What Is My Purpose?

Join me as I explore what our purpose is in this world...

Last week, we discussed Christian Freedom and the difference between being free on earth and free in God. Once we experience Christian freedom, we wonder what to do with it. What is our purpose? Before I begin, I would like to note that I do not consider myself a ‘qualified’ teacher. I am simply writing what I feel called to write. I urge you always to do your reading and research and allow God to guide you through that.

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”

Lewis, C.S. (2012) Mere Christianity. Collins, London

What is my purpose? That’s a big question… and on this earth, it comes with many different answers, depending on who you are, what life throws at you, whether you believe in God, etc. The parameters are endless. I used to think my purpose was to get married, have children, and succeed. Surely there’s more to life than this?! I bet many others feel the same or used to feel the same. It’s what society does, right? Everyone does it, so it means I’m expected to do it. That’s a fair bit of pressure you put on yourself. We live with that pressure subconsciously a lot of the time. It’s just simmering away inside us, gnawing at our spirit, and we push it down because, come on, I’m so young; I don’t need to think about that yet! Okay, so a few years go by, and two of your friends are married, your cousin just started their own business, your sibling is expecting their first child and your colleague has moved into a beautiful big house. That pressure has gone from simmering to bubbling because your life hasn't changed. The heat is on a high, and those bubbles aren’t subsiding. Now you’re asking, ‘What am I doing?’, ‘Where am I going?’, ‘What is my purpose?’. There it is again. That question brings pressure… like we haven’t had enough already.

BREATHE. That was a lot.

The Bible is God’s living Word through which He speaks to us personally, giving us a different element in our playing field: For the first time, we see God as our Heavenly Father, who releases us of that pressure. He simply changes the possessive pronoun from ‘My’ to ‘His’. My purpose becomes His purpose so that His purpose becomes My purpose. It’s a mindset change. The very nature of how we are born to think is displaced and replaced with a whole sense of renewed freedom. Remember that Divine Freedom which we talked about last week? God turns the heat down, and the bubbles subside. Now we ask, what is His purpose for us? Not me, but us. What does this mean?

I use the word ‘us’ because we are often misdirected to think that it is just about the self, so we miss the big picture and lose awareness of His big purposes as written in the Bible.

‘ ¹¹ “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ - Jeremiah 29:11

For context, Jeremiah sent this letter to the survivors God drew into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. After years of God’s people suffering under a Babylonian King, God told them to be fruitful, and they were restored to their land, Jerusalem. {I would like to note that this context extends much further and is important, so I urge you to do your own reading to understand why God did this. For the purpose of this post, I am just giving a brief overview. Please feel free to get in contact if you would like to hear about my understanding on this}.

It is easy to read this passage from Jeremiah as an application to our lives on earth and, more specifically, to the self. Not to disagree with this but to offer a different view: as scripture often does, prophecy simultaneously means past, present and future as it follows a three-personal God. (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Surely, this verse extends to Christ’s children as one. One body in Christ under one God, and these promises of a prosperous, hopeful future are not necessarily just for our time on earth as individuals but for our time when Christ comes again.

Our current time on earth is fleeting and brief compared to our eternal lives under Christ’s reign in the Millenium and then in the New Heaven and New Earth. Although we may experience suffering on earth now, when Jesus comes again, we will come with him in our new bodies. It’s so easy to think of the next ‘step’ if you like, as going to Heaven surrounded by angels and white clouds, but, in my experience, I have found that teaching on relating Heaven to our eternal existence on earth under Christ’s rule is missed out. Why are we unprepared to speak on Christ’s reign on earth for 1000 years when this is part of His mighty purpose for us? This is what we are working towards! What God is working in us to prepare us for this. To bring the Kingdom of God that we are building on earth and transfer it, if you like, under Christ’s earthly reign!

