Finding Your Purpose
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him. (Colossians 1:15-17, The Message)
When I read this scripture this morning it really touched my heart. Finding your purpose is so integral to knowing who you really are in this life. And sometimes, I think, I can easily confuse job descriptions or things that I do with my purpose. How about you?
I have long identified as a teacher and, even in retirement from the school system, I find ways to be a teacher. Is that my purpose?
I'm also a musician. I have spent long hours over many years learning to play instruments, to read music, to direct musical groups. Is that my purpose?
I'm a wife to my husband, a daughter to my late parents, a sister to my siblings, an aunt to my nephews and nieces, a fur mama to my cats, a friend to my friends, a blogger online. Are these my purposes?
Confusing, isn't it? In our culture we identify so much with what we "do" that it is easy to confuse all of this "doing" with our purpose. There have even been books written about finding our purpose in life. Sometimes, now that I'm retired, I feel uncomfortable when I'm asked what I have been "doing" because I feel like I need to come up with a laundry list of important things to say so that others will know that I still have purpose in this life.
But, as I read this scripture, I am told that my true purpose lies in Christ. It's that simple. My purpose isn't about a job description...although that can be a place in which I fulfill my purpose through Christ.....and my purpose isn't a laundry list of busyness that I have accomplished.....although those things can be ways in which I fulfill my purpose through Christ.
I'm not a job and I'm not a list of things on a to do list....and neither are you dear reader.
Rather, you and I are children of God and we are held together through the love and sacrifice of Christ Jesus. This is our identity. Serving Christ is our purpose.
Chapter One of Colossians goes on to say the following:
He was supreme in the beginning and-leading the resurrection parade--He is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is He, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that but all of the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe--people and things, animals and atoms--get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.
(Colossians 1:18-20, The Message)
This is our purpose. Finding our place in Him who gave His all for us. And, yes, when we accept Him we can serve Him by "doing things" in many ways and places. We find our purpose through Christ who guides and leads us throughout life here on Earth and beyond. Loving Christ and responding to His call on my life is my true purpose.
May you feel God's purpose in your life this day.
Blessings,
Debbie
8 comments:
I receive a daily inspirational message each morning via email, and your blog post featured a similar message this morning. It is so true that our world values busyness and that laundry list of things to do. It's refreshing to hear not one but two messages in one day that talk about true purpose.
That's amazing that the two messages were so similar!
I have truly struggled with this. There was a time that I thought I didn’t truly have a purpose. Then there were times I felt I was just too stupid our not close enough to Christ to determine my purpose. I also went through the phase when I thought my career path was my purpose. But then I realized that the only way to truly know one’s purpose was to get into The Word. I finally realized that every time I gave a homeless person a few dollars, or donated to a homeless shelter, or hugged someone who had not been hugged in a while or listened to someone who felt no cared about their testimony. I figured it out, as you so eloquently put it, that my purpose is truly to do God’s will. And that will is to love my neighbors the way Christ loves me. Thank you for sharing this. My heart was touched.
Bless you, Clearissa. Loving our neighbors the way Christ loves us is a beautiful way to find our purpose in serving Christ.
The Message Bible's rendering of verses always gets me thinking, too. And I love this thought that our purpose is so much more than what we can see or the title we write on the "occupation" line of our tax form.
Thanks, Michele, I enjoy reading The Message too. Thank you for your kind comment.
This is very well said. It's so easy to think we need to look "beyond" to find our purpose. God never intended it that way. I really echo what Clearissa said. I have wasted time thinking it needed to be some "thing" or some accomplishment. It's the simple things, it's living and moving in God's will. He will make our lives fulfill His purpose.
Very well said! A couple years ago I attended a Women's Conference that talked about being a "Child of God". Since then, I've claimed that as my identity.
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