8/4/2019 Discovering Your Life's Purpose Sample

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D I S C O V E R I N G Y O U R L I F E ’ S P U R P O S E   2 

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Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission

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 YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE

God created you for a purpose. Of course, you’veheard that before, but it doesn’t always feel like it,

does it? Perhaps life right now feels like an endless

stretch of responsibilities: meetings, emails or

Facebook posts to be read and answered, kids’

events to attend or drive them to, and church—

week-after-week. Maybe your life feels like the movie

Ground Hog’s Day where Bill Murray’s character

wakes up to the same day, every day, and you’re

bored! So you’ve thought to yourself, if God has a

purpose for my life, it ’s not all that evident to me.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what 

we’re 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 our glorious living, part of the

overall purpose he is working out in everything and 

everyone.” (Ephesians 1:1, MSG)

The meaning of this verse couldn’t be clearer. Your

life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God

ordained before you were born. That purpose is to behis agent on earth to do the kinds of things he would

do if he were here doing them himself. You’re his

surrogate to your family, at work, when you’re driving

the kids around, playing golf, or hanging out with your

friends.

You and I aren’t just called to imitate Jesus’ character,

but to do what Jesus did: to be advocates for the

poor, do good for those who don’t like us, love our

spouses and families more than we love ourselves,

care for the lonely—in short be a servant to

everyone. All the while we’re to love God more than

anything else and worship him and him only. That’s

the purpose for your life. 

Believe it or not, when you lose yourself in God and

for God you will experience the pleasure and love

of God in a way you never have before. That’s the

abundant life God wants for you. The purpose of this

guide is to help you discover and fulfill your unique

role in his plan.

“He who pursues righteousness and love finds life,

prosperity and honor.” (Proverbs 21:21)

MY JOURNEY

I have been a Christian all my life. Christian schools,

church twice on Sunday, serving on committees. I

believed Jesus was the Son of God, the Bible was

absolutely true—the works. Then at age 31, after

experiencing a crisis of faith, I repented of my

religious Christianity and chose instead to become

a follower of Jesus. That became the purpose of my

life. It is a role that supersedes that of a husband,

father, employer, church-goer, but it changed and

improved my performance and enjoyment in each of

these other roles.

I started devouring the Bible, got two spiritual

mentors, and jumped feet first into lay ministry,

primarily introducing businessmen like myself to

Jesus. God blessed all of it. So much so that in 1984,