Thinking About Purpose

Know your purpose and you will clarify your thinking.

In 2002 Rick Warren tapped into a universally felt need by writing a book that addressed the question, “What on Earth am I here for?” Fifty million copies of The Purpose Driven Life have been purchased.

One of them belongs to my sister, Nancy.

Thinking On Purpose

We talked about life at her kitchen table. I listened as she enthused about the book’s influence on making sense out of life. The picture below tells the story of a well read, well marked, and well loved book.

Nan lost her way after the death of our parents. Alone. Grieving. Confused about why God allowed her to be orphaned.

Here’s what she discovered.

Clarity About Purpose

Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which to base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. Without purpose you will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at the moment.

Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose.

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.

If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God.

Begin With God

You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that you discover your origin, identity, meaning, purpose, significance, and your destiny.

When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just the here and now, and you realize that life is preparation for eternity, you’ll live differently. You will start living in the light of eternity, and that will colour how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance.

The closer you live to God the smaller everything else appears.

Change Your Thinking

Living the rest of your life for God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else. It will sometimes mean choosing a difficult path instead of an easy one.

Even Jesus struggled with this. Knowing he was about to be crucified, he prayed: “My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”

Purpose Behind Problems

God has a purpose behind every problem. God uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, God depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading the Bible. The reason is obvious: You face circumstances twenty-four hours a day.

Every time you forget that developing good character is one of God’s purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances. You’ll wonder, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a difficult time?” Life is supposed to be difficult. It’s what enables us to grow.

Remember, earth is not heaven!

Life’s Experiences

Experience is not what happens to you.

Experience is what you do with what happens to you.

Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.

Do you own a copy of The Purpose Driven Life? Got a favourite quote? A takeaway from the book? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.

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