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Purpose

THE REASON YOU’RE HERE

A few years ago, an online video clip from a German TV show went viral. In it, a grown woman and her elder dad are in the kitchen cooking something. As her dad chops vegetables in the background, the woman asks him if he’d gotten a chance to try out any of the apps on the new iPad she’d given him. “What’s an app?” he replies, as he brings the chopped vegetables over to the stove—and we see that he’s been using the iPad as a cutting board. As his daughter looks on in shock, he scrapes the vegetables into a pot with his knife, rinses off the dirty iPad in the sink, and nonchalantly places it in the dishwasher.

It’s funny, but it’s also kind of painful to watch, especially if you’re a gadget person (or merely familiar with how much a new iPad is worth). It shouldn’t really matter; I mean, it’s his iPad, and he’s free to use it however he wants. Though I haven’t tried it, an iPad would probably work fairly well as a cutting board, if that’s what you really wanted to use it for. But it bothers people, and gets a reaction, because that’s not what it’s designed to do.

Now, imagine if the scene were replayed, but instead of an iPad he was using a professional-grade cutting board made from some exotic type of wood. (Believe it or not, some such cutting boards can cost just as much as an iPad.) Now, no one would bat an eye at him cutting up vegetables on it or washing it off afterward. Nobody would have a problem with him doing that at all. That’s because he’d be using something the way it was designed to be used. The cutting board would be fulfilling its purpose.

The Meaning of Life

Why am I here? What should I be doing? What is the meaning of life?

The question is so common, so universal, as to be a cliché. It’s especially common in comic strips, for some reason, where it’s normally portrayed as a person climbing to the peak of a tall mountain in order to ask the question to an old bearded man who’s seated there. As if he’d know. Apparently, the meaning of life is to sit on top of a mountain.

There’s even a Wikipedia page on the subject, which at the time of this writing has well over twelve thousand words (for comparison, the entry for “physics”—as in, the entire field of physics—has about six thousand words) and dozens of different answers to the question.

The point is, it’s a question almost everyone asks at some point—and a question that, I would argue, you should ask. Because, just like an iPad or a cutting board, your life does have a purpose. You were specially created and put here on this earth to do something. And if you spend your whole life and never fulfill your purpose, that’s immensely more tragic than using an iPad to chop carrots. It would be a waste of a life. Your life.

What You’re Created to Do

One funny thing about purpose is that you don’t really get to decide what your own purpose is. The creator of an object decides its purpose.

Take the iPad, for example. An iPad doesn’t decide whether it’s designed to be a computer or a cutting board. The creator of the iPad chooses. The people who designed it first decided what they wanted it to be used for, and then created something that could fulfill that purpose. A computer without a keyboard or mouse? Then we’d better design it with a touchscreen. Something that can be used on the go? Better make it relatively small and light, and include a battery. Want it to include the ability to take pictures? Then we’ll need to put a camera in there. It’s intentionally designed to fulfill a set purpose.

The same is true for the cutting board: though you could use it as—I don’t know, maybe a chunk of firewood—it’s designed by its creator to be a cutting board. The bamboo or purple heart wood (that’s a thing) was chosen by its creator because it is especially durable or water-resistant or has antibacterial properties.

Now, consider something that isn’t designed or created by a human—like, say, your eyes. Clearly, their purpose is to enable you to see. They’re completely useless for anything else, like chewing food or listening to music. And, again, they don’t get to decide what their purpose is: it was determined by their creator. Ah—but who, or what, is their creator?

This is where your worldview comes in and becomes important. Some people have a worldview that says there is no creator. They believe that eyes are the product of naturalistic evolution: random mutations over a long period of time that were naturally selected to be passed down to offspring because they were useful and made it more likely that you could live long enough to produce offspring. If that were the case, then the eye would still be the product of design, with natural selection itself as the designer. The eye would still be designed to enable you to see, but only because seeing helps you survive long enough to produce offspring. That would be its purpose.

And that would be your purpose, as well: to live long enough to mate and pass on your genes to your offspring. That’s it, in its entirety, if your worldview is that we’re all here by random chance. Reproduction would be the sole reason why you were given eyes, a nose, a mouth, a brain, and everything else that comes with a standard-issue human body. Pretty simple, really.

