What’s Your Purpose?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our world seems to be getting darker. There is a palpable heaviness in the air that seems crushing at times. Broken homes, absent parents, misguided youth and spiritual apathy seem to permeate our culture.

Emptiness. Hopelessness. A constant questioning of why we are even here in the first place. What’s the point? What’s the use?

Teen and young adult suicide has skyrocketed following a fear campaign that rocked the world. Depression, anxiety and anger seem the “new normal”. And you know what, without Jesus, that’s all true. It is hopeless. There is much to fear. Much to be angry about in this broken world…

….but GOD.

Did you know that God made you, not as some random clump of cells, but in a way that is completely unique? There is nobody exactly like you! God made you on purpose and for a purpose.

Purpose is paramount. Without purpose, we are, at best, just loitering on this big rock suspended in space. Biding time. Wandering around with no goal in sight and no vision for the future. On some level, we know this, so we start plotting out our lives, setting goals, making plans (not wrong, by the way, easy there, type A readers), and we trudge toward what we think our purpose may be.

Unfortunately, we are a self-centered bunch. If we are honest, our aspirations, goals and self-perceived notions of purpose generally revolve around us and our glory. Get that big, beautiful house and car, and you will be the envy of your neighbors. Be successful, and your family will respect you and talk highly of you. Again, none of these things are inherently bad, but our aim is off when we make the temporary things of this world our target.

The truth is, as much as this is a gut punch to our pride, our purpose is not about us and what we want! Our purpose is to bring glory to God and to be part of His plan, ministering to the sick, the hopeless and the lost. Dying to self and being of service to a hopeless world. Putting Jesus first. Exalting His name and being light in a world gone dark.

Here’s the really cool part: how we do this may look different for each of us. God gave you a personality all your own. Because of this, you can effectively serve people in a way I cannot! For example, a pensive, introverted person can reach someone that a boisterous extrovert could never connect with, and vice-versa. So, while we share the same purpose, how the purpose plays out will look different by individual.

Remember the movie “Patch Adams”? Hunter “Patch” Adams discovered his “purpose” (granted, in the secular sense) for helping others while he was institutionalized for having thoughts of suicide. It was there that he realized his love for helping others. Looking at almost any blockbuster movie, you’ll see a sense of purpose woven in. Again, Hollywood misses the mark entirely where Jesus is concerned, but films like this inspire us for a reason: we were all made on purpose and with a purpose!

Today, take some time to sit before God and ask Him to reveal the way His purpose can move in and through you. When you live out His purpose for you, you’ll know it! The result will be a lightness, freedom and joy that sustains through life's darkest storms.