Hello and welcome to our second talk on perspectives. Let me begin with a greeting, “Hello! Why are you?” I am sure you are wondering what kind of greeting is that. For those of you who read my earlier message, you might recall I asked you to greet your neighbor with the words, “Hello who are you?” Today I am greeting you with the words, “Hello Why are you?” You know last time we talked about ‘Identity,’ today we are talking about another very related and very important topic, ‘Purpose’ You know, “Who am I?” and “Why am I?” are two very important questions that every human being needs to answer, and they are so related. They are like two sides of the same coin. You can’t answer one question without answering the other question.
I don’t know how many of us have really stopped to ask ourselves that question, “What is life’s purpose?” “What’s the purpose of me being here on earth?” Let me begin by telling you about a little activity I do at trainings, it is called ‘Criticos.’ I begin by asking the participants to let me know if they’ve had breakfast that morning, and to put their hands up if they have. Then I say to one of those who’ve raised their hands, “Why did you have breakfast?” and they would say something like, “I had breakfast because I was hungry.” So then I say, “So, why would you eat if you’re hungry?” and so the person would say, “So that I have strength.” So I would say, “So why would you want strength?” and he or she says, “So I can work,” to which I’d ask, “Why do you want to work?” to which they’d respond, “So I can earn money.” “Why do you want to earn money?” “So I can live.” and “Why do you want to live?” Very often when that question is asked, there’s no immediate response, and that’s because not many people are clear about the reasons behind why they want to live.
That’s what I am addressing today, “Why do I want to live?” “What’s my purpose in living?” Why should we even think about Purpose? Should there be a purpose? Have you noticed that you do anything better when you have a purpose behind doing it, rather than when you do it merely because you’ve been told to do it. Purpose drives us forward. It gives us a reason to do what we do. We do it better, we do it quicker, and we do it with more passion when there is a purpose behind what we do. So, “What’s the purpose of life?”
• For some people there is no purpose in living – they just live. Whatever happens in life happens - you can’t stop it. That’s one view.
• There are some who feel their purpose in life is to be the happiest person possible. They want to have as much fun as possible. That’s some people’s purpose in living.
• Another person’s purpose could be that they want to be the best-looking person
• Another one’s purpose might be that they want to be the most popular person
• Another one might say, “I want to be at the top wherever I am.”
• Another might say, “I want to be the strongest person.”
• Another might say, “I want to have as much knowledge, my purpose is to have as much knowledge in life about everything possible.”
• Another might say, “I want to be the wealthiest person possible - to possess as much as I can.”
• Another might say, “I want to be the best in my area of expertise nobody should be better than me. That’s my purpose - to be the very best.”
• Another might say, “I want to be known as a good person.”
So you find all these purposes I mentioned are very connected with the identities I referred to in my last message. Some believe their identity is derived from their looks, for some it’s derived from their wealth, for others, their identity is derived from the knowledge they possess, for some it’s derived from how popular they are, for some it’s based on the skills they possess. As we compare the things we derive our identity from, and compare it with our purpose for living, we will that our Identity and Purpose go hand in hand.
If I derive my identity from something, then that’s exactly what I want to pursue. If I get my identity from riches, then I want to possess more riches - that’s my purpose in life. If I get my identity from knowledge, then I want to possess as much knowledge as possible. That’s how connected identity and purpose. When you see a phone you know it’s used to communicate. When you see a comb you know it’s meant to comb your hair. When you see a torch, you know it’s meant to shine light in the dark. You just know it’s purpose immediately - you don’t even need to think. That’s how closely linked identity and purpose are. So, if that is how it is for man-made objects, where every item has a purpose, much more is it true for you and I who are created by God. God never does anything without a purpose. Just like I said in my last talk on identity. “Let’s not wait for many years from now to begin our search for our purpose.”
Identity and purpose need to be identified at the earliest because the quicker we can identify our identity and purpose, the quicker we can begin to live life meaningfully, and fulfill the purpose for which God has created us. Otherwise we are going to keep searching for the answer to this question, “Why am I?” and we’re going to be searching for the answer in the wrong places, and in the process lose time, and also run the risk of hurting ourselves, by getting involved in things that are detrimental to our own well-being.
Just like the search for identity is unconscious, the search for purpose is also unconscious, but it is a daily search. Unconsciously (some people are very conscious about it), we are searching for Purpose. So, the question is, “How do I identify my purpose?” Well, the same way I suggested you discover your identity. Seek God. God has the answer to the question, “Who I am?” as He does to the question “Why am I?” You might ask, “Why should I ask God?” We need to ask God because it was He who created me with a purpose. This might sound like a simple solution, but the fact of the matter is that’s how simple the solution really is. God is the answer to this question.