Yet most everyone believes that their real purpose in life involves more than that. In my experience, even the people who deny that there is an intelligent creator usually still feel instinctively that there is a greater purpose for their lives. In fact, they often seem more likely to search for meaning and to try to define what it means to live a worthwhile life. They’ll define the meaning of life as living morally or say that their purpose is to help their fellow humans. Never mind that sacrificially helping others, especially people you don’t know, is a value that runs completely contrary to the principle of natural selection. It’s great that you’re helping feed a child in a third-world country—really, thank you for doing that—but that does nothing to pass down your own genes and it takes away resources that could be spent giving your own children a better life. What would be your motive for doing so? What would even determine what is and is not moral?

Although they might come up with something that sounds good, they’re still just inventing a purpose that isn’t there. It’s like using an iPad as a cutting board, or using a cutting board as firewood: sure, you can make it work, but that’s definitely not what it was designed for.

Here’s the deal: I’m not saying your life doesn’t have a distinct, worthwhile, noble purpose. In fact, I’m saying that it does, and I believe that purpose is greater and more fulfilling than you ever dared to imagine. But that’s only possible because there is an intelligent Creator (capital “C”) who designed you, specifically you, with a unique purpose in mind. Understanding that purpose will be key in living out your life correctly from here on out.

God’s Will for You

The Bible is actually really clear in stating that God has a purpose for your life. For example, in Ephesians 2:10, it says:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

That word handiwork can also be translated as “masterpiece.” We were created as intricately and carefully as fine works of art. Why were we created that way? To do good works. And not just good works in general, but things that God has specifically prepared in advance for us to do. He knows what’s going to happen, and he’s created you in a particular way and placed you at this exact moment in history to accomplish some specific good works. It’s your job, so to speak; it’s why you are here.

It’s worth pointing out that these good works are not how you earn your way into heaven. That’s made very clear when you look at the two verses immediately before verse 10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (vv. 8–9). You’re saved by grace, which is the free gift of Jesus paying for our sins on the cross, and not by any works you do, “so that no one can boast” that they were saved through their own merits or effort. But once you are saved, God has a role for you to play, and he lets you take part in his grand plan.

You may be thinking, That’s great—I have a God-given purpose. So what is it, exactly? Let me ask: If I could tell you, would you live it?

For starters, there are some general things from Scripture that apply to everyone. The Great Commission, for instance, which states that we are to “go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19). That means we are to replicate ourselves, teaching others what we have learned so they can later disciple yet more people (2 Tim. 2:2). That’s why I hope you don’t read this book alone. If you are, stop and invite others in. Read and discuss the ideas as a group.

The Bible also says that it’s God’s will for you to avoid committing obvious sins (1 Thess. 4:3–5; 1 Pet. 2:15–16; 4:2–3). Most sins are fairly clear-cut. You don’t have to sit and puzzle over whether God wants you to lie or get drunk or have sex with somebody you aren’t married to. He’s already said what you’re supposed to do in those cases. If God has stated clearly “do this” or “don’t do that,” and if you know those commands and willingly choose to ignore them, don’t expect him to give you some special message about what you should major in or where you should live. If you aren’t going to listen to what God has already said, why should he say anything else to you? Why would God make known to you his unrevealed will if you are not living out his revealed will?

Finding Your SHAPE

If you do have the general things down—you know you’re supposed to make disciples, and you’re not currently reveling in sin—then you may be waiting for me to talk about specifics. Like, how do you make disciples? What, specifically, should you do with your life? What should you be doing right now?

That I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you simply because I don’t know who you are, and the specifics are different for each unique person. But I can tell you how to figure it out for yourself.

Remember the iPad example? Well, imagine that you knew nothing at all about tablet computers. You’d never seen one, or even heard about them. And then someone hands you an unlocked iPad. Would you be able to figure out its purpose? Of course you would. It might take some time, but by playing around with it and trying different things you’d eventually figure out what it was designed to do. Even my four-year-old, who doesn’t know how to read or write, has figured out how to use my iPad.

It’s not all that much different with people. If you want to know what you’re created for, start by looking at how you’re created. What are you good at? What do you most enjoy doing? What things are you able to master quickly, while other people struggle to do them? What makes you unique?

Pastor Rick Warren uses the acrostic S.H.A.P.E. when talking about this process of learning about how you’ve been uniquely created.1 The letters stand for five different aspects of yourself that you should look at.

Spiritual Gifts

God gives spiritual gifts to each believer. Different gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12:6–8. Potential gifts include teaching, serving, giving, leadership, administration, and wisdom, among others. Every Christ-follower is given at least one spiritual gift.

How do you know which gift or gifts you’ve been given? Basically, you have to try them and see. If you have a gift, that means you will be gifted at doing that particular thing. You’ll be relatively good at it, and likely have other people comment on the fact that you seem good at it. Today, there are also spiritual gift tests that you can take online, though they mostly ask questions related to what you’re good at and what other people say you’re good at.

