There is a purpose for your life.
You are probably here because you are wondering what your purpose is. What a great thought! God will go to great lengths to help you find your purpose. He created you with a mission in mind, and he is excited to see you accomplish it. The people who end up fulfilling their purpose are the ones who realize that they have one. It is not too late to live with purpose.
First, let’s define the word purpose. Cambridge Dictionary says purpose is “why you do something or why something exists.” This definition really breaks the word purpose down. Purpose is not just doing something, but it is also our why. In other words, why in the world are we even here, and what on earth are we supposed to be doing while we’re here?
To make sense of our purpose, let’s first examine the life of Jesus and his kingdom’s purpose.
The Purpose in Jesus' History
Our circumstances don't always match our purpose.
The circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth were less than dreamy. Yet somehow, Jesus still came out triumphant.
When Mary was due to give birth, Jesus’ family was away from home. They had traveled to Bethlehem (Jospeph’s father’s hometown) to be counted for the census. While they were still there, Mary went into labor! Searching for a warm and safe place to have the baby became problematic, as the local hotel had no room. Instead, Jesus was born in a field where the shepherds lived. The only place they had to lay Jesus was in a manger, which was a type of food box for sheep during this time.
Jesus was born to save the world, but his humble birth conditions didn’t match his purpose. If the innkeepers knew he was the Son of God, they most likely would have made room for his family. But, as Jesus has shown us, you don’t have to be born under the right circumstances to be great.
Our family history doesn't always match our purpose.
Old Testament prophecies foretell that Jesus would come from a royal bloodline. Even though both of his parents were descendants of King David, we can see in the Bible that there were also some scandals in Jesus’ family background.
Although a lover of God and a notable leader, King David once stole another man’s wife, impregnated her, and had her husband killed. (This story can be found in 2 Samuel 11-12 and 1 Kings 1-2.) Jesus obviously did not follow this pattern.
Jesus also had an ancestor who was a prostitute, Rahab (referenced in Matthew 1). Needless to say, Jesus did not follow this lifestyle either. Instead, Jesus embraced the power of God to overcome the world, providing victory over sin.
Was it an accident that Jesus’ ancestors were from a mixed bag? Absolutely not. Although he was perfect, Jesus’ purpose was to save people who are far from it. He allowed his family history to work for him; understanding and having compassion for real people with real struggles.
Others' expectations don't define our purpose.
While the innkeepers didn’t realize Jesus’ significance, many were expecting the birth of a king. Because of the prophecies in the Old Testament, the Jews eagerly waited for the arrival of a Messiah. They desperately wanted a new king; one who would free them from the Romans and establish a new kingdom where they would prosper.
Even the Magi, the “wise men” who prepared gifts for Jesus, expected a king to be born around this time. Some theologians believe that word about the Messianic prophecies had spread to the Magi (perhaps through Daniel or other Hebrew Israelites) and the prophecies had become a part of Magi culture.
Nevertheless, they all expected Jesus to be a Messiah who would begin a new kingdom on earth.
Jesus was born with a greater purpose, however. He would establish a kingdom that would never end; one that would not only free us from wicked rulership but one that would free us from having to obey all of our sinful impulses.
The Jews weren’t wrong to expect a king. They knew Jesus would come from a royal bloodline. However, they didn’t know that his full purpose was greater.
We share this experience. Sometimes people have labeled us for one characteristic without knowing the full scope of who we are. We may have been identified as a “nice” or a “funny” person and therefore embraced that part of our personalities. Perhaps one of our talents was apparent, and we decided to focus on that alone. That’s okay, because now, we have the opportunity to use all that God created us for.
There is probably a passion you once had that you buried under the rug. Now is the time to persue God about using it in your overall purpose. God has allowed you to live to this point to experience the rest of his plan for you.
Why Am I Here? How God Fights For You
If you are human, you can think of a time in your life when someone hurt you. It may have been physical or emotional. Naturally, we use these experiences to guide our future behavior, influencing what we will do and what we will avoid. We are living our truth. However, did you know that God never asked us to live our truth?
God’s wants us to live our purpose. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God’s purpose for us is always good. The enemy has made every effort to stop that, often through hurtful events from the past.
Just as God has good plans for you, Satan, the god of this world wants to harm you. He searches our lives for weaknesses, including people who are connected to us, and plans attacks. Jesus’ life was not immune to this. He consistently tried to attack Him to prevent him from fulfilling his purpose.
