WHERE TO START IN DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE: PDL INSIGHTS (PART 9)
3 STAGES IN THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE: PDL INSIGHTS (PART 9)
STAGE 1: THE GOOD WILL OF GOD
"Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a
living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational
(logical, intelligent) act of worship."
"And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its
superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed
[as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly
values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the
will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and
purpose for you]." [Romans 12:1- 2]
As earlier discussed, your purpose is a role that allows you to
express your inner values, doing what you love to do and what you are good at
and maximising on your creativity.
We have discussed the three
clusters in the convergence of which is our purposes. These three clusters are
the gifts, passion and vales cluster. You might then be asking, where should I
start the journey if I am not able to identify my gifts, passion and values?
The Purpose Driven Life progresses in three stages which are identified in the
above scriptures. The three stages are walking into the good, walking into the
acceptable and walking into the perfect will of God. Jesus talks of three
stages in the unfolding of God’s will of fruitfulness saying,
For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in
the ear. [Mark 4:28]
Stage 1: Walking into the Good Will of God.
Your question may be where to
start in the PDL path. You do not have to wait for fully knowing your values,
passions and gifts to walk in your purpose. The Scripture above talks of
focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove for
yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good …. It’s your
responsibility to prove for yourself …. to discover. The first step is finding
ways of doing good to serve others. How best can you add value to others using
the resources, time and energy that you have or the skills, talents and
abilities that you have. As you do this you will begin to discover what you are
more inclined to or the values that are stronger in you or what you love to do
most.
The starting point in the first
stage is what is mentioned in the opening verse, “presenting your bodies
[dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and
well-pleasing to God…”. This means that the purpose driven walk begins by
setting yourself apart that God would do all the good works that he wants done through your life. One person once
asked what the general purpose for everyone was. It is simply availing
ourselves to doing good to others.
Using all that we have to do what adds value to the lives of others.
God wants to save, heal, deliver,
encourage, feed, educate, teach, provide water, reduce poverty, save someone
from hunger, design policies, lead communities, provide good parenting, create
transport systems, entertain and meet all the needs of the people. He is
looking for lives that are dedicated to him to work through. He wants people
who are availing themselves to be vessels through which good works can be done to the needy. This is the general purpose
for everyone.
Someone might argue and say
people were not created just to do good
works, but to worship God. That is true, but the opening scripture shows us
what the highest form of worship is. It talks about presenting your bodies
[dedicating all of yourselves, setting apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and
well-pleasing to God as your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship.
The New International Version calls this, “your spiritual act of worship.”
Availing ourselves to do the good works that God wants done is a great form of
worshipping God if not the greatest.
The first century Kingdom
Revolutionary reveals our purposes and posits, "For we are His
workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus
[reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us]
beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living
the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us]." — Ephesians 2:10
Your purpose is about doing good in your uniqueness. To do the
good works everyone has different gifts as attested by Peter.
"Just as each one of you
has received a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability graciously given by
God], employ it in serving one another
as [is appropriate for] good stewards of God's multi-faceted grace [faithfully
using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christians by God's
unmerited favor]." [1Pet 4:10]. The good works will be a way that will
position us to share the good news and bring everyone into the Kingdom of doing
good to one another.
Jesus talking about purpose said we were saved
to be the lights of the world and the salt of the earth and charged us saying, "Let your light shine before men in
such a way that they may see your good
deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your
Father who is in heaven." [Matthew 5:16]
The good works prepares a
platform for the people to receive the good news when we share it and many will
be born again. A life lived to the fullest is greatness which I have defined in
my book The Wisdom Garden (Volume 1).
Greatness is fully developing and applying our uniqueness to take the
responsibility of serving man and the whole universe for their advancement and well-being
- Coach Tarie: The Wisdom Garden Volume (1).
Acts captures this subject of
good works in the life of Jesus and why he was anointed saying, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the
Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with him.” [Acts 10:38]
What does all this tell you?
Where do you start in your pursuit of The Purpose Driven Life (PDL)? The
starting point is choosing to intentionally do good to others all the time. Use
your time, finances, resources at your disposal, gifts, skills, abilities, job
or talents to serve others and do good. In your church find somewhere to serve.
Do not see your job as just your avenue of getting income but your opportunity
to serve others as long as your job is not after destroying lives.
As you continue investing your
time to do good, you will begin to discover that some acts of service give you
more fulfillment than others. You will begin to get desires to serve others in
certain ways. Some desires will be stronger than others. You will begin to
discover inner convictions that you would rather sacrifice your life in. You
will begin to see yourself letting go of some good works that you have been
doing so that you begin to focus on what you feel more passionate about.
You will begin to discover that
you are good at some things more than others. You will begin to discover that
you enjoy doing certain things than others. You will begin to discover work
that consumes all of you, work that you lose track of time when doing and work
that makes you forget even to eat. You will find areas that you would want to
develop yourself more in. You will discover gifts that you would desire to
sharpen without anyone’s instruction.
The clarity of God’s leadership
and voice is realized when you are doing something. You are not supposed to sit
of spend all of your life praying that God will show you his will and purpose.
Pray and seek God whilst you are doing something. In all of scripture you will
see that God never used or called anyone that was lazy and doing nothing.
Everyone whom God used was found doing something. It is easier to turn and
direct a vehicle that is in motion than one that is not moving.
Some will get to know their
purposes (the good will of God) by revelation, through prophecy, visions,
dreams, audible voices or other supernatural ways, but all these come because you
will be doing something or on a journey to do something with your life. If you
have had these supernatural means of discovering your purpose Glory be to God.
If you have not, it does not mean you are not special or you do not have a
divine assignment. It means that you are part of the adventure game that God
sometimes plays with his dear sons and daughters which the wisest person in the
ancient world spoke about saying,
It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing. [Proverbs 25:2]
The first stage of discovering
and stepping into the PDL is in you intentionally finding creative ways of doing good and serving others. As you
persist and continue you will begin to discover your values, your passions and
intense desires