God Gives You Great Purpose
God Gives You Great Purpose
God Gives You Great Purpose
God Gives You Great Purpose
When was the last time a feeling of emptiness left you wondering if there was more to life? Ever felt like your job wasn’t allowing you to use your gifts?
God Made You In His Image and Gives You Great Purpose
When was the last time a feeling of emptiness left you wondering if there was more to life? Ever felt like your job wasn’t allowing you to use your gifts? Have you wished that those around you would recognize your true value?
What if the problem isn’t your job or gifts, but the thoughts that are driving you away from your God-ordained dignity, significance, and purpose?
“Things which are not in their intended position are restless.” - St Augustine
St Augustine understood the human condition over 1,200 years before Newton discovered the gravitational pull of the earth. However, our restlessness regarding our significance, meaning, and purpose started closer to the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were given perfect significance and purpose, yet they fell into temptation and decided it wasn’t enough. And, since that time, the human race has been prone to restlessness and dissatisfaction ever since.
God’s Creation Mandate - Our Perfect Job Description
All human beings are made in God’s image. God gave humans incredible significance and purpose when he said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). For that reason, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:27). God gave us the earth and its our job as co-creators is to rule over it. There is no better job description.
However, as sinful humans, we are constantly seeking more. “Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves, we are controlled by the lord of our lives.” - Tim Keller in Counterfeit Gods
Tim Keller makes an excellent point, and brings to mind an important question. Who is your Lord? If you know God and trust in Jesus then you know where to find significance. We find true significance and purpose in Christ. In Him we live and find our purpose. The Apostle Paul preached to some of the most respected leaders of his time at the Areopagus, in Athens. Here’s how he explained the ways of God, “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’” (Acts 17:24-28).
Ultimate Significance
Nothing leads to a greater feeling of significance than knowing you are a child of God. If you are in Christ you are a child of God, and have infinite value and purpose. Not because of anything you have done, but because of God’s great love for you. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved...not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:4-6,9). We can’t earn our salvation (or our purpose), but God can give us work that honors and glorifies Him. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). When our purpose in Christ is fully realized, God gets the glory. Joy comes when we embrace our purpose and give our life and work back to God.
Divine Purpose - A Great Commandment and A Great Commission
When we know we are loved by God we respond with our whole hearts and lives. After all, God wants our hearts. Jesus told us the most important way to live as a child of God when He gave us the Great Commandment. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31). When we live this way we are transformed and are given more understanding of God’s will. Then you can test His perfect design in everyday life (Romans 12:2). There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that what you are doing every day is consistent with God’s commands.
When you know you are living out your purpose in Christ, you will begin to understand that life is not about you. You will realize the most fulfilling work — no matter where you work, is to show and tell others about God. Jesus commands His followers to live this way. He clarifies the Great Commandment even further with The Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
You see, it doesn’t matter what your job description is on paper, or even what’s in your bank account. You have been given incredible dignity, significance, and purpose. Now, go glorify God with your life!
More Resources
Theology Of Work with Andy Mills
Desiring God, God Created Us for His Glory, by John Piper
God Made You In His Image and Gives You Great Purpose
When was the last time a feeling of emptiness left you wondering if there was more to life? Ever felt like your job wasn’t allowing you to use your gifts? Have you wished that those around you would recognize your true value?
What if the problem isn’t your job or gifts, but the thoughts that are driving you away from your God-ordained dignity, significance, and purpose?
“Things which are not in their intended position are restless.” - St Augustine
St Augustine understood the human condition over 1,200 years before Newton discovered the gravitational pull of the earth. However, our restlessness regarding our significance, meaning, and purpose started closer to the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were given perfect significance and purpose, yet they fell into temptation and decided it wasn’t enough. And, since that time, the human race has been prone to restlessness and dissatisfaction ever since.
God’s Creation Mandate - Our Perfect Job Description
All human beings are made in God’s image. God gave humans incredible significance and purpose when he said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). For that reason, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:27). God gave us the earth and its our job as co-creators is to rule over it. There is no better job description.
However, as sinful humans, we are constantly seeking more. “Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves, we are controlled by the lord of our lives.” - Tim Keller in Counterfeit Gods
Tim Keller makes an excellent point, and brings to mind an important question. Who is your Lord? If you know God and trust in Jesus then you know where to find significance. We find true significance and purpose in Christ. In Him we live and find our purpose. The Apostle Paul preached to some of the most respected leaders of his time at the Areopagus, in Athens. Here’s how he explained the ways of God, “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’” (Acts 17:24-28).
Ultimate Significance
Nothing leads to a greater feeling of significance than knowing you are a child of God. If you are in Christ you are a child of God, and have infinite value and purpose. Not because of anything you have done, but because of God’s great love for you. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved...not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:4-6,9). We can’t earn our salvation (or our purpose), but God can give us work that honors and glorifies Him. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). When our purpose in Christ is fully realized, God gets the glory. Joy comes when we embrace our purpose and give our life and work back to God.
Divine Purpose - A Great Commandment and A Great Commission
When we know we are loved by God we respond with our whole hearts and lives. After all, God wants our hearts. Jesus told us the most important way to live as a child of God when He gave us the Great Commandment. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31). When we live this way we are transformed and are given more understanding of God’s will. Then you can test His perfect design in everyday life (Romans 12:2). There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that what you are doing every day is consistent with God’s commands.
When you know you are living out your purpose in Christ, you will begin to understand that life is not about you. You will realize the most fulfilling work — no matter where you work, is to show and tell others about God. Jesus commands His followers to live this way. He clarifies the Great Commandment even further with The Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
You see, it doesn’t matter what your job description is on paper, or even what’s in your bank account. You have been given incredible dignity, significance, and purpose. Now, go glorify God with your life!
More Resources
Theology Of Work with Andy Mills
Desiring God, God Created Us for His Glory, by John Piper