Do you know why you exist, why God created you? Was it to do a job for him? No! It was to be his child. You can know someone’s intent by their endgame, the ultimate result of why they’re doing what they’re doing. God’s ultimate explanation of his intention toward mankind points to an eternal family that lives with him in perfection as he reveals his grace to us forever!!
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
This is God’s heart toward you, out of his mercy and love for you he saved you so he could be kind to you FOREVER!!
When you launch into a journey of personal discovery, question why you’re here, take a “strength finders” profile or do anything related to finding your purpose, you must begin with the simple idea that God gave birth to you because he wanted a child. He adopted you through Christ to get you back into his family so he could be merciful to you and establish his grace in you forever!!
Live From Purpose Not For Purpose
Now that you know you’re a child and God is well pleased with you because you’re in Christ, there is work to do. The work we do is not to earn anything from God and it’s not to maintain our salvation, it’s to announce the victory of Christ and spread the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. You may find a unique and fulfilling way to do so, but the cal is to LOVE, as this passage reflects.
I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Who Do You Love?
So the question is not “what does God want me to do,” it’s “who does God want me to love?” Jesus commands us to love one another and from that unifying love within his body, we turn that love toward the world. In this love and unity, the world will believe God sent Jesus for them too (John 17).
Your identity and purpose on this earth are fulfilled once you place your faith in Christ but your calling is fulfilled as you take that same saving love to others around you. God might give you a specific plan but you have a voice in your path forward, you get to choose who and how you will love. Be creative, have fun with it, write, travel, walk next door, paint, preach, write poetry, develop courses, feed people, clothe people…whatever it may be, be creative and love folks out of your own identity as a child of God in Christ.
Who do you love? Is it your family? Show them. Is it women in Africa who have to hike miles for clean water? Show them. Is it drug addicts on the streets? Show them. Is it heart-broken pastors who have slipped into immorality? Show them. Whomever it may be, fulfill your call and love those people who make your heart beat a little faster.
Think of who that may be for you. Take one small step toward that people group. Arrange your schedule to make time and room for them. Sow into them financially. Create a plan that enables you to continually and consistently move toward those people. In the end, you will see that God is not interested in you doing a job, he didn’t create you to work for him, he created you to love you and sow seeds of grace into you that would grow into love for others.
Take that step, write that book, change that job, plan the mission trip, walk next door, get to bed a little earlier to be available…whatever it takes, GET BUSY LOVING!!
