15 Sermon Illustrations on Purpose Of God

Some time ago, half a dozen young men, dressed in green, were shooting at a target with bows and arrows, when the arrows of one of them invariably struck the earth, on account of his aiming too low. "Aim higher," cried out one of his companions. "Aim higher, for your arrow-head is always pointed to the ground. He that aims at a barn-door will never hit the weather-cock on the church-spire."

A father, giving advice to his son, said, "Let your objects be high and holy, and then the High and Holy One will give you strength and grace to attain them." "What would you advise me to aim at?" asked a young man of a Christian friend. "At riches and honors," replied his friend, "if you mean to be satisfied with earth; but at Christian graces if you have any desire ever to enter heaven."

That you may find success, let me tell you how to proceed. Tonight begin your great plan of life. You have but one life to live; and it is most important that you do not make a mistake. To-night begin carefully. Fix your eye on the fortieth year of your age, and then say to yourself, "At the age of forty, I will be an industrious man, a benevolent man, a well-read man, a religious man, and a useful man. I resolve; and I will stand to it." My young friends, pray to God that this resolution may stand like the oak, which cannot be wind-shaken. C. Brooks.

Lady Huntingdon, one evening, was on her way to a brilliant assembly; when suddenly there darted into her soul these words, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever,” which she had committed to memory years before in learning the Catechism. Prom that hour, her whole life revolved round a new center. The guilty, trembling sinner, hitherto occupied with her poor self, grazed on the face of Him who died for her; and, as she gazed, her conscience found peace, and her heart a satisfying rest. Her whole life became one “living sacrifice.”

All life is short in itself. But we do not complain that the night is short if we are looking for the dawn, nor that the winter is short if we are eager for the spring. A short life is long enough to take the right direction, and direction is the main fact about our life. For our children we ask: How are they coming out?--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermon in Illustration.”

A good life is never lost. It yields cumulative results. This rime expresses the truth:

A life spent with a purpose grand Has simply not been “spent”; It’s really an investment, and Will yield a large per cent. (Text.)

The rainbow is one of the most beautiful things in nature. It is made by a series and succession of falling drops, the series stretching across the sky, and the successive drops catching the reflection and refraction left by the drop below. Each drop has but a minute ray among the millions, and has this but for an instant as it comes into the right angle with the sun; but all together and in succession spread wide the beautiful arch of hope and promise. Each of us is among God’s creatures only as a single drop in the broad shower, and only for a little is our opportunity; but if we are in our place and in the right angle toward God, we may help spread His glory far and wide.--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermons in Illustration.”

Don’t say you’re not important,

It simply isn’t true,

The fact that you were born,

Is proof, God has a plan for you.

The path may seem unclear right now,

But one day you will see,

That all that came before,

Was truly meant to be.

God wrote the book that is your life,

That’s all you need to know.

Each day that you are living,

Was written long ago.

God only writes best sellers,

So be proud of who you are,

Your character is important,

In this book you are the “Star.”

Enjoy the novel as it reads,

It will stand throughout the ages,

Savor each chapter as you go,

Taking time to turn the pages.

Sit down by the side of an Old World lace-maker for a few moments. Fifty or a hundred bobbins, or spools, hang around a cushion in which there is a forest of upright pins. Every bobbin hangs by a thread that runs toward and among the pins. The onlooker sees the worker throw one bobbin over another, as tho she were playing with them. But how she knows which bobbin to pick up, and where to toss it, is a mystery. Out of the great complex of pins and threads comes a beautiful lace pattern, regular and beautiful. So the divine Weaver takes one and another of us, ordering us here and there, but keeping us always attached, like the lace-maker’s thread, to a definite purpose. As we look back over the past, we can see the wonderful pattern and perfect work of the weaver. Just what he is working out, for us and with us, now, we can not discern. But the lesson of the past is that the future will be good, and we can trust the Weaver of the indefinite to do all things well.