24 October Numbers 18

Fulfilling our divine purpose

Numbers 18:6 (NIV) “I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting”.

God chose the other Levites and gave them to the Levite leaders as a gift to help with the work at the Tent of Meeting. In Hebrew, the word for "gift" can also mean "service." Like them, we were created in Christ Jesus to do good things. We have a purpose and must complete the work God made us for. Purpose is defined as the reason for something. Divine purpose is the mind of God towards someone or something; it is God’s intention about someone. God is a God of purpose and intention. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Remarkably, God created us for good works, not because of good works. Our good works did not save us; He saved us for good works. We are created to do good things that make God happy, not to live the way we used to when we were lost. Believers need to live out God’s purpose for them because He made us to do good works.

Christ is our High Priest who prepares us for service, confirmed in 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV) “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”. However Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.

We must die to our old selves in order to be a true priest. Paul speaks to us being the new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”.

In conclusion, just as God selected and gifted the Levites to serve in the Tent of Meeting, we, too, have been chosen and equipped for service in Christ Jesus. Our calling is to do the good works God has prepared for us, fulfilling our divine purpose. Christ, our High Priest, prepares us for this work, shaping us into a royal priesthood—a people set apart to declare His praises. We must offer ourselves as living sacrifices to fully embrace this calling, allowing God to transform our hearts and minds. By dying to our old selves and becoming new creations in Christ, we can live out His perfect will, serving Him faithfully and bringing light to the world.