What Am I Here For?
In my previous blog, we discussed the first step in discovering the true you--Be Like Christ. Discovering the true you does not involve becoming like your parents, or patterning your life after some historical figure, media personality, or movie star. Discovering the true you involves embracing who you are called to be like: Jesus Christ.
The second step in discovering the true you is to understand your purpose.
On the last day, God will not ask if you followed your dreams, or did what other people expected. Instead, He will ask, “Did you do what I created you to do?” Will your answer produce a “Well done, good and faithful servant”?
In Ephesians 4:1, Paul tells the church at Ephesus to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Since we were made by God and for God, that means He created us in such a way as to best fulfill His plan for our lives. He created us, formed us, fashioned us, molded us, and shaped us, specifically for His purposes.
God has a perfect plan for our lives. However, when we follow our own dreams or live for the expectations of others, we become like the stapler that wants to fly instead of fasten papers, or the cup that wants to be foundation material instead of a drinking container, or the toilet paper that wants to be police shackles instead of…
When we live for our own dreams or the expectations of others, we live far below what we were created for. We live unfulfilled lives, because we are not living out the reason we were created.
Now, it is important to realize that even though all of us were created to serve the Lord and bring glory to His name, we will all do that differently.
For example, a knife, a fork, and a spoon were all created to help us eat. Yet, they each go about it in separate ways. The knife cuts things up for me to eat smaller bites. If I tried to cut meat with a spoon, I’d be getting even stranger looks than I already get.
Each utensil allows me to fulfill the purpose of eating, but each does so in a different way. Likewise, each of us is to fulfill God’s specific purpose, but each one of us will go about it differently.
It would be a mistake for me to say, “God has really given me a burden to reach children, so you must have a burden to reach children too. Come and help out at Pioneer Clubs with me.” Just because God has given me that burden doesn’t mean He’s done that with you.
Conversely if you say to me, “Mark, God has really given me a burden for my neighbors, so can you please come over and tell them about Jesus.” NO! If God gave you the burden, then that means He wants you to fulfill that purpose.
Watch the pitfalls. As I stated in the previous blog, God did not create you to be Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. He made you to be you! So don’t try to fulfill God’s purposes exactly like someone else. Moreover, realize that this is true for everyone, so don’t seek to get others to fulfill God’s purposes exactly like you do.
