Purpose Awareness Will Change Your Life... Know (Y)ours

The Enemy’s Question

I don’t think the Enemy could have designed a better question than, “What is my purpose and how can I fulfill it?” It’s a me-me-me question which takes advantage of our self-centered and sinful nature. It immediately leads the questioner in the wrong direction never to get the right answer. It also fits hand-in-glove with something that has hurt our culture - Individualism.

Nerd Alert! (Label Is My Wife’s Suggestion)

“Individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but, in the long run, it attacks and destroys all others, and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness. Selfishness is a vice as old as the world… individualism is of a democratic origin.” --- Alexis De Tocqueville

Individualism has so infected our culture which is exactly where the Enemy wants us. The Wikipedia definition of Individualistic Culture (which we have in abundance) is, “Individualistic culture is a society which is characterized by individualism, which is the prioritization or emphasis, of the individual over the entire group. Individualistic cultures are oriented around the self, being independent instead of identifying with a group mentality.”

One of the inane statements that results from an individualistic culture is, “My truth is not your truth.” WHAT???!!! I would laugh if this issue weren’t so serious.

I’m not an etymologist (student of the history of words), but the word and concept of “truth” is an absolute. Truth = that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. If something is a truth, it exists as the only correct and true statement or concept. Two ideas in conflict with each other cannot both be called the truth. Doing so makes absolutely no sense, but here we are in this decade.

Final nerd thought - we are in the Age of Inductive Reasoning. The short version is that, in our search for the “truth”, we look for evidence to support what we already believe. Deductive Reasoning, however, starts with a foundational truth to which all agree, and then we deduce from there. Hardly any significant discoveries in math, other sciences, etc. have come from Inductive Reasoning. By far the most discoveries have come from Deductive Reasoning. We are still now just proving some of Professor Albert Einstein’s deductions. Inductive Reasoning is ferociously and sadly on display in our political discourse today. Can you imagine the smile that must be on the Enemy’s face?

What (Y)our Purpose Is Not

First, you do not have a unique purpose. You may have a unique way that you change your life to fulfill His purpose for us/you, but that’s as far as your uniqueness goes. Second, you do not have multiple purposes. God made this much simpler than literature may have led us to believe. Third, “raising my children well,” “Supporting friends in trouble,” “reading my Bible every morning”, etc. are not descriptions of purpose. They may be part of how to fulfill your purpose, but they are not your purpose. All of this will become clear.

Here’s (Y)our Purpose

If you were to sign up for the free Session #1 of the Unstatus Your Quo® Growth Plan, you would learn, among other things, that we all have the same purpose according to the Bible. The first question should be about God, not us, but our individualism has hijacked the line of questioning. We should first ask, “Why did God create mankind?” The answer to that question is (y)our purpose.

Drum Roll… Your purpose is to Glorify God!! In fact, everybody’s purpose is the same, and Session #1 will review with you the foundational and very clear Scripture supporting this conclusion. The next question is about God as well. It is, “How do we glorify God”, but that is a blog for another day or can be learned in Session #1. Have I already said it is free? 😊

Knowing Our Purpose Can Change Your Life – Cathy’s Story

In my Small Group a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the importance of some research results we hired Barna Group to gather for us. We will be releasing them to the Christian media soon.  The research shows a very, very low percentage of Practicing Christians know that their purpose is to glorify God. While not surprising in US Christendom today, it shows that there is an amazing opportunity to help Christians understand their true purpose.

OK. Sounds good, but why is understanding our purpose in life important? What tangible difference does this make in a Christian’s life? I’m glad you asked.

After some Small Group discussion about what higher awareness of our purpose might mean, Cathy brought the discussion home to some real tangible benefits to knowing. As one member said, she put the exclamation point to the benefits of knowing our purpose. She dropped the mike.

She started by saying as a woman in her early 60’s that, before learning what her purpose was several months ago, she felt she experienced a good relationship with the Lord for many years. Her priorities and actions seemed to be in alignment with His, and overall, she was in the path in life He had for her – or so she thought.

Now that she has this overlay of glorifying God in all that she does, her Bible reading, for example, has taken on a whole new depth of understanding and meaning. So much more is about Him in her life, not about her. Her relationship with Christ is deeper and more meaningful. She wonders if her actions are just fulfilling a checklist of what Christians should do or are her actions out of love for Him because of His love for Her? It has also led her to understand better HOW (also in Session #1) to glorify Him, and in so doing there is an endless number of ways she can grow in her love for Him.

Cathy and my wife a good friends, and Nancy and I delight in seeing real meaningful change in Cathy over the last few months and are so excited for her. Her life is more joyful, there’s more laughter, she is trusting in Him more, she is able to move on but not forget some traumatic events in her life, she’s experiencing more softening of her heart, and she is stretching into areas that have been out of her comfort zone because of a greater sense of His presence and desire for her. Even her two daughters have noticed a difference in her. In other words, she has really come alive, and to see her blossom is inspiring!! She attributes this growth to knowing that her life is first about glorifying God.

What’s Your Next Step

Once you know (y)our purpose and the scriptural basis for it, the next step is to understand HOW we glorify God. This second question is still about Him. Don’t worry, the third and final question is about each of us as individuals uniquely designed by God. We’ll get there. First, however, you need to and can learn in Session #1 that Jesus stated very simply how to glorify Him. At this very point, you already will be on a journey that will change your life as you break your life into smaller pieces of changed behavior that becomes a habit for His glory.

Charlie