Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Defining purpose

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them," Ephesians 2:10.

“Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began," 2 Timothy 1:9.

To those hungry to do God’s will,

If we are going to walk in purpose it might be beneficial to understand the components of it. They are basic and simple. “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” This means there was intentionality in our design. Each of us was specifically fashioned to fulfill a specific need in the Designer’s mind. Secondly, God has, “...Saved us and called us with a holy calling.” This calling determines what the Designer wants me to do with the unique combination of gifts and talents included in my design. A simple formula for purpose might look like this:

Design

(Who God made you to be)

+

Calling

(What God calls you to do)

____________________________

Purpose

You can understand design on two levels. Each aspect of your make-up is an individual thread in the tapestry of your life. When you back away from them you will see there is definitely a pattern that emerges in the way they are woven together. Heart motivation, temperament, experience, passion, talent, right/left brain function, introvertedness, extrovertedness, spiritual gifts, values and more are all woven together into a unique design. The only way to get a “bird’s eye” perspective on this design is to re-focus your perspective from self to that of looking through the eyes of God (Dove’s eyes). This leads to the second level of understanding design. You were created “in Christ Jesus.” It is imperative therefore that you only try to understand yourself within this context. Because Jesus is the Truth, you will find the truth about who you are as you draw into deeper intimacy with Him.

Ironically, this is also how you come to understand calling. You can only know what someone wants you to do if you are listening to that person on a consistent, regular basis. The more you practice this the more your understanding will deepen beyond the words themselves to the heart that uttered them. What they want you to do today might be very different from what they wanted you to do yesterday. What was permissible yesterday might not be acceptable tomorrow. You can see therefore, that deep communion is necessary to understand both design and calling.

This brings us to the very essence of purpose. We are to know God with every fiber of our beings. We were born for relationship with Him. He calls each of us to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength. And because He is Love, He calls us to express this love by sharing Him with others. Those who truly want their lives to be meaningful should focus on these things. Nothing else is really that important!