Bruce Wrenn July 2021
Those of you who have read my previous essays “An Eyewitness to God’s Goodness” and “How to be at Peace in the Midst of Adversity” are aware that I have been battling an incurable cancer for many years; far longer than the oncologists ever thought I could. My “Eyewitness...” essay was originally written with the world during a pandemic and me fighting my sarcoma through infusions without receiving good news from my CT scans. I believed I was near the end unless some miracle occurred. Well, I’m writing this in July of 2021, after having received this Spring the first good news in my decade’s long war with this disease. Praise God, right? My friends have been singing praise along with Jan and I about the news from three consecutive CT scans that the tumors have been shrinking.
Along with our thanksgiving, I began to think “Why am I getting this news now after more than ten years of diminishing health and no hope from the health experts to hang onto? Does God have a purpose for my life in the days ahead?” This got me thinking about the belief that God does have a purpose for our life, but I had only a vague idea of what that meant, plus no idea about what His specific purpose might be to give me the good news at this point in time. So, I began a quest in the Bible to see what we can learn about this concept of God’s purpose for our life. My first question was: does the Bible indicate that God does have a purpose for our life? Here we go.
Does the Bible tell us that God does have a purpose for our life?
Before we get into an answer to this question, let me ask you a related question: Have you ever had someone say to you “My life seems to have no meaning or purpose”? This could be just a simple way of expressing frustration with things going wrong lately, or it could be a serious cry for help that, if not addressed with an intervention, could lead to someone taking their own life. Perhaps you have uttered this remark when depressed or frustrated. My wife Jan is a licensed social worker specialized in counseling, and she has heard some versions of this remark many times. Solomon, in writing Ecclesiastes, thirty-four times uses the world “meaningless,” sometimes three times in the same sentence, to describe some aspect of life. As one of the books of the “wisdom literature” in the Bible, he was expressing something many people struggle long and hard with, and not just when having a “bad day.” We’ll get back to Solomon later, but the point is, this is a serious topic that deserves sober consideration.
Like many of you, I underline verses in my Bible that speak to me personally and remembered some of them spoke to the idea of God having a purpose for us. Here are a few familiar verses (NIV unless otherwise indicated) that address our question:
I cry out to God Most High
To God, who fulfills his purpose for me. Psalm 57:2
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Psalm 138:8
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21
...it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." Philippians 2:12-13
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
It would appear from these Bible verses that the answer to the first question is a definite “Yes.” A life lived with God at its center has meaning and purpose. Without God, life is devoid of meaning and for many people can be as Thomas Hobbes described in his poem Leviathan:
Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre [war], where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.
Does God have more than one purpose for our life?
From my research into what Scripture has to say about this question, it appears to me that there is what we could call God’s “grand purpose” for his people, and what we could call God’s “specific purpose” for each of us. These are some Bible verses that speak to the grand purpose:
...everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” Isaiah 43:7;
...the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” Isaiah 43:21.
For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’” Jeremiah 13:11
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" Exodus 9:16.
This purpose, to live our lives in a way that glorifies and praises His name, to make Him known to all, is emblematic of our identity as His faithful people. This purpose we share and is evidenced by the way we live each day of our lives. But other verses suggest that God has a plan and purpose for us as individuals. This suggests another question:
Is there a difference between a purpose and a plan for our life?
We can find an answer for this question by seeing what the Bible says about God having a plan for our life:
For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3 NIV
A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? Proverbs 20:24
From one man he made all the people of the world. Now they live all over the earth. He decided exactly when they should live. And he decided exactly where they should live. God did this so that people would seek him. And perhaps they would reach out for him and find him. They would find him even though he is not far from any of us. Acts 17:26- 27 NIRV
These verses imply that God’s plan for each of His children includes specifics about where and when we live, including our occupation:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also, I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you Exodus 31:1-6
and even choice of a marriage partner, if we are to marry:
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. Matthew 19:6
Thus, God’s plan for our life would appear to include a “grand purpose” and a “specific purpose”. We all share the grand purpose, but the specific purpose, like the plan for our life, is determined for each individual.
