Finding My Purpose

 

At a young age I already knew I would one day run my own business, I just wasn’t too sure what kind of business it would be.  So many choices, how does one pick a path?  So my choice for a bachelor’s degree?  Business administration, naturally!  It was only after one, yes ONE semester that I transferred schools…and I didn’t quit there.  I finally settled in at college number three, and it wasn’t for business admin. Retail merchandising and managementà I know, you don’t even know what that really means.  Nevermind what I went to school for, because employers didn’t seem interested either.  My dreams of crashing the world with my creative visual genius died quickly when I couldn’t even nail a retail management position.  It was my family’s desperate plea to find something, anything when I bit the bullet that my dream career may not pan out the way I thought it would.

 

Sound familiar?  Those big dreams you had that seemed to fall flat?  Christianity can feel the same way at times… we learn that we have a mission and were created for a purpose… but struggle to find it.  Maybe you’re like I once was and secretly wish someone would just approach you with some divine word with exact instructions for fulfilling you’re God-given purpose.  Have no fear, there are answers to this very big question mark!

 

Yes, you were created for a purpose!

 

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Well, I guess you can head on your way, because that pretty much sums up all we need to know!  But for good measure, we can go deeper!  You and I were created to do good works, and God prepared them in advance for us!  How cool is that? 

 

Ephesians 4:11-13

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 

God has done a lot of work to provide people that will help prepare you… be sure you’re leaning in to these people!  They will help launch you into that whole purpose thing.  These verses in Ephesians 4 really help us dissect what our steps are:

 

SERVICEà builds up the body à unity à maturity à WHOLE MEASURE à FULLNESS of CHRIST

 

Can you imagine becoming the whole measure of the one who created you?  Filled to the brim with Christ!  Now that sounds purposeful!  So where then, do we take our first step?  Service, my friend, and more specifically in ways that build up the body of Christ.  We’re not just talking about random acts of kindness here (though they’re nice)… we’re talking about service.   

 

serv·ice

ˈsərvəs/

noun

1. the action of helping or doing work for someone.

 

Service is work!  It’s not some feel good act you get to do leisurely!  It’s gonna cost you something: time, money, blood, sweat, tears, or all of the above [insert frown here]!  Don’t wait for someone to ask, or when something that suits your liking comes along!  It’s not so much about which step you take (provided it builds others up and points them to Jesus), it’s about taking a step.  Get out of your comfort zone and extend a warm welcome, love on the kids in Sunday School, vacuum floors, something!  There is something beautiful that will begin to happen in the midst of your service. 

 

When I first began in my new “out of college” job I was frustrated that I had to start at the bottom (I mean, c’mon, who goes to college to start at the bottom??).  In that job I learned a few new things about the weight of paper and copy machines, but more importantly about myself (and how much I hated cold calling businesses).  At my next job, I still was working an entry level position.  This time I learned even more about what I was and wasn’t good at.  Slowly I started finding my way into roles that suited my developing skills a little bit better than the last job… and they became a little more fun, and a little more profitable!   

 

You’ve probably heard the phrase “life is a journey, not a destination”- same is true for finding our purpose!  It just starts with taking that first step.  In serving others we better serve Christ.  What I found as I began a small Bible study for moms, it began to change my heart. It is a soft heart that God can mold and fashion into the creation HE always intended me to be according to HIS purpose.

 

Father, thank you for your Word and all that we can glean from it!  Thank you for preparing work that you fashioned just for me!  I pray that you would help me to be a good servant and that you would use my service to build up the body.  Help me to be unified with the body of Christ in faith and knowledge of your Son, that I may mature and become the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

XO,

Jackie E