I commented via my Twitter a few days ago that the two greatest days in your life are (1) the day you are born, and (2) the day you realize why. I’m not sure where or when I first realized (or possibly, heard) that, but it resonates within me still.

I’m incredibly blessed to know the unending love of my wife, my kids, and many wonderful friends I journey towards Jesus with. But with all the things that compete for my attention and affection, I am easily distracted by the frantic and frenetic pace of living in 3D. One of the new buzzwords of our ‘green’ society has caught me by surprise and slowed me down. Insiders no longer use the term ‘recycled’, as in ‘recycled glass’, but ‘repurposed’.

Which I completely love, but not in a green way.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m all in favor of the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra, of reducing my consumption and my carbon footprint to be a better steward of, and to help liberate, Creation (Romans 8:21). But, if there will one day be a ‘new heaven and a new earth’…there has to be a bigger picture somewhere. The reason I love the reimaging of recycling as being ‘repurposed’ is that it describes me. As someone who follows Jesus, the old things are passed away and my purpose is redirected. I haven’t been recycled into something more useful, something to get more mileage out of before dumping in a landfill, like a mulligan or ‘do over’ on a human scale. Unlike Madonna, I’ve not been reinvented. I’ve been repurposed. And as a redeemed eikon of the Creator, my DNA is still that of my Father’s.

My former purpose may have been self, but I have been repurposed for servanthood.

My former purpose was to acquire things, but I’ve been reformatted for sacrifice.

Instead of fighting for my own freedom, I am repurposed to be a slave to others.

At some point I climbed down from the throne in my own life (it was a short climb!) and was repurposed to worship the One who is worthy of it.

I have not been recycled into something more useful. I have been repurposed.