Evidence in support of an individualized purpose for the faithful is suggested in the stories of Biblical characters committed to living according to God’s plan for them. Two examples that come to mind are Esther and Joseph. Here are their stories.
The story of Queen Esther, a Jewess in the court of the Persian king Xerces, is a fascinating example of how God places people in the right place at the right time to be able to accomplish the good he has planned in advance for us to do. Although God isn’t mentioned in the book of Esther, His fingerprints are all over the events that happened in it, and one of Judaism’s sacred holidays today, Purim, is a celebration of what God did to save His people through Esther and Mordecai as told in this story. The Life Application Bible, in its bio of Mordecai, reveals how God’s purpose for the lives of Esther and her uncle Mordecai, including doing the good for all the Jews in the kingdom:
Following Jerusalem’s last stand against Nebuchadnezzar, Mordecai’s family was deported to Babylonia. He was probably born in Susa, a city that became one of Persia’s capitals after Cyrus conquered Babylon. Mordecai then inherited an official position among the Jewish captives that kept him around the palace even after the Babylonians were driven out. At one time, when Mordecai overheard plans to assassinate King Xerxes, he reported the plot and saved the king’s life.
Mordecai’s life was filled with challenges that he turned into opportunities. When his aunt and uncle died, he adopted Esther, their daughter and his young cousin, probably because his own parents were dead and he felt responsible for her. Later, when she was drafted into Xerxes’ harem and chosen to be queen, Mordecai continued to advise her. Shortly after this, he found himself in conflict with Xerxes’ recently appointed second-in- command, Haman. Although willing to serve the king, Mordecai refused to worship the king’s representative. Haman was furious with Mordecai. So he planned to have Mordecai and all the Jews killed. His plan became a law of the Medes and Persians, and it looked as though the Jews were doomed.
Mordecai, willing to be God’s servant wherever he was, responded by contacting Esther and telling her that one reason God had allowed her to be queen might well be to save her people from this threat: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”(Esther 4:14). But God had also placed him in the right place years earlier. God revealed to the king through his nighttime reading of historical documents that Mordecai had once saved his life, and the king realized he had never thanked Mordecai. The great honor then given to Mordecai ruined Haman’s plan to impale him on a pole he had set up. God had woven an effective counterstrategy against which Haman’s plan could not stand. Later, Mordecai instituted the Jewish Festival of Purim. He had a lengthy career of service to the king on behalf of the Jews. In Mordecai’s life, God blended both character and circumstances to accomplish great things. God has not changed the way he works. He is using the situations you face each day to weave a pattern of godliness into your character. Pause and ask God to help you respond appropriately to the situations you find yourself in today.
Excerpt From: Tyndale House Publishers. “NIV Life Application Study Bible, Second Edition.” Apple Books.
Joseph’s story is another great example of God’s plan for someone to achieve the good He purposed him to do became obvious only after many years of faithful service. Joseph could not see how the events, many of them seemingly irredeemably bad, when they occurred could possibly result in good for many people. Yet, at the end of decades of twists and turns in his life Joseph was able to see God’s hand at work to prosper Joseph even during adversity.
As a youngster, Joseph was overconfident. His natural self-assurance—increased by being Jacob’s favorite son and by knowing of God’s designs on his life—was unbearable to his ten older brothers, who eventually conspired against him. But this self-assurance, molded by pain and combined with a personal knowledge of God, allowed him to survive and prosper where most would have failed. He added quiet wisdom to his confidence and won the hearts of everyone he met—Potiphar, the prison warden, other prisoners, the pharaoh, and after many years, even those ten brothers.
Perhaps you can identify with one or more of these hardships Joseph experienced: He was betrayed and deserted by his family, he was exposed to sexual temptation and punished for doing the right thing, he endured a long imprisonment and was forgotten by those he helped. As you read his story, note what Joseph did in each case. His positive response transformed each setback into a step forward. He didn’t spend much time asking “Why?” His approach was “What shall I do now?” Those who met Joseph were aware that wherever he went and whatever he did, God was with him. When you’re facing a setback, the beginning of a Joseph-like attitude is to acknowledge that God is with you. There is nothing like his presence to shed new light on a dark situation.
