My Purpose, God's Purpose?

Do you ever stop during the day and wonder about the meaning and value of what you are doing?  I mean, do you ever think about the underlying purpose behind washing clothes, fixing meals, talking with people, balancing your checkbook, or just doing any of the countless activities that your job requires?  In the fast paced, high-pressure environment of the 21^st century, we really have (or more truthfully, are willing to take) little time for that kind of reflection, and are even less willing to change our lifestyle.

Even when I entered the so-called retirement years I found that life quickly became filled with as much activity as before, if not more!  That seems to agree with the testimony of the majority of others that have traveled this path.  Yet, most of the activity at this stage of life tends to be my own choosing of what I want to do or think I should.  What, then, is driving us to be so busy that we fail to ask the question, What is the point of what I’m doing?

Is it not the culture in which we live that has molded us?  Imagine for a moment what it might be like to live among one of the minority people groups in Southeast Asia where the main activity is farming, using oxen to do the heavy work, and without the conveniences of indoor running water or electricity except for a single dim light bulb in the one main room of the house.  We would find their way of life hard and inconvenient, but we would also find people enjoying a lot of time together, talking, relaxing and having many festivals and celebrations. 

Many Western missionaries have chosen to enter cultures like these, adopting their ways and customs to be able to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them and to translate the Scriptures into their mother tongue.  My point here is not to argue about which culture is better, instead, it is to realize that with a strong enough desire and commitment it is possible to transition between radically different cultures.  The human being is amazingly adaptable.  For you to pause long enough to consider the purpose behind your actions is not a gigantic leap!

Sometimes God uses trials and suffering to give us the opportunity to slow down and to think about the purpose and value of all of our activity.  As I lay hours and hours last year on a hospital bed, I wondered what purpose this could have, other than perhaps to teach me more patience and endurance.  Then I suddenly realized I had an opportunity to be a witness of God’s love for each of the people who attended me: doctors, nurses, assistants, therapists and technicians.  My focus had been wrong to start with.  I had been thinking more about what this experience was supposed to accomplish in me, rather than how God might have chosen to use it to reach out to various people He was sending to my room!

As I have shared previously in telling the story of The Parallel Journey, the underlying theme of the experience was that I would have a powerful message of the importance of knowing Jesus as the only Savior from the horror and despair that is the reality of Hell.  In the final minutes before my rescue I had been shown a tour of past ages where countless souls had been consigned forever to a destiny of hopelessness.  The urgency of getting the message out was clear.

Because of that experience I now try to be alert and ask God to remind me of the possibility that He may have a different, eternal purpose for what I am doing and, in particular, for the person with whom I am interacting and not merely for the immediate purpose that I may have in mind.

How about you?  Is there someone at work or in your path today that you will see, that you work with or work for or serve, or perhaps someone who works for or serves you, that needs to hear refreshing words of truth and life spoken into their hearts?  If you are a follower of Jesus, it may be the real, God-appointed purpose for what you’re doing.  Will you take time now to think about the eternal purpose of your life?  Or, will you put it off until God slows you down to get your attention?

…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. – John 4:14