Discovering your purpose in life

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:13                                                                                                                                                     

The Global Positioning System (GPS) unit has become standard equipment for many. This is a small, hand-held device that picks up signals from a number of satellites and then locates your position anywhere on earth with accuracy that can be measured in inches or millimeters. This enables you to know precisely where you are and allows you to get to where you want to go.

Could there be something like a GPS unit that we can apply to our lives? Yes, knowing God is discovering your purpose in life. Being confident of why God created you is like having a destination towards which you walk instead of simply being carried by the wind. “It’s not about you,” says Rick Warren in his bestseller The Purpose Driven Life, “It’s about God,” and you cannot separate him from the purpose for which you were created.

A purpose in life also gives meaning to how you live, how you spend your money, and what you do with your time and talents. Paul reminded Timothy, “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7 NKJV). Sadly, the reality of what Paul said has been lost on those who live without purpose. They forget that our ultimate destination does not take traveler’s checks or accept supplies for the future.

Having a purpose means that you know what you are living for and Who you are living for. Writing to the folks in the Roman city of Philippi, Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

Turn to John 3 in the New Testament and learn about your purpose in this mad world. Jesus’ words still ring true today, “Whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness.”

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with his power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19