Excerpt From: Tyndale House Publishers. “NIV Life Application Study Bible, Second Edition.” Apple Books.
This story is a great example of how God’s plan for Joseph’s life was to prosper him throughout the ups and downs of a series of events and occupations unique to Joseph’s life. But Joseph was faithful in achieving God’s grand purpose for His life by making choices that honored God in good times and bad, and achieving the specific purpose for His life that came clear to Him only by looking back on all he had been through:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
This may be our experience too. We become aware of God’s plan as He reveals it in answers to our prayers for guidance in making decisions, big or small throughout our life. But, it may be only when we retrospectively look back on our life that reveals God’s purpose for our life. Then we can see that His answered prayer to abide in us and us in Him every day has led to a service that came so naturally to us that it surprises us when He says:
‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:34-40
We were not even aware that the Spirit’s daily abiding in us was causing us to live a purpose driven life. And, when we pass into that long good night, we can know that God did fulfill His purpose for our life (“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep [i.e., died].” Acts 13:36).
You may be given a specific purpose at some point in your life, or over a period in your life. In any case, we are not to worry if we are sufficient for the task. Rather, we can trust that God is answering our prayer to abide in us and us in Him every day, and that he will prosper us under all circumstances to honor His name, just as He did Joseph in Potiphar’s household, in prison, and in Pharaohs’ service. That kind of trust and sense of peace can withstand severe trials because it doesn’t depend on our strength, but His:
[Most] blessed is the [person] who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. [That person] is like a tree planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such a tree is not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Its leaves stay green, and it never stops producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 compilation of multiple versions
One specific purpose for our life might be witnessing to others that God is the one responsible for producing the fruitful results of a life faithfully lived under even the most trying circumstances. To Him be the glory:
Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father. Matthew 5:15-16 TLB.
Thus, the stories of the lives of Esther and Joseph can be interpreted as God having a plan for our life, which includes both a grand purpose, “to be my people for my renown and praise and honor,” and a specific purpose for the good of others as part of the overall plan for our life.
God can be trusted to lead us on the path He has chosen for us, if that is how we want to live our life. He has said it, and He will do it. That plan includes answering our sincere prayer to abide in us and we in Him each day, guiding us with His counsel and fulfilling His purpose for us for our life and for that day.
These stories all teach us that God’s purpose for our life is the same as it was for Jesus—a life of service for the good of others:
...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10
God fulfilled His purpose for Jesus’ life as described in one of the best known of all Bible verses:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-
Just like David (Acts 19:36), Jesus did not die until his purpose for living was fulfilled:
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30
What a comfort and blessing it is to realize that not only does your life have a God-given purpose, but also that God will give you the strength, courage, and will to persevere until that purpose is fulfilled, then have you rest in peace,
...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
God has kept His covenant with you, as He said He would, and you, like Paul, can say with confidence
I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. 2 Timothy 1:12
How can we know if we are fulfilling his specific purpose for us?
We know that we are following God’s path for our lives because our lives are bearing the fruits of righteousness.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8
I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last— and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. John 15:16
The fruit of the Spirit abiding in us as described in the fifth chapter of Galatians is felt and seen by those whom we serve. For example, God’s purpose for someone’s life at a particular point in his/her life might to take loving care for an infirmed parent. When you recognize this as not just a responsibility, but approach it as a loving service to both the parent and to God, you are recognizing that God has purposed this service for you, will be with you throughout, wants you to pray for and receive the physical, mental, emotional, financial blessings you need to achieve this purpose in your life. He is partnering with you for it. There is no service we will be called upon to render as a part of God’s purpose for our life that we face without his help.
When we take his yoke upon us, our part of the load is light while he carries the heaviest part of it (Matt 11:29-30). When God assigns a specific purpose for your life at any time during your life, He will be there to guide, equip and assist you as you do it. You feel blessed in doing it, while being a blessing to those whom you serve, and will one day hear
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23.
