Revisiting Purpose

I wrote this post one year ago today. I was reminded of it last night because actually, I wrote it on my brother's birthday. And today is his birthday (happy birthday, bro). I realized just how much I have grown since I wrote it yet the truth at its core is unchanged. I like that about the truth. It's trustworthy. It doesn't change. Only I do.

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I have a pretty ordinary life, there's not too much about it that screams "I'm special", "I'm super talented" or "pick me, I'm the best one for the job". No, outwardly I'm not that special (of course, In God's eyes, I'm something pretty special and that's all that really matters), I'm pretty average in my offerings of talents and I certainly don't think I'm better than anyone else. So, all in all, I appear quite ordinary to any stranger peering through the windows of my life.

I know so many Christians (myself included) who have grappled with the confusion and uncertainty of their identity and purpose in a life that is ordinary. I know so many people who have missed or ignored their purpose by trying to live a less ordinary life.

Today I've been thinking about purpose. About my purpose, about purpose in general, about how God thinks about purpose. It pops into my mind every now and then and I pause for a moment to ponder. I don't have a very visible part of church life, I don't have something specific that I feel my life is fulfilling its purpose for at the moment, I don't even really know what the purpose for my life is yet...but it doesn't matter. I don't have to know about a specific calling and purpose for my life is yet...but it doesn't matter. I don't have to know about a specific calling and purpose to my life right now. I don't need to seem like I'm fulfilling my purpose because I get a more 'visible' job or area of service. I don't need to seek approval from the world to affirm my purpose.

I am reading a book at the moment in which the author says, "In order to care for my wife, I resigned from full-time Christian service - something that represents the ultimate type of work to many believers. I struggled doing so, because I felt that my new role was not as significant as my previous one, I was looking merely through human eyes. As I came to see the importance of all good work, I saw purpose and value in what I did, that it pleased God and He would reward it."

I realized that I already have a purpose. If nothing else, my purpose in life is to worship God. And to serve Him. Plain and simple. Not anything too fancy or praiseworthy in the eyes of the world but there you go. Even if I never 'find a specific purpose' for my life, my life will not be (and is not) without purpose. His purpose for us doesn't just fit nicely into a box which we put a nice sounding label on. I am sure that God's purpose for me will take on various forms and they will change according to His leading. However, my primary purpose in life remains to give all glory to God. Without Him, I am nothing.

And as for the ordinary life I speak of, being ordinary is not that ordinary at all. Living in God's purpose and will in an ordinary life is far more fulfilling than living an extraordinary life without Him.