Discover Purpose
Monday— “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38
Months of preparation preceded Princess Zelda’s arrival. When the door opened on her Lear jet, hundreds of the country’s most elite lined up to greet her. They’d done everything possible to provide the kind of accommodations she was used to. But once she had walked down the confetti-strewn red carpet, she took the mic in hand and smiled. “Greetings from my father!” she called. “He has sent me here on assignment, so I will require nothing but a humble hut, basic food, and no servants. I will live as you live, interact with the sick and homeless, and do whatever he has asked me to. I’m not here to be pampered.”
When the Son of God came to earth, He didn’t come to be pampered. He could have insisted on the finest that earth had to offer, but He chose a poor couple as parents, shepherds as His first visitors, and carpentry as a trade. He made it clear from the first that He was not here for His own purposes. He was here on assignment: He would represent His Father. When He calls each of us to be His, we’re given that same assignment. We’re not here to be pampered by the Prosperity Gospel or admired by the world. We’re here to do the will of Him who sent us. And what is that? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” For Jesus, that meant death. For us, it means dying to ourselves.
Challenge: Dying to self means we no longer make decisions based on what we want, but seek instead what God wants.
Prayer: Father, it is my greatest honor to be able to call you that. Help me develop the mindset Jesus had. He thought only of doing your will, not His own. Today, I choose to die to myself and seek to please you in every way. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Tuesday— But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts 20:24
“My life’s aim is to make my first million by the time I’m 40,” Josh boasted. Chet grinned. “Good luck with that. I just want to play for the Thunder before my knees give out. If I can do that, I’ll die a happy man.” Allen shook his head. “Good ideas, but nothing is worth more to me than scaling Everest. I’ve been preparing for it since I was ten.” Do those seem like lofty goals? Actually, none of them are high enough. These guys are basically wasting their lives with low expectations. Paul set the bar higher. His goal? Finish the work assigned to Him by God. What if that was the recognized purpose of every believer?
When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, He welcomes us into His kingdom. We are granted new citizenship and given a specific assignment. But it’s not the kind we imagine. Every citizen is to represent His kingdom well, bring in new citizens, and reflect His character and values like the moon reflects the sun. We do that through specific assignments God gives each of us. Paul was given a particular assignment—take the gospel to the Gentiles—and he refused to die or quit until that mission was carried out. He knew his purpose and that knowledge kept him going. A specific purpose might change as we age, but we’re not free to quit until God gives us our next assignment. To aim for a lesser goal is to waste our lives.
Challenge: What work has God assigned you? Don’t settle for a lesser goal.
Prayer: Father, help me know my purpose right now in this season. How can I reflect your kingdom and represent you well in my world? Am I living out what you’ve called me to do? I will stick with it until you call me away. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Wednesday— Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. Genesis 37:5
Ah, seventeen. Remember that age when you were full of yourself and knew everything? Bodies are firm and healthy, minds are sharp and creative, but judgement…? Not so great. At seventeen, Joseph knew enough to receive a message from God but not enough to keep it to himself. It never occurred to him that his older brothers would resent such a message. The dream was true but his handling of it got him into big trouble. So why would God trust such a big dream to an impulsive kid? The Lord knew Joseph was gonna need it very soon. That dream revealed his purpose and knowing that got him through terrible times.
Knowing our purpose helps us persevere when we don’t want to. It anchors us to something bigger than our current circumstances. If we try to figure it out on our own, we usually aim far too low. So God urges us to look up. He’s got our marching orders, but if we don’t seek Him, we’ll march in the wrong direction. God picked Joseph to save his entire nation from starvation, but it was years before Joseph would understand his dream. God gave it early so Joe could hang on to it through the dark times. He’d endure prison. Adulterous temptation. Slander and betrayal. But knowing his purpose kept him from turning away from God when he felt alone. Knowing our purpose keeps us faithful too.
Challenge: Hanging on to our purpose keeps us from giving up when life feels hopeless.
Prayer: Father, remind me why I’m here. It’s tempting to give up when life disappoints. Give me a vision of what you want to do through me and may all my decisions line up with that. Help me to hang on when I want to let go. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Thursday— For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21
-You can have the raise you asked for, or you can take a little less with ten more vacation days. Which would you choose?
-You’ve been accepted by both Harvard and Yale Universities. Full ride either way. What would you do?
-You’ve bid on two fabulous houses. You like them both, but it’s up to the sellers whether to accept your offer. So you wait.
Sometimes we have the privilege of facing two good options. They are win-win situations, so either way it goes, we won’t lose. We don’t fear the outcome when we feel equally blessed with either option.
Paul felt that way about death. For him, death was not the enemy. It was a graduation to a grander reality. He couldn’t decide which was better: to continue living and winning souls to Christ, or to die and enter glory forever. He preferred departing to be with Christ (v 23), but knew it was better for his friends if he stayed on earth a while longer. He viewed it as a win-win situation. His purpose was to glorify Jesus in whatever he did, but his destination was just ahead and he was eager to get there. When we live our purpose every day, we’re content to continue until God calls us home. When that time comes, we can say with Adoniram Judson on his deathbed: “I go with the gladness of a school-boy, bounding away from school at the end of the day.”
Challenge: Living our purpose removes the fear of death. It’s merely a change of address as we continue worshiping God.
Prayer: Father, knowing you’re preparing a place for me removes the fear of death. I will keep serving you as long as I have breath, and when that breath leaves, I’ll bound happily into your presence. It’s a win-win because of Jesus. In His name, amen.
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Friday— “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
“I don’t know what God wants me to do with my life,” said Ruth, taking another long drag of her cigarette. “Me and my boyfriend pray about it in bed before we go to sleep every night and I even asked my manager at the strip club what he thought.” Dina shook her head and finished the Vodka bottle. “I dunno,” she mumbled. “God’s ways are mysterious.” Yes, some of them are. But some aren’t. He was very clear about a lot of them and expects us to obey the ones we know. After all, if we won’t do what He’s already written down, why would He reveal more?
Sometimes finding our purpose is not as complicated as we make it. God’s purpose for our lives begins a little like a warning label on a waffle iron that says, “Do not use while sleeping.” Duh! God has slapped those warning labels on all kinds of sin. “Don’t be promiscuous. Don’t get drunk. Don’t hate people. Don’t be greedy…” When we busy ourselves reading those labels and heeding them, we position ourselves to hear more from Him. It’s as though He says, “Now that you’ve shown you can obey me in little things, come up here with me. I want to show you what else I have planned for your life.” Jesus told His disciples that the key to their purpose was abiding in Him. If they did, they would be rock stars in His kingdom. We will too.
Challenge: The best way to discover your purpose is to keep obeying what you already know to do.
Prayer: Jesus, I’ve tried to find purpose on my own and it didn’t work. Only you know why you made me and only in you will I find out. I commit to abiding in you and obeying all you’ve commanded me to do. In that I’ll find my purpose. Amen.
