What’s Your Purpose in Life?

Have you ever spent time walking through old cemeteries reading the epithets on the tombstones? They’re interesting.

I read of a man who came across an epithet that read: “Remember Friend, as you walk by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you must be; so prepare for death to follow me.” He felt something was missing so he added the words “To follow you I might consent, if I only knew which way you went!”

That’s the real question, where are you going? One of the great epithets of all time is found in Acts 13:36 regarding King David. “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.”

Purpose is vitally important. Myles Munroe wrote, “Until purpose is discovered, existence has no meaning, for purpose is the source of fulfillment.” Your purpose in life provides motivation, drives your work, supports your dreams and fires your passion.

Thomas Carlyle observed, “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder—a waif, a nothing, a no man.” Often people reach a point in life that they realize they either lack purpose or are being driven by the wrong purpose. Our lives may be manipulated by guilt, fueled by fear, eaten up by anger, pressured by approval or motivated by materialism. None of these will produce satisfaction or inner peace.

Rick Warren, the author of the best selling, “Purpose Driven Life,” was right when he wrote, “Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them. Without purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless.”

God purposed our lives in Jesus Christ before the world began. Paul, the apostle, put it this way,“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

When you come to know God’s purpose, your life takes on new meaning. You are able to make choices, not based on circumstances or chance, but based on the will of God for you. It really makes life a lot simpler. Purpose brings life into focus and produces a renewed passion. It helps you build an eternal legacy. In short, serving the purpose of God produces peace of mind, tranquility of life, and hope for the future.

Ken Weliever, The Preacherman