Is it easy for you to talk to strangers about spiritual topics? You might have the gift of evangelism. Do you enjoy reading and explaining the Bible? You might have the gift of teaching. Do you enjoy having people over and making sure they are well cared for and comfortable? You could have the gift of hospitality. You get the picture. God has given you gifts to serve him with. Do you know what they are?

Heart

Heart refers to what you care about or feel passionately about. For example, some people, like my wife, may have a heart for working with children. They really care about teaching children, or making sure that kids everywhere are cared for. Other people may not feel that strongly about kids but have a heart for the elderly instead.

These are just examples; there are many causes you could have a heart for. If you care deeply about something that God also cares about, that’s likely an area where you should deploy your gifts.

Abilities

We’re all good at something. It could be a natural talent, or it could be something we’ve studied and worked hard to develop. Either way, your abilities define what you can do at this point in time.

For example, I have some friends who are really good at music. Like, recording-contract good. They use those gifts to lead worship at church, write songs, perform at concerts, and support their families. It makes sense for them to use that ability they’ve developed over a lifetime of practice. I don’t have that kind of musical ability. I’m not saying I’m terrible at it, but I’m just nowhere near as good as they are. So it makes sense for me to let them handle the music stuff, while I work at something that utilizes my own abilities.

Personality

We’ve probably all taken a personality test at some point. They can tell you whether you’re extroverted or introverted, whether you like order or thrive in chaos, or whether you enjoy taking risks or prefer playing it safe. There’s no right or wrong personality, but your unique personality can make you better suited for some roles than others.

Experiences

Everyone is shaped at least partly by their past. We all have a mix of good and bad experiences—some better and some worse than others. These experiences influence what you’re good at doing, what you care about most, and maybe even your personality. They also allow you to relate to, understand, or give advice to other people who have been through (or are currently going through) similar experiences.

This is where God often works to bring something good out of something that was once bad. Almost every ministry I can think of was started because of someone’s experiences. A man who struggled with addiction starts a twelve-step recovery ministry. A woman who had an abortion and thought she could never speak of it gets the courage to tell someone about her decision, and God uses her to start an abortion recovery ministry. A man who went to prison starts a prison outreach ministry. I could go on and on for pages. Any mistake you’ve made, or any bad thing that someone has done to you, God can use for good (Gen. 50:20). Such things don’t disqualify you from making a difference; they’re actually what makes you qualified. You know exactly what someone else is going through, because you’ve been through it yourself. You can relate. You know what to say, and you can get them to listen. In the gospel, God has taken your mess and made it your message.

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In other words, your SHAPE tells you what you are naturally good at, what you want to do, what you’re able to do, how you like to do it, and what you know a lot about. Put them all together, find where they intersect, and you’ll find something that you were created to do.

For example, I’ve been given the spiritual gifts of leadership and teaching. I have a heart for young adults, because of how important that life stage is and because I’ve seen for myself what can happen if you make the wrong choices (or the right ones). I have some ability at public speaking, partly because I started my career focused on sales jobs and took classes to get better at giving presentations to prospective clients. I have a bit of an extroverted personality, so I enjoy being around people and helping them. And I have the experience of making most of the classic young adult mistakes, meaning I can relate to and empathize with other people who make those same mistakes. Put that together, and it makes perfect sense that I would spend over a decade leading a young adult gathering. God planned for me to do that all along.

What about you? Are you a teacher, an engineer, an administrator, a strategic thinker? How can your SHAPE help you understand what you were meant to do today? For example, are you more introverted than extroverted? If so, alone time is going to be very important for you to be able to love others. My wife comes alive when she finds a rhythm of stillness and alone time. Her spiritual gifts lean toward showing mercy to others. Her heart is for those who need help. And as I said, she is extremely skilled with children, in training them and caring for them. While she recharges by herself, she is the single best lover of people I know.

You can have more than one intersection of your gifts, abilities, experiences, and so on. There are other things I do, such as being a husband and father, that are just as important as my day job. These are ministries too. So you can have more than just one purpose. And things like your abilities and experiences can change over time, which means God may have you focus on different things in different stages of your life. It’s an ongoing adventure.

By doing what you’re created to do—what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, what you have experience in—you’ll naturally be more successful at it. You’ll make a bigger impact for God’s kingdom, and you won’t get tired of it or burn out as easily. And you won’t waste what you’ve been given. It will be the best use of your life.

Reflection