You will not have labored in vain:
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Christ’s commendation of the faithful servant in Matthew 25:23 was told during the final days of Jesus’ life. It was intended to draw the sharp distinction between those who see their life as a gift from God, who live in a way that generates a return to God in gratitude for all of His largess and trust in them, compared to those who are only interested in their own welfare. This parable is believed to foretell what the redeemed will hear from Christ when He returns to take us into our heavenly home. It is obvious from this parable, that the “well done” does not refer to worldly accomplishments, but rather to a devotion to serving God (i.e., “faithful servant”) in ways in harmony with what God endorses as a purposeful life.
“The Conclusion of the Matter”
Solomon’s reflections on the purpose and meaning of life in the book of Ecclesiastes concludes this way:
The last and final word is this:
Fear God.
Do what he tells you.
And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 The Message
The lack of meaning to a life spent without God can only be remedied by desiring God to be Lord of everything in our life, wanting Him to guide us in accomplishing those good works He created us to do. Then, in heaven, we will learn the details of how this became true for us.
The Bible contains many stories of heroes of the faith, immortalized in the Word for their faithful deeds and for living their life in a way that, thousands of years later, still has an impact for the good on us as we are inspired by their stories. Daniel, Moses, Abraham, Mary the mother of Jesus, Paul, David, the prophets, and many others live on in the pages of the Bible as examples of people whose life purpose was fulfilled by God to the benefit of countless people over thousands of years. But this is also true for the anonymous writer of Psalm 119, and those described by Christ in Matthew 25, whose identity will not be known this side of eternity, but who have had a tremendous impact on many other anonymous people over the ages. The point is, God works in and through all His children to fulfill His purpose to abundantly bless us every day. We can be grateful to be both blessed and a blessing as God fulfills his purpose for each of our lives. Famous or anonymous, we all can rejoice that
...it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" Philippians 2:12-13
and be glad that our God is a great a good God of Love who can be trusted to have a purpose for us that blesses others.
I previously thought that Romans 8:28 only meant that God would turn the bad things that happen to us into a good final result–God has always been able to turn something that seems irreversibly bad into something improbably good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. But now I think it also means that if we are living in a loving, trusting way with Him, he will make sure that our attempts to do the good He has called us to do will accomplish that good end, even when we think we have failed to fulfill that purpose. What a comfort to know “... that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28), and that “the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me (Psalm 138:8), when I declare Him sovereign Lord of my life. All this is possible because “...we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
Yes, you are a free moral agent, able to exercise free will, but when you commit to doing the good that God has planned in advance for you to do as part of His plan and purpose for you, you are also aligning yourself with the most powerful force in the universe—Love. As Paul says: it always protects, always, trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:7). Acts of good spring from an all-conquering and everlasting source, and so there will never be an end to the good that they bring into the lives of those touched by them.
Moreover, when you commit to this course, you are open to unimaginable opportunities to do good. When David says in Psalm 31 that God has “set my feet in a spacious place,” he is saying that God can provide a kaleidoscope of opportunities to do good in ways that can constantly amaze you.
if we want to be like Jesus, we will “not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9). Rather, we should follow Paul advice to Timothy (6:18-19):
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Don’t you love that phrase: “take hold of the life that is truly life”? Maybe this is something of what Christ called the “abundant life” (John 10:10). Apparently, doing good has rewards in this life as well as storing up treasure in heaven as Jesus takes these good deeds personally as though He was the recipient (Matthew 25:40).
This brings to mind an easily overlooked verse in Revelation:
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” Revelation 14:13
One way of understanding this verse is that our labor to serve others is not in vain—God preserves the results of a life spent doing good works. The consequences of those good works live on after we are gone, blessed by God to continue to reap a harvest of good in this world, and treasured in Jesus’ heart in heaven.
In the grand scheme of things, where would you prefer to lay up your treasure? Here is an investment strategy that pays dividends throughout eternity—truly there will never be an end to the return from doing those good deeds.
