Purpose - a god perspective
finding purpose from what you believe
“The most basic question everyone faces in life is Why am I here? What is my purpose? Self-help books suggest that people should look within, at their own desires and dreams, but Rick Warren says the starting place must be with God and his eternal purposes for each life. Real meaning and significance comes from understanding and fulfilling God's purposes for putting us on earth.”
Rick Warren from his website http://purposedriven.com/books/pdlbook/
Dr Howard Thurman, born in 1899, was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader, alongside Martin Luther King. He wrote:
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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
the impact of faith
If we have any form of faith, then I sense this adds an extra dimension to our purpose, as we try to bring in:
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whatever we believe about God, and
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whatever we believe about what that might mean regarding who we are and what we do.
And for those with no "formal faith", you might want to think about whatever you see as beyond yourself, and again think about the impact and possible responsibilities you might want to express from this in your sense of purpose.
what is a “purpose driven life” all about?
In Christian circles, Rick Warren is famous for his book “The Purpose Driven Life” - see right.
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Other Christians will express their sense of God in their purpose differently. But however you write it, I believe the key is to start to understand yourself in the light of your faith in God.
I love the idea of whatever faith we have influencing what we can call a “purpose driven life”.
my perspective
My background is having been involved in various parts of the Christian church for more years than I can remember, so my purpose is clearly influenced by this.
BUT your purpose is personal to you - so getting your purpose is all about how you see God, faith (or not) and your sense of the spiritual.
the starting point for Christians
As a Christian for many years, I sense a key principle is focused round God loving you and working with you as the person you are, with your individuality. The whole idea of the church as a body strongly suggests that Christians are not meant to be clones of eachother, but should be recognising, understanding and growing their personal unique qualities, so they can fully contribute their part serving within the Kingdom of God wherever they are.
I believe Howard Thurman understood this need to fully be who we are in his quote to the right about coming alive.
And I sense you truly come alive when:
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you live out who you believe you are as a person and in your relationship with God
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you do what you know is important for you in your part of the whole
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you fulfil your potential, whatever that is, using your unique combination of strengths, values, beliefs, skills, knowledge
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you give yourself to serving by expressing the love of God on earth, and taking your unique part in the Kingdom of God, living out who you sense you are meant to be.
living as unique individuals, contributing to the whole ​
I believe it will be like a jigsaw ... every shape is different, has a different part of the picture, contributes a different part of the story ... but every unique piece is needed to create the whole
So your purpose as a Christian will be all about:
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who you are, and this will include the characteristics and qualities that you were born with and those that your life experiences have created up to now
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how you sense God sees you, how you sense He wants you to live, and what you sense He holds as important for you - this is where you will want to bring in key verses, words and pictures
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what you might do to live this out using your unique combination of values, beliefs, strengths, skills, knowledge and life experience
life driven purpose
"human focus"
my unique course
"living on purpose - making each day count" is all about realising that we can only really define how we see our lives when we:
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understand who we are as unique individuals with our unique range of values, beliefs, strengths, skills knowledge and more
and
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can see how we can then express these to fulfil however we see our lives successfully unfolding - "making our hearts sing", "being who we were meant to be", "coming fully alive" - however you​ see it.