Purpose: The Essence of Life

20 Mar Purpose: The Essence of Life

Purpose… Many have come up with various definitions and views of this word. To some it seems like a mere word, a niche, a shot to aim at for a time. But whichever your definition of purpose may be, don’t leave that meaning in a box and lock it away, instead make it define your life.

It is important to note that the purpose of your life cannot be birthed from yourself (even though many have said “just look within you and you will see it), it’s effortless to look within you when you can’t see through God’s eyes. We cannot look at ourselves and say, Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Here is my purpose.

Purpose isn’t about an end goal. It is a journey. We should be living the life we are meant to live.

The existence of our lives on earth is measured in time, but what about the time that is immeasurable, eternity. You can’t find your purpose by just looking at yourself. There is a tendency that if you focus more on yourself, you will be drawn to the euphoria that this is all your life is about. You are likely to be self-centred as well.

You cannot know all about yourself, you have to go to your Creator. Now that is what makes purpose a very big deal because it is birthed in the heart of the Almighty God way before the earth was made, and before you came into existence. Your purpose is found in Him. In Ephesians 1:12 (MSG), we are told that it is in Christ we find who we are and what we are living for.

Finding who we are is a resultant effect of our connectedness to His will, His goals, His purpose and His desire for our lives. If all we are living for is here and now, then we have missed the whole point. Until we know Jesus, we won’t know what He is calling us to do. It is beyond a gift, dreams and goals, it is all about His Purpose.

When you get to the point where His dreams are your dreams, His purpose your purpose and His goals your goals, nothing matters to you anymore, no matter the situation, you are at peace knowing that He is building something much more inside of you. When we have sight of where He wants us, we won’t be worried about our lives. We just embrace the process already knowing that what is building inside of us is bigger.

When we don’t know God’s purpose for our lives, we struggle. And when we struggle, depression, frustration and bitterness sets in. This is because we believe we deserve more from the world. The more we need is in God and not in the things created. The greatness we seek is found in Him. He wants us to walk on this earth as His vessels of honour.

Purpose precedes Provision

When you walk in God’s purpose for your life, everything you need to work and to live is made available to you. He provides all you need. I am not talking about houses, cars or even beautiful dresses, because you can still have all these things and still lack one thing – purpose. His provision means all that we need to live by, and in His purpose he makes them available to us. Everything we need to build every aspect of our lives is made available to us (see 2 Peter 1:3).

There will be days of dryness but it won’t look like one because you know you are living in His purpose. When others are complaining, you are at peace. Knowing that whatever He is building inside of you will manifest on the outside in due time and season.

Some Myths about Purpose

In his post on relevantmagazine.com, Jesse Carey wrote the Myths that Millennials believe about Purpose highlighted below:

Purpose will bring financial wealth, or fame

He stated that success does not equate to financial wealth, notoriety or fame. But true success can’t be measured by how much you have in your bank account or how many social media followers you have.  And he also added that there’s no price that could be put on fulfillment, personal satisfaction or the knowledge that you are obediently following the will of God for your life.

God can only use extraordinary people

Another myth is seeing being ordinary as something wrong. Nothing is wrong with you. God will use ordinary folks to make extraordinary things happen on the earth. Jesus taught us that “the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

There is nothing wrong with trying to achieve big things, but if our self-worth is tied to social status—instead of our identity in Christ—we’ll never get the satisfaction we’re looking for.

Age limits to accomplishing your purpose

There is no age limit to achieving your goals. Big dreams don’t have deadline. You need to keep working at it. There is a bright chance, but what happens when you have failed consistently. You should not throw in the towel, thinking this is another missed opportunity.

No matter what you have missed, dust yourself up and ask for courage to move into new territories. Beating yourself up over a missed opportunity only slows the process.

Can’t help someone else in their purpose

One perspective you must have is that there is no harm helping others in their purposes. What if your purpose is to help someone else achieve theirs; not everyone is called to be in the spotlight, even Jesus said, you must be a servant to lead. You could be doing that small thing in your little corner, but it has eternal validity.

Some people are called to work behind the scenes and support and serve others, even if they don’t receive the outward recognition. Our goal shouldn’t be about how much we can achieve as individuals.

It should be about expanding God’s Kingdom, even if that means helping someone else lead the way.

Outcome is important than process

Success is more about the process than the outcome. Don’t negate your process, the journey is the reward. So that when we see Him, we will become like Him. As Christians, “our reward in heaven is great” and we are to “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Our reward is eternal!

Last Words

You can’t realize how much you can do, until you submit to God above all else; that He knows the end from the beginning. He knows exactly what you should be doing at this point in your life. He has a blueprint for your life. Before you were born, He knew you. He couldn’t think of you less and He wants all of His children to know the reason He brought them to the world at a time as this.

Your purpose could be an answer to a burden the world is carrying on its shoulders. It could even be something as subtle as raising kids. For someone else, it can be ministering to convicts in prison. For me, it is encouraging people to live their fullest life in God. We are called to be burden lifters. Jesus wants to walk the earth through us. He said we will do greater things than He did when He walked the earth.

Don’t let your experiences or challenges stop you. It is in them, that you will find the fuel to teach the world about Jesus. Your purpose is buried within those experiences and challenges. Purpose will give your life meaning. Without purpose, it becomes frustrating and depressing. You channel your energy doing too many things, when you should be focused doing that one thing God made you for.

Remember: You don’t create your purpose, you discover it. Ask God to help you know the one thing He’s called you to do.

This article originally appeared at akinmore.com.