For those of us who are believers in Jesus we looked at various definitions of who we are as Christians. We looked at the fact that we are Children of God. Now if I am a child of God - if that’s my identity, then what’s my purpose? My purpose would be to reflect the nature and character of my Father in heaven. That’s how closely linked identity and purpose are. If our identity is the family of God, then what’s our purpose? Our purpose would be to live as family; to live in love and unity with one another. We are all brothers and sisters. We are family forever. Is that not amazing? We use the term blood family to refer to our earthly immediate family – parents and siblings and children, but we as believers in Jesus are blood family too, because we’re been bought or redeemed with the blood of Jesus and adopted into the family of God.
If our identity is, ‘The Salt of the Earth,’ then our purpose is to influence people. If we are the ‘The Light of the World,’ then we are supposed to share the love, joy, peace, grace, mercy, forgiveness and all that we have received from God, with those around us. If we are ‘A New Creation,’ then our purpose is to live a new life in Christ. If we are ‘God’s workmanship,’ then we are supposed to let God continue to work in us, the work that He began, of transforming us into His image, and we need to obey Him and let Him work in us through the Holy Spirit to complete that process.
If you go back and look at all the definitions of who we are as the church, you will find that every one of the definitions are so closely linked with purpose. They are not disconnected in any way. That’s the point I am trying to make. We cannot separate identity from purpose, and if we forget our identity we forget our purpose, meaning. In other words, if I forget who I am, I forget why I am.
Dr. Miles Munro an evangelist from the Bahamas said these words, “The greatest tragedy is not death but a life without purpose.” I think a sadder tragedy, is a life that had discovered identity, and discovered purpose, and then chose to just walk away from it, and go on a search for another identity, and another purpose. So the question is, “Have you discovered your purpose in life?” If you have, that’s fantastic. I then encourage you to share what you’ve discovered with other people, so they too will have the opportunity to discover their purpose in life. If you have not, may I encourage you to start that search immediately - to seek God immediately, and say, “God reveal yourself to me. Reveal your purpose for my life to me.” Don’t wait till tomorrow, today is the best day to bring about any change - not tomorrow. You can come to God just as you are (if you’ve never known Him). He will welcome you. He will forgive you. He will adopt you into His family. He will shower His love on you. He will reveal to you who you are and reveal to you why you were created. He will give your life a brand new purpose and meaning in life. You will find forgiveness, love, joy, peace, hope and eternal life. You will get into the best relationship of all with the God of the universe. You couldn’t ask for more. Come to God as you are. Jesus is willing to welcome you into the family.
Let me remind you that God has a plan for your life. God has a purpose for your life. You may not realize it; you may not even have a plan and a purpose for your life, but God has a plan and a purpose for your life. When you come to Him, He reveals that to you, and He will help you fulfill the plans and purposes that He has for you. How amazing is that?
He doesn’t leave it all up to us, but He will come and live inside of you through His Holy Spirit and He will help you fulfill all the plans and purposes He has for your life. It’s not really about your purposes for your life. It’s really about God’s purpose for your life.
Listen to the word of the second wisest man. I say second wisest because the wisest was Jesus, when He walked the earth. The wisest man next to Him was King Solomon whom God bestowed amazing wisdom to, and this man went on an expedition as it were to discover the purpose of life. He looked for the purpose of life in various things in pleasure, in work, in wisdom, in knowledge, in so many things and what he discovered was everything was vanity. Everything was meaningless it didn’t satisfy, it left a void. He said God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, which means that there’s a vacuum in the heart of man which only God can fill.
Eventually he said these amazing words in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God and keep His commandments for this is man’s all.” Or in other words he is saying that after all his searching for life’s purpose and meaning, he discovered that the whole purpose of man is to fear / honor God, and to keep His commandments, which Jesus summed up in Matthew 22:37-40 - “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” That what our entire purpose in life is all about. It’s that simple. We ourselves have complicated things.
In our next talk we’re going to be looking at the topic of ‘Life.’. We’ve looked at ‘Identity,’ we’ve looked at ‘Purpose,’ then we look at ‘Life;’ we will, God-willing look at ‘Death;’ we will look at ‘Eternity,’ ‘Suffering,’ ‘Sin,’ and a few more topics.
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