After Jesus was born, King Herod tried to kill him…for several years. When he couldn’t find Jesus, he went through extreme measures to have every boy under the age of two in his jurisdiction killed. However, God protected Jesus by moving his family from town to town to keep him safe.
In a dream, an angel warned Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, about Herod. He instructed Joseph to leave Bethlehem and go to Egpyt. The journey was approximately 429 miles. Keep in mind, that people during this period had no cars!
After King Herod died, Joseph was advised to bring Jesus and his family to Israel. Another 380 miles. However, there was another hurdle. King Herod’s son was ruling in Judea, so God told Joseph to take Jesus and their family to Nazareth (another 91 miles), where Jesus spent his childhood.
In today’s times, we would say that all of this moving around was starting to resemble an unstable childhood.
However, in The Christmas Story, we see that God was really going out of his way to protect Jesus’ life. Can you think of any ways God has protected you?
My life hasn’t been perfect, but when I think about some of the distress I faced as a teenager, I’m quickly reminded of God’s rescue plan. I can remember new friends coming into my life at times I felt most alone, and family members calling with encouragement at just the right time. All of these incidents were a part of God’s intervention to save my life, move me away from fear, and bring me closer to discovering my purpose.
Sometimes, we are not listening to God like Joesph was. We miss his directions because we don’t recognize his voice.
We must realize that even in our moments of weakness, and no matter what has happened to us, God still has a plan for us. His plan is to bless us and preserve our lives. When he encounters obstacles in his plan to rescue us, he finds a way around them to reach us. He wants to remind us that he created us with a purpose.
You are a vital part of God’s plan. Despite any setbacks or mistakes, you have the potential to achieve great things. You are alive, and God will continue to show you opportunities where you can do what he created you do to.
How Jesus Fulfilled His Kingdom Purpose
Jesus’ family settled in a town called Nazareth. It was a small village with no major roadway. In Biblical times, there were some prejudices about people who lived in Nazareth. So much so, that when Jesus was an adult, expecting the Messiah to have been raised in Bethlehem some people questioned, “Can any good thing come from Nazareth?”
He lived there for 30 years before he began fulfilling his ultimate purpose. Like us, Jesus’ childhood was full of experiences that contributed to his overall purpose. He became a teacher, and a builder, and had lots of practice hearing from and obeying God (his heavenly Father).
One of his purposes on earth was to be fully human, feeling all of the pains in this life we’ve ever felt, and experiencing all of the feelings of physical weakness and spiritual temptation we’ve ever experienced. That’s why Jesus’ life resonates so well. He has a backstory and feelings we can relate to.
Through Jesus' Life, we can find our purpose.
1. Jesus’ purpose is to bring us life. (read John 10:10 & John 14:2-3)
He came to save our lives from the deadly consequences sin brings, to help us enjoy our lives (with healing and prosperity, fighting directly against the devil’s purposes to kill, steal, and destroy), and he went ahead of us to heaven to prepare an awesome, incomprehensible, place for us to share with him in the afterlife.
Are you a promoter of life? Do you have a passion for rescuing people from sickness, suicide, drug addiction, or other thieves of life?
There are many professions that inspire us to preserve and cherish human lives – doctors, nutritionists, and crisis counselors, to name a few. Volunteering also offers a chance to make a difference in someone’s life.
Ask God today, how you can start or how you should continue using your passion in this area.
2. Jesus’ purpose is to restore us, so that we are at peace with God. (read John 3:16, Luke 19:10, Romans 5:6, & Romans 8:6)
No matter, what you have done, God wants you to know he loves you. Jesus looks for people who don’t know him yet and aren’t enjoying the benefits of a relationship with God yet.
Is your passion for the lost? Do you have a burning desire to see people give their lives to Christ for the first time? In prayer, you can ask God how you can get involved in the outreach ministry in your church or bring you to a spirit-filled church with an evangelistic focus.
3. Jesus’ purpose is to establish the kingdom of God. (Mark 4:26-29) He did this by planting seeds while he was here. The seeds he planted are his teachings. These are the same ones that grow us up into mature Christians and the ones we use to see awesome results in our lives.
Do you have a talent for planting seeds of wisdom in people’s lives? Perhaps you’ve offered ideas that later turned into successful projects or grown into companies that bless many people. There are many ways to positively impact someone’s life with your words.
Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you the courage to share impactful and powerful advice with your loved ones and anyone else God leads you to speak to daily.
