Discerning Your Purpose

Have you ever wondered why you're on this planet? To glorify God and build His Kingdom is the answer that's true for all of us, but what about you specifically? What are you made to do?

Show Notes:

Welcome back to More than Milk; I'm Hannah Rebekah. As we've been talking about walking in the Spirit and knowing what God's will for your life is the last few weeks, I've emphasized that it's really not about finding one big "will" of God and you can then spend the rest of your life doing but rather listening moment-by-moment to what God wants you to do now. This keeps us reliant upon God and humble as we wait on Him. But you might be thinking, 'That's all well and good for the daily things, but what about when I have a really big decision? How do I know what God wants from me then?' I'm going to answer that in a few different ways.

First of all, understanding what God wants in the big things is built on a foundation of listening to what God wants in the little things. If you've made a habit of not paying attention to the nudges from the Holy Spirit throughout your life and then one day realize you need God's help to make a big decision, it's going to be a lot harder to hear Him. Only asking God's opinion when you recognize your wisdom has run out is turning what is supposed to be a relationship into an emergency service. That's not the design, and it won't work well.

The second thing I would advise during bigger, more difficult decisions is to not discount the input from those around you. I have seen so many people regret their college or major choice and so many couples end up miserable or divorced because they refused to listen to the advise of people who loved God and loved them. When we're in the middle of a big decision, our emotions get tangled in with the logic. Often we really can't see straight. We need to be in the habit of asking for input from parents, friends, pastors, mentors, and anyone else who is invested in us and loves Jesus. This doesn't mean abdicate the decision. You shouldn't poll those around you and just decide based on the outcomes. Pray, fast, and think carefully through the implications of your decision, but don't make it in a vacuum.

The third thing I have found is helpful—or I guess sixth if we count praying, fasting, and thinking through implications—is understanding your purpose. This is where I want to spend most of today's time. Purpose is a concept I was introduced to seven years ago when I first came to Grace Adventures. It took me awhile to really understand what it meant and even longer to know what mine was, but I hope I can at least give you a starting point to figure yours out today.

The idea of purpose is all over the bible and is grounded in the truth of God's sovereignty. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the Lord's decree will prevail." Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose." So we know at least God has an over-arching purpose for everything. God speaking through Moses to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16 says, "However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth." Acts 13:36, "For David, after serving his own generation in God's plan, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and decayed." This tells us that clearly God has specific purposes in His grander plan for each person. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." God has planned out the good that we are to do for His Kingdom in our lifetimes.

Now the idea of a life purpose is a little more intricate than that. It says that God has designed each person with an over-arching purpose for their lives and everything God has destined for them to do in this life more or less fits in that category. The verses above don't get us quite this far. However, if we look at the way God has designed humans and human nature, we can observe a few things. God has made each of us with a unique appearance, set of skills, experiences, physical abilities, etc. While we can hone the skills we have and learn new ones to an extent, we can't really change the way we were made. I will never be able to throw a football or ride a horse the way some of my more athletic friends can. I can get better than I am, but I just don't have the body awareness they do. I can know how it's done so well that I could teach someone else, but when it comes to actually getting my own muscles to do it, the finer points evade me.

God could have made us way more adaptable than we are so that whatever He called us to on a particular day, we were able to do it. What an adventure that would be. Couldn't ride a bicycle yesterday, but today you can. Couldn't speak a language last week, but now no problem. God needs a Christian in the NBA, so now you can dunk. But that's not the way in works. Instead, God deliberately designed each of us with built-in strengths and weaknesses. Why? First of all, I'm sure it's to keep us humble. The fact that we can't do everything reminds us that we're human. Second, though, is because God has a specific purpose in mind for each of us, and He gave us the strengths and weaknesses we would need to fulfill that purpose. Whether you realize it or not, your weaknesses, though they may frustrate you at times, keep you on track. If you were good at everything, you would have a lot harder of a time figuring out where God wants you. You may have a lot of interests, hobbies, and skills, but if you can't jump, at least you know you're not supposed to play professional basketball.

So if God has an over-arching purpose for my life, how do I find it? Great question. First, let's define a little better what I mean by your purpose. It's not where or how you do things, it's what you do. Your purpose is not your job or career. People with very similar life purposes can be in vastly different fields. Let me give you a couple examples. My life purpose is to grow people spiritually. If I were to give it a little more detail and depth, I'd say my end goal is to help people progress in their spiritual walk to a point in which they can start developing those who are less spiritually mature around them. My core focus is identity formation, because I believe strongly that if you don't have a grasp of what identity in Christ means and how to grow in it, you're not going to move forward spiritually. Now that's not necessarily a career. There are careers where that's the main focus—youth pastor for one—but my job doesn't have to be all about that for me to be able to fulfill my purpose. It does help me narrow down my career field. If I can't live out my purpose at all in my work, like if I worked alone all day for example, that wouldn't be good.

I have a friend who's worked his purpose down to a single word: disillusionment. He is quick to spot lies people are believing, call them out on them, and speak the truth. Our purposes are very similar, because if you remember, identity issues always come down to lies. However, the wording is important and shows how our approach is different. I like to cultivate truth and progress; he likes to spiritually attack lies.

So now that we've defined purpose a little better, how do we figure it out? There are a couple of steps I've found helpful. The number one thing that helped me was realizing what made me spiritually excited. I don't know if I can even fully explain what I mean by that. It's when you have a moment of, "Oh my word, God, look what You just did through me!" For me, those moments are when I get to teach biblical truth and see fruit from it. That could be from teaching a Sunday school class, from someone seeking my advice, or just one of those life-on-life, spiritual/relational correction moments. My heart starts pounding excitedly, my mind is fully engaged, I get more expressive, and I can sense God working. If you can come up with a few of those moments and figure out what they have in common, you're well on your way to knowing your purpose.

If you've never had one of those moments, you should do a heart-check and figure out why. Are you refusing to do the things the Holy Spirit is telling you to? It could be that you're living in fear because you don't know your identity or believe that God always has your good planned in everything. Because of that, you're missing out on the opportunities He wants to give you to see Him exemplify His power in your strengths and weaknesses.

Non-spiritual things can also be indicators of where to look for your purpose. If you make a list of all the things you really love to do, I'm willing to bet there are patterns that will lead you in the right direction. I love to teach people things. I love to give advice. I love to come alongside and help. Those are all related to my purpose.

I hope this gets you started thinking about and searching for your purpose if you don't already know it. If you do, I hope you are energized to keep searching for opportunities to live it out! If you know what your purpose is, I'd love to hear about it. You can write me on facebook, Instagram, or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!

Next week we're going to start a new series on the fruits of the Spirit. I hope you'll join me then.