God doesn’t want us to live miserable lives, but it is crucial to understand that He is fair and just, so if we claim to live under His rule but continue in evil ways, He will call us to account because of His great love for us. We must remember that our version of ‘best for us’ and God’s version of ‘best for us’ will differ. We must refrain from disappointment when things don’t go how we want them to and instead trust that God knows exactly what He is doing to ensure we, in the end, have the best according to His Holy Word. The book of Joel teaches us that sin among God’s people is more serious than sin outside of God’s people. God wants everybody to know the value of living within his spiritual oversight, and therefore, only if we are truly sorry and desire to change will He enable us to be restored.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” - Revelation 21:4

Yes! How comforting is that?! The old order of things will die, and the new order will reign forever in perfect peace. We don’t just fall into those promises, though. We have to work on for them, sew the seeds and serve our Lord. Jesus’ last words, before He was lifted into the sky at the end of Matthew, were for His disciples to teach everything He has commanded and promised them that He would be with them always. Discipleship. This is the Great Commission.

We have seen the word ‘plan’ come up, and we can see that the ultimate outcome or purpose is for everlasting hope and a perfect future, but we don’t quite know what these plans consist of. What are the ingredients? What is God’s purpose for us NOW, on earth, for us to reach that ultimate outcome? God calls us to be perfect and to know and love Him. Why does he do this? Well…

“Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” - Matthew 5:48

As I move on to this next section, I would like to reinforce that this comes from my understanding of scripture and what God calls me to say.

That’s quite a hefty call, telling someone just to be perfect, just as God is perfect. Why? Well, how do we enter a perfect kingdom if we ourselves are not perfect? Answer: we must be born again.

“ ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ “Jesus answered, “ Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”” - John 3:3-6

This call to ‘be perfect’ is a call to be born again and must be treated as the same. Let us not feel pressured to try and reach perfection in Christ; instead, let us feel blessed that when we are born again, God sees us as perfect already. Our souls have been saved and are redeemed to what they were intended to be. In our surrender, God does it all for us. All we must do is surrender, know and love Him. Does this now mean we no longer need to lean on God or read or study the word? No. It means that we have been placed on a new path in Christ, and the purpose of the path is to be transformed into His likeness, into what He fully means us to be. God realises that we are not perfect from an earthly point of view. Physically and tangibly, from earthly eyes. God sent Jesus to show us how to live on this earth and to get as close to perfection as possible before our Lord gives us new bodies. Only once that happens will we be physically perfect as well.

Now, we reach what seems like a paradox. The Bible says that He will do it. Not us. So, must we struggle if we’re not doing it? YES! The complete and utter surrender of our bodies, minds and souls as we allow our old ways to be killed and renewed. Yep, that’s hard. We don’t need to struggle to become a new creation because we are a new creation when we come to Christ, but yes, we struggle as Christ works in us to get us through this earthly life.

It’s important to understand that God is not telling us to be perfect; if we’re not, he will forsake us. Nor is He setting us up for failure. The Sermon on the Mount would be a sermon of despair otherwise because it is impossible to do alone when we live in such a world. Jesus sustains us through this earthly life and paved the way. He calls out, “If you let me into your heart, I will show you how to live a holy life.” Notice that pronoun. ‘I’. He will do it because He knows we cannot do it alone.

We’ve gone from ‘What is my purpose on this earth?’ to being made perfect by God so we can move into His ultimate purpose of entering His Kingdom. That is much more exciting than I thought my original purpose was. If God fulfils His purpose within us, we will live eternally with the Father. Only God could do something so powerful and wonderful by simply changing a pronoun. Trusting God means having utter and total faith that He knows what is best for your life, so let’s turn from ‘my purpose’ and look towards ‘His purpose’.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” - Hebrews 11:1

We are called by name to come to the Lord, for we are His (Isaiah 43:1). We are called to listen intently with open hearts and lean not on our own understanding of this world but on His Heavenly Word to make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). We are called to honour our bodies as temples of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are called to fear no evil and turn to lie down in green pastures beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:2). We are called to be good husbands, wives and children (Colossians 3:18-25). Most importantly, we are called to spread the Good News and grow the Kingdom (Mark 16:15). We will encounter all these things in our transformation to perfection and many more: easy, hard, beautiful, and ugly. I bet this sounds fairly straightforward for some people and maybe quite overwhelming for others. I guess what we’re asking now is, is Christianity easy or hard? We’ll look at this next week.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for making us and giving us a way to be of you. The gift of free will is full of love, and I pray that we all turn our attention to the One who gave us that gift. I pray that we always have open hearts to receive Your Word and Your almighty, transformational plan for us so that we may be people who can enter the Kingdom. Lord, thank you that you will put everything into nurturing us and making us into what you always intended us to be.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.