Do You Know Your Purpose?

Do you ever wonder what this life is all about?  Why are we here?  What is our purpose?  God put each and every one of us here for a reason.  The key is to discover that reason, your purpose on Earth.  Until we do, life will seem worthless, crowded with unfulfilling business.  Not knowing God’s purpose for you brings frustration in your faith and in your walk with Him.

I’m always surprised at the few people in a church congregation who truly know what their God-given purpose is.  I believe this is a crucial part of our existence.  How do we live a life without a plan from the God who created us, who put us here strictly to complete that plan?  It will be a life of dissatisfaction, discontentment and displeasure.  

John Bevere says that when we face the judgment day, we are not going to be judged on how many souls we’ve won, rather on how well we’ve completed the plan God gave us for our life.

We are not put on Earth to satisfy our “self”, but to reach out to others.  Jesus talks about the greatest commandment, in Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  So, of course, our number one goal is to love the Lord our God.

Jesus goes on in verse 31 to say, “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”  Notice this commandment doesn’t say, “Only love yourself and find a career that makes you rich so you can buy things and influence people.”

So you see, our purpose or calling will always be for people.  It will be a ministry that reaches out to others in some form or shape.  It may never be a paid, publicized or prosperous ministry.  It may just be a calling you know in your heart to be what God wants you to be.

Often times, our purpose is revealed after a difficult, time in the dessert, life-changing experience that leads us to God.  I’m a good example of that.  Rick and I went through a crisis in our marriage and almost divorced.  We turned to God; He saved our marriage and has led us to a marriage ministry that reaches out to hurting couples. 

God has given Rick and me a passion for this.  Nothing is more fulfilling for us than to be teaching, preaching or counseling on marriage.  We know this is God’s purpose for us.  Yes, we had to go through some awful times in our marriage to get here, but neither of us would trade that experience for anything to be where we are now.

We usually don’t find our passion for our purpose until we’ve gone through the fire of devastating experience that leads us to God and a dramatic change in our life.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Notice that God is called “The Father of compassion” here.  The prefix ‘com’ means together, with, jointly.  He’s passionate about comforting us.  When we experience His comfort in a life-changing experience, His passion, along with the comfort, is passed on to us.  We, in turn, become passionate about comforting others.   And so our purpose is born.

More to come on “What is Your Purpose?”