I started this “thought piece” by wondering if getting good news at this stage of my disease meant there was a purpose behind it, and if so, what might that purpose be? Now, after thinking out loud and spending time in the Word looking for clarity, I no longer pursue the quest for an answer to “why now” and “what is the purpose of the good news.” What matters it? God is making every day of my life to have purpose and meaning by answering my daily prayer for Him to abide in me, and me in Him. I can patiently wait for the surprise of learning of the specific purpose when I finally get home. I am happy just to spend another day of life holding onto my Father’s hand.
So, my search to know God’s specific purpose for my getting good news is a bit of a quixotic quest. I might never know in this lifetime what the answer is, but I now realize that it is more important to trust, as David said, my “...God, who fulfills his purpose for me.” (Psalm 57:2), as He abides in me each day and I in Him. Note that David doesn’t say “I will fulfill God’s purpose” but rather it is “God, who fulfills his purpose for me.” I need only to ask him to complete His good work in me, using all the good gifts He so generously provides and all the adversity He so faithfully brings me through, to prepare me for eternity with Him. Trusting Him will make it possible for me to fulfill the grand purpose of honoring Him and live a fruitful life. Fruit that will last. How does life get any better than that?
Addendum, Early Morning July 4, 2021
I awoke early this Independence Day, impressed to write this addendum to witness to how God’s plan and purpose for me has guided me throughout my life. I mentioned earlier that God’s plan includes when and where we live (Acts 17:26-27), our chosen profession, who we marry, and all the large and small opportunities and choices that are made that make these things possible. For me, I can trace God’s plan to the summer of 1966 when I met Jan. Her family had moved to the small town in south Alabama where her father had come to work for a year. The moment I met her I knew she was the one I was to marry and spend the rest of my life with. We were 15 years old. We married 5 years later and celebrated our fiftieth anniversary on June 12, 2021.
It was through Jan and her mother that I became a Christian and learned to love and trust God. We were married in 1971, and lived in Auburn, AL where I completed my undergraduate degree while Jan worked to support us. I entered the MBA program at Northwestern University in 1973, graduated in 1974 and we both accepted job offers in Kalamazoo, MI with a large pharmaceutical company.
In 1978 I received a job offer at another pharmaceutical company in Newport Beach, CA. This was during one of the worst winters in Michigan history, and the offer was for a significant increase in pay, so I was certain that this was where we should go. But before accepting the job Jan and I prayed for God to reveal to us if this was his plan for us at this point in our lives. The more we prayed, the less we felt that we should accept the offer. So, I turned down the offer, and we wondered what God had in mind for us, if it wasn’t to leave frigid Michigan to go to live at the beach in sunny California!
Two weeks later I received an offer to come teach in the business school at Andrews University for half the salary I was earning at the pharmaceutical company, and we joyfully accepted the offer. This was possible because, by God’s grace, we had no debt. God was making his plan known for our lives clear to us. After teaching there for 2 years, I realized that I needed a Ph.D. if I was going to continue to pursue a career in academia, so I applied to Northwestern University’s doctoral program in marketing, my chosen discipline.
Northwestern was ranked as the top program in this discipline, and was very selective in their acceptance of applicants into the program. My modest credentials did not hold much chance to get me into the program, but God’s plan would not be thwarted, and I was miraculously accepted; one of only two applicants from the U.S. in the class of seven students accepted into the program from a pool of more than a hundred applicants. It was clear to me that I was there only because it was God intervening to advance His plan for my life.
This became even more clear in the eight years it took for me to complete the degree at Northwestern. It was a miracle for me to be there, and an even greater one for me to graduate with my doctorate. It would take many pages to chronicle all the times God had to powerfully intercede to get me through to completion of the degree in 1989. I saw this Bible promise become true over and over during this time:
...though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. Psalm 37:24
Not only did I, by God’s grace, compete the degree, but He made it possible for me to have Philip Kotler, the world’s leading scholar in the field of marketing, to chair my dissertation committee. Over the next three decades we were to collaborate on writing groundbreaking books and scholarly articles on the use of marketing by religious organizations. It was abundantly clear to me that it was God’s plan and purpose for my life to enable me to honor Him in this way. Absolutely none of this could have been achieved without His constant and powerful intervention in executing His plan for me.
When I graduated in 1989, Jan was eager to pursue her dream of becoming a social worker, which meant she needed to stop full-time work to complete her undergraduate degree, and then go to graduate school to get her MSW. This meant that we would have to fund Jan’s tuition, our mortgage payments, etc. on my Andrews salary alone, an impossibility unless we went deeply into debt. We did not know how we were going to be able to make Jan’s dream come true. But God once again made His plan for both of us become clear when at the exact time I graduated a teaching position in marketing opened at Indiana University’s South Bend campus, a 45-minute drive from our home in Berrien Springs.
The position was open only because the person who had accepted the job offer decided at the last minute not to go there, and they reopened the search in June 1989 (exactly the time I received my diploma) to find someone who could begin teaching in August 1989. This was the first opening they had for a marketing teacher in ten years. I applied, by God’s grace was offered the position, and began teaching there in August, the same time that Jan began working on completing her undergraduate degree.
The increase in my salary allowed us to cover her expenses at Andrews, and then at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work, the top ranked program in the country. During the next twenty years Jan worked as a social worker doing counseling, accepted an offer to teach in the social work department at Andrews, where she had a stellar career as a much beloved teacher, and retired as the only teacher in the university’s history to win the prestigious campus Teacher of the Year award twice, as well as the Advisor of the Year award, plus other teaching and scholarship awards during her distinguished career. God blessed her in so many ways in His plan and purpose for her life, as she in turn was a lasting blessing to so many counseling clients, students and colleagues in those twenty years, and now continues to bless an ever-widening circle of friends in her retirement.
I was also being blessed at IUSB during this time, being tenured and promoted to Full Professor, making it possible for me to return to Andrews in 2008 as the first recipient of the J.N Andrews Endowed Chair in Marketing, created by the largest donation the university had received in its history at this exact moment in time. I was so blessed to be able to return to Andrews, where I asked for and was given a joint appointment with the School of Business and the Theological Seminary, so that I could pursue my desire to teach MDIV and DMIN students about marketing. God had worked a series of miracles for both Jan and me to make all this possible from the time we met in 1966 to the present.
Absolutely none of this was due to chance; it was God working out His perfect plan and purpose for our lives that made this faith building sequence of events possible, allowing us to honor His name and be a blessing to others through our work. Looking back, I can see how the promise of Romans 8:28 became a reality over and over again for both of us, including the past eleven years of me fighting this incurable disease. Were it not for that adversity I would not be writing this essay, which perhaps God can now use to impress upon some reader that He has a plan and purpose for her/him too. If so, no one would be happier than me to have been blessed by my sarcoma diagnosis in December of 2010. God’s goodness knows no bounds. I am a living miracle to witness to that truth.
“Let it be your first care to abide in Him in undivided fervent devotion of heart; when the heart and the life are right, rooted in Christ, knowledge will come in such measure as Christ’s own wisdom sees meet. . . . Live, above all, day by day in the blessed truth that, as He Himself, the living Christ Jesus, is your wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30), your first and last care must ever be this alone—to abide in Him. Abiding in Him, His wisdom will
come to you as the spontaneous out-flowing of a life rooted in Him. I am, I abide in Christ, who was made unto us wisdom from God; wisdom will be given me.
“....
“And so, especially in any work you do for God, abide in Jesus as your wisdom. ‘We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them’ (Ephesians 2:10); let all fear or doubt lest we should note know exactly what these works are, be put far away. In Christ we are created for them: he will show us what they are, and how to do them. Cultivate the habit of rejoicing in the assurance that the divine wisdom is guiding you, even where you do not yet see the way.
“All that you can wish to know is perfectly clear to him. As Man, as Mediator, He has access to the counsels of Deity, to the secrets of Providence, in your interest, and on your behalf. If you will but trust Him fully, and abide in Him entirely, you can be confident of having unerring guidance.”
Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (Andrew Murray Books, no place or date, ordered from Amazon), pp. 32-34.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
