To this end was I born

The New Living translation of John 18:37 reads as follows:

Pilate said, “So you are a king?”
Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

Most translations read as follows:

"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

The second version make us focus more on the fact that Jesus confirmed He is a king, than on what he stated as his life's purpose (born to testify to the truth), whereas the New Living Translation, by not confirming what Pilate asked, brings the focus to the fact that Jesus "was born and came into the world to testify to the truth".


Okay, go read them again to see what I mean.  :-)

Neat huh, but it gets better!  The following two emails I received later on pretty much confirmed what that verse means to me when I read it. That I too was born with a purpose, to testify to the truth.  The first devotional, The purpose of life, doesn't mention who wrote it, which is a pity. The second devotional is a prophetic word (I love you) that gets sent out to all members on the list.

See what they mean to you.

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."-- John 18:37.

This was our Lord's answer to Pilate's inquiry, and to a certain extent each of us may appropriate His words. Wordsworth's immortal lines suggest that we stood before God to receive our commission, ere we became clothed with this body of humiliation. Whether or not the poet is right in his surmise, that "not in utter nakedness or forgetfulness do we come from God, who is our Home," we need not argue. It is enough that God, who hates nothing that He has made, sent us forth to realise an ideal, to fulfil a purpose, to bear witness to some phase of Truth! Shall we not ask ourselves, as in His Presence, whether we are fulfilling the

Divine purpose of what the Apostle calls "our high calling"? (Phil 3:14).God created each soul with a purpose. The potter takes in hand a lump of clay with a distinct design. He means, when he places it on the horizontal wheel, to make of it a vessel to adorn a temple or palace, or he has in mind to serve some household use. The revolving wheel on the one hand, and his skilful manipulation on the other, will evolve and complete his purpose. "Cannot I do with you, as this potter? saith the Lord."

"Thou hast made me and fashioned me. Thou didst choose the time and circumstances of my birth, my parentage and heredity, my mental equipment and my physical frame. From the first Thou didst know the constitution of my body, which Thou didst fashion in secret, and curiously work in the lowest places of the earth."

To our humble challenge: "Why hast Thou made me thus?" God does not always give an audible reply. His answer is often voiceless, it steals in upon the soul insensibly, and we know that we are fulfilling His purpose. If you are engaged in some unwelcome task, which evidently is your duty; if you are shut up as companion with some uncongenial charge; if you are called to minister to people who seem unresponsive or unsympathising, ask that the Saviour and you may be yoked together, that His Will may be done through you, that His love and kindness may bear and forbear in you, and that you may witness to the truth, as it is in Jesus.

PRAYER
O God, some of us shrink from our life-work, from those with whom we have to associate, from unwelcome toil and irksome tasks. Enable us to see Thy plan, and to trust Thee who art working out Thy plan in our lives. May the love of Christ constrain us no longer to live unto ourselves, but to Him. AMEN.

I LOVE YOU

This word is submitted by Vanessa Whittaker
I created you all for a reason and I embrace you as My child. Stand
strong in what I have given you, for I chose you from eternity. My
hand is overcoming your enemies. Let Me work, and you will see wonders,
for My hand is on you, and I am looking after you.

I love you, My child, and you have been bought by the blood of the
Lamb. You don't realize how precious you are to Me. I am your Loving
Father, and I wish to guide you all though Life. Just take My hand.
The adventure is about to begin...