.
We are not permitted to look for things which we think will be so outstanding that the Lord must commend us for doing them. "It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (I Cor. 4:2). God's place for a country pastor may be a country parish. The dog knows the coat of its master by scent. The student, the mother, the father, the pastor, each will know the things of the Lord by an intimate living with Him in the Word. This is more well-pleasing to the Lord than great exploits.
1. How do we know what we are called to do? Is it an intuitive desire? Is it some feeling we get? What makes us sure of our calling?
2. What does the scriptures tell us about the mandate for Christian living?
