Dr. Rick Mandl - September 2, 2020
The Power of Purpose
The Power Of Purpose
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Hey church family. Last Friday Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played the title character in the Oscar-winning film Black Panther, died at the age of forty-three. In addition to his role in Black Panther Boseman received high praise for his depictions of Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, and James Brown. He died on the fifty-seventh anniversary of the March on Washington and also the day baseball honored Jackie Robinson. Chadwick Boseman died of cancer, but he also died in faith.
Rev. Samuel Neely, the pastor who baptized Boseman as a child, said the arts were always part of his life, singing in the church choir and producing plays in high school. According to Rev. Neely, Boseman continued to live out his faith as an adult. In a speech last year, Boseman thanked actor Denzel Washington for providing a scholarship that enabled him to study one summer at Oxford University. He ended that speech with this benediction: (paraphrasing Ephesians 3:20). “May God bless you exceedingly and abundantly more in what’s in store than he ever has before.”
In 2018 Chadwick Boseman delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Howard University. In that address Bozeman quoted Jeremiah 29:11, which states: “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...” Boseman said, “Graduating class, hear me well on this day... You would rather find purpose than a job or career. Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history... The struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.” He added: “When God has something for you, it doesn’t matter who stands against it. God will move someone who is holding you back away from a door and put someone there who will open it for you if it’s meant for you... If you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that has ultimately proven to have more meaning, more victory, more glory, then you will not regret it.” I believe that most would agree that Chadwick Boseman’s death came too soon, but thankfully not before he discovered his purpose in life.
Biblical scholar William Barclay once noted, “There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why.” I wonder, has that second “great day” come for you? If so, that’s great! Pursue that purpose with all you’ve got. If not, ask the Lord to reveal it to you, and he will. Someone said, “If you’ve got a pulse, you’ve got a purpose” – I want to challenge you to pursue it.
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