We Have A Purpose / Mrs Priscilla Duff

Mrs Priscilla Duff

Assistant Pastor's Wife

First Baptist Church

Hammond, IN

Try to imagine what is must have felt like to be the first woman God ever created. Imagine being Eve, taking your first breathe and opening your eyes for the first time and looking around to discover who and where you are.  Imagine the wonder and awe she must have felt, and the excitement of seeing Adam for the first time.  I wonder what she thought when he said to her, you are mine and we belong together.  Gen. 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.   I can only begin to imagine what living in the Garden of Eden was like, to walk with God in the cool of the evening, to spend time with the animals and enjoy the flowers and beautiful trees. I also have to wonder, how did Eve get to the place mentally where listening to the serpent was even something she considered doing? I would think if my life was perfect, carefree, full of unconditional love from my Creator and my husband, all the food I could eat (and never gain weight) why would I ever wonder what life would be like if …….Yet Eve did, she must have had pondering thoughts of “I wonder what it would be like if I knew everything like God did?” or maybe she had thoughts about “what is my purpose in life?” “What did God create me for?” 
The amazing thing that God did was to create us with a free will and allow us to decide what we wanted to do with our lives.  God didn’t create us like the animal where we automatically did everything we were supposed to do, He let us chose.  I like to think about that day, that Eve chose.  The day she chose her own will over God’s (Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof , and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.) She had no way of knowing the cataclysmal decision she was about to make would change the future of humanity. (Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves apron.) Eve’s problem that day was the same problem I have, and we all have, these six thousand years later.  Eve was only thinking about herself.
Eve made a decision based on her own wants, desires, and needs, and how many times do we do the same thing as her? It’s hard for me to judge Eve too harshly.  I would like to think if I was in her spot, I would make the right decision and say no to the devil and his lies, but I am a daughter of Eve and I struggle with the same selfish pride she did too.  You know when you convince yourself that it’s ok to eat that piece of cake and just five minutes later, you are so mad at yourself for eating it? Imagine what Eve felt, after she ate the forbidden fruit. 
The interesting thing is that the serpent went to Eve first, in the Garden. He could have gone to Adam, but he went to Eve. The devil had been going to the women first ever since.  He presents to us lies, lies, lies.  The devil hasn’t changed his tactics and why should he, when they work so well?
Think about Creation, God made man and said “It’s not good for him to be alone” Gen. 2:18 so he made woman, and said “It is very good” Gen 1:31.  The devil hates God and wants to destroy everything God creates and so for all of time the devil has come to the woman to make her dissatisfied, unhappy, self centered and independent. 
Today’s woman for the most part is unhappy overstressed, angry and exhausted. The world’s philosophy is “The future is female” “Women rule” and “lets break the glass ceiling”. We have fallen for the lies that our life and our happiness is all about us, but while we chase that dream we have only become unhappy. So let’s ask ourselves, what is Gods purpose and plan for womanhood? What is the reason he created Eve on that beautiful day? Was it to make sandwiches, do laundry, and have babies? The truth is that God created us for a purpose and the first purpose is to glorify Him. The serpent said to Eve, It’s all about you, and to most of us it’s a daily struggle not to make life all about ourselves.  Our natural reaction to life is self-centered
*How does this affect me
*Will this make me happy
* It’s my turn
*God doesn’t care about me
*He/she hurt my feelings
*I need “me” time
We want to be the center of everyone’s universe, including God’s
We as women have a purpose, and when we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on ourselves we influence those around us to do the same. Eve influenced Adam to sin. How amazing would it have been if before she bit into the fruit, if she had first asked God if this is something she should do? We as daughters of Eve have the same influence on those around us,  When we make life all about ourselves and how it affects us, we influence our spouses, children and friends to do the same.  Before a baby girl is even born, all of her eggs are fully formed.  When a woman carries her unborn daughter, the choices that woman makes affect not just her daughter, but her grandchildren as well. The same is true spiritually.  When we fight for our “rights” and “desires”, we will influence our children and that will affect our grandchildren as well.  
We need to wake up to the deception that is so pervasive in both the world and Christian culture and that is, that our life is about our own happiness and fulfillment.
So ask yourself,
1. Who have I helped or encouraged today? 2. Who have I lead to the Lord lately? 3. What about this situation makes me so upset? Is it because I am making it all about me? 4. Are my decisions teaching my children to be selfish?  Or are they teaching them to be Christ centered? 5. Do I seek the Lord’s wisdom before making a decision? Or am I independently making this decision according to my own desires. Ps 16:11 6. What will my legacy be? A life that honored God or a life that made me happy?
If we seek God’s will instead of our own we will learn that God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself than about solving all my immediate problems, and isn’t that what our life is supposed to be about? Becoming more like Christ? If we make issues about how it makes us feel rather than using them to find God’s character and His purpose and if we don’t show the people in our lives the truth of God’s amazing grace, who will?