The mission of discovering and fulfilling one’s purpose is a HOT topic these days. Everywhere you look there’s a book, advertisement or podcast about how to discover your purpose.
Heck, there’s even a Life Purpose Institute in California designed to certify folks as professional PURPOSE coaches. Pastor Rick Warren wrote an entire book and devotional on how to discover and live a purpose-driven life which also includes a
purpose-driven life assessment.Knowing why you were created is not only critical to your
psychological well-being, it’s critical for your spiritual well-being. Pastor Rick Warren says,
“If you didn’t create yourself, you can’t discover the meaning and purpose for your life by yourself.”
Knowing the purpose of your life directly impacts
what you do with your life. When you don’t know the purpose for something, you don’t know what function it is to perform or fulfill. After you’ve read this post, be sure to download my free
personal reflection worksheet I created to help you process your divine purpose.
Do you know your God-Given Purpose on Earth?
Knowing why you’ve been created can not be discovered apart from knowing the One who created you. To discover your purpose is to first discover your creator. Only your creator can share the purpose for you–his BEST creation.
Our creator God had a specific purpose in mind for creating you and it’s up to you to not only discover it but willingly surrender to it.
- If I were to ask you if you have a sense of direction and purpose for your life, how would you answer me?
- If I were to ask you if you know what you were created to do on this earth, what would you say?
- How about if I asked you how does your work(job, career, vocation, etc.) align with your God-given purpose?
- And what if I asked you how you’re living out your God-given purpose each day. What would you say?
Your Purpose is found in your Creator
Did you find those questions easy or difficult to answer? Do you have clarity on your purpose or are you seeking to still gain clarity? When we look to God’s word concerning who we are and why we’ve been created, here’s what I’ve discovered:
- We are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works he has prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)
- We are a royal priesthood, God’s special possession and because of that, we are to proclaim His goodness in the world. (1 Pt2:9)
- We are Christ’s ambassadors, His chosen ones who are to speak His wonderful message of reconciliation and salvation in this world. (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
- We are created to reconcile unbelievers to God because He’s not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance (2Pt.3:9).
- We have been commissioned to go into all the world as Christ’s witnesses—training up others to be followers of Christ’s teachings. (Mt 28:19).
- We are to share the reason for the hope we have (1 Pt.3:15).
This is why we’ve been created. To be Christ’s witnesses and ambassadors who proclaim good news–the news of Christ’s salvation and gift of eternal life for all who beleive in Him.
Discovering Your Unique Mission
Now that you know WHY you’ve been created (to be Christ’s witness and ambassador) AND are aware of WHAT God has created you to do (good works) —you must now discover the specific type of good works He has for you to do using the unique gifts He’s given YOU.
Knowing your specific ‘good works’ requires you to be aware of your God-given passions, interests, strengths, talents, gifts, preferences, values, convictions, desires, burdens and dreams. All of these elements (and many more) are tools that He uses to guide you to the good works He’s uniquely created you to do.
To put it plainly. It’s up to us to discover HOW God has uniquely fashioned us so we can align our divine design to the specific work He’s gifted and purposed us to do. And our work shouldn’t just be to serve our selves. It should be work that glorifies God and demonstrates love, compassion, kindness and service toward others.
There’s a lot of ‘good works’ that need to be done in our world. And God’s word is FULL of instructions on how we are to love God and love people. The good works we are to do can be summed up in one word: LOVE. No Matter our profession, passions, preferences or position in life, we are to love God and people, as we love ourselves.
Asking ourselves the Right Question
So. Instead of asking ourselves “What is my purpose?”, maybe we should be asking ourselves…
“How can I BEST love God, myself and others using the unique gifts, talents, passions and interests He has purposely placed inside of me?”
As we discover the answer to THIS question, I believe we will have gained more insight into the what and how of our purpose. Knowing your Why (purpose), leads to discovering your WHAT (unique mission) and your HOW (divine design) for fulfilling it.
- Side note: Here’s a tool you can use to discover how God divinely designed or shaped you to do good works. You can access it online here or download a pdf of the S.H.A.P.E. test here.
Discover your Divine Design
It’s time to discover your divine design so you can know how God has equipped you to fulfill your God-given mission and in turn, your God-given purpose. Get clarity on who he’s created you to be so you can know what good works He’s prepared for you to go and do.
Now. There’s just one thing I want to emphasize to you above and beyond discovering your purpose and it’s this.
Pursuing your personal passions and interests can be a good thing to do, but pursuing God’s presence is the greatest thing you can do.
Because when you seek His presence above your purpose, you’ll discover everything else follows.
More Self-Discovery Tools and Assessments
If you’d like to explore the 5 PURPOSES of a purpose-driven life as defined by Pastor Rick Warren, take the
Purpose Driven Life assessment here.
If you’d like to know and assess the 6 dimensions of our psychological well-being, check out this research-based
Psychological Well-being assessment here.
If you’d like to know your spiriutal gifts, take the Spiritual Gifts assessment here.
Talk to Me
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HERE. I can’t wait to connect with you!
