Talk within the Christian community about the tremendous importance of ‘purpose’ burst on the scene over 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong, as it should be. It spread like wildfire, and many that were just coming into the faith thought it was a new revelation, but it wasn’t to those of us that have been on this Christian journey for a while. We’ve always known how incredibly important our purposes in the Will of God are, but you know how it is with folks today. We’re always looking for the next big thing. So purpose became the new buzz word, and we were convinced that finding our purpose was the key we had all been searching for.
Some folks grabbed on to it with both hands, believing that it would skyrocket their lives into the stratosphere of manifold blessings. And guess what? For many it did exactly that, but over time we have either become disillusioned or bored, and we have taken it upon ourselves to move away from God’s purpose. Well, I’m here to tell you that discovering our purpose within the Plan and Will of God will never be passé; it will never go out of style, particularly now, at this most critical junction in human history. Discovering your purpose is still one of the most important things you can do as a Christian, and I’d like to share how it leads you to being bold in God’s gifts as well.
Ephesians 1:5-6 (NKJV) says, “5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” This is mind-blowing! God predestined us. He etched our destinies in stone even before He laid down the foundation of the world. He made big plans for us to become a part of His family through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This cements the overwhelming reality of God’s great love for us. In His plan, He made an individual space for every one of us. He planted gifts, talents, and abilities in our DNA and these are unique to the purpose He has also planted within.
We each have our very own brand of uniqueness. Because God has made us acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ, we have the distinct privilege and responsibility to use all He’s given us for the glory of His Kingdom. This is extraordinarily good news! So, the one thing that you and I must remember is that it was God who predetermined our inheritance in Christ, and He has strategically positioned us according to His plan.
This doesn’t mean that everything we do, and every aspect of our existence, has been predetermined or orchestrated prematurely. It means that God is so awesomely powerful and intelligent that as Romans 8:28 says, He makes all things work together for those of us who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose. And this is the one thing we can never, ever forget. The purpose for our existence belongs to God. It’s His to delegate in His supreme sovereignty. If we lose sight of this, we’ll open ourselves up to frustration, stagnation, and darkness.
God knows what our strengths and weaknesses are. He knows we’re flesh and that we have limitations. None of us can fly like birds or swim endlessly under water without breathing. We know that all things are possible for God, but all things are not possible for us. Our earth experience limits us; this body limits us to certain things. So, God in His infinite sovereignty and wisdom placed us here to operate on earth within the confines and constraints of this dimension. We don’t know why He set things up that way, and we don’t need to know. We simply need to trust Him and carry forth the things He has called us to do, because that is what faith requires.
Another piece of information that is very useful to our Christian journey is that God intended for us to be intimately familiar with the power and authority that He has given us through Jesus Christ. We must know our capabilities through Holy Spirit power. You and I don’t have any power of our own, but we are activated in Holy Spirit power as we engage in the ministry of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ made it very clear that we’re to use our gifts, talents, and abilities to be a blessing to the body of Christ. As we pour God’s goodness into the lives of others, that goodness will continue to be poured into ours.
You might say, “Well I don’t think I have any particular gift or ability that I could offer to the body of Christ.” This simply isn’t true. You would never show up for work and tell your boss that you can’t complete your assigned duties because you do not have the talent, ability, or skill to get the job done. No. You would go to work expecting to receive on the job training, and you would then match this training to the knowledge and know how you have accumulated from living life. Then, you’d get to work with the confidence that if there’s something you don’t know to complete a task, that knowledge is available somewhere within the company and it is waiting for you to attain it.
God would not do less than your boss. Ephesians 1:11-12(MSG) says, “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” How do you know you have been called? Quite simply, you are reading this. God called all of humanity to come to Him because He loves everyone, but only a few have answered, and you are in that few. Through life, God is giving you on the job training to fulfill His plan and purpose in Christ. His Word is our instruction. The example of Christ is our in-living technicolor demonstration of what we’re to do and how we’re to do it, and God’s Holy Spirit is our inner guide and teacher. If there’s something we don’t know to complete God’s purpose, the Spirit will provide the knowledge and instruction from Jesus Christ so we can fulfill our call.
Romans 12:3(MSG) really puts this all in perspective for us. It says, “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” We obtain our instructions from God, and there’s no way that He’ll skip out on informing us if we’re really interested in hearing what He has to say. We see God as living in our continuum of time and space, but our Powerful Heavenly Father is not confined to such limitations. He knows everything, and He knows why He placed us on this earth. Let’s open our hearts to Him as we never have before. His Holy Spirit will quicken us in every way if we allow him. As we continue to seek God in humility, and live through Jesus Christ, we’ll be the ambassadors that God called us to be. We’ll emboldened as never before to do the Will of Him that has called us. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Being Bold in God’s Gifts” written for Springfield Fellowship © 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.