Identity > Purpose
As a society, we are addicted to it. In the oncoming days of the New Year, we search for it. We talk about it, write about it, discuss it. As Christians, we strive to live on it. We desire to operate in all that we do with… purpose!
No lie, it got a little irritating this past year wondering about my purpose and what to do next. Sometimes the meaning of purpose gets cloudy. How do we do it right? How do I know what my purpose is?
In basic terms, purpose means nothing more than the reason you do something.
Our mistake as humans is that we take purpose on as our identity. In other words: what is it we can achieve, accomplish, and be recognized. When we think like this it puts us at the center. And boy let me tell you! God had that lesson to teach me this past year. I was such a person who sought to please people and operated out of my performance being validated that my purpose was often determined by other people. Which meant it was all about my results that determined my purpose.
But this is wrong thinking in more ways than one.
When we put our focus on what we can do instead of who we are, our perspective is off. Purpose becomes frustrating and draining leaving us exhausted. To get to your true reason for being here you must consider your personality, gifts, strengths, experience, education, looks, location, desires, dislikes, and so much more that all fits into you. Now, knowing this, how can you use what God has given you to help others? How do you allow His light to shine through you as you do?
True purpose flows from the inside out. Not the other way around.
If you’re unsure of who you are, or rediscovering the true you like I’ve been, you can start with sitting with God. Let that be your daily purpose, to know Him. Pray about your identity. Or if you’re stubborn He can make it where you have no choice (it’s me, I’m the stubborn one). As you can imagine, my goal setting for 2024 looked very different from years past as I got this revelation to reflect on. As I got more clarity from God that this would be a season of Idenity, I was encouraged to now have a purpose that would flow from me, not something outside of me I had to strive for.
Listen, life is not always easy, but stressing over how to use what God gave us should not be how we live our life. I’m still learning how all these pieces fit together. But the journey is what helps reveal purpose to be even more clear. So, take your time.
I hope you know how amazing you are regardless of how much you accomplish or don’t this year. Keep praying as God reveals more of who you are. Your purpose is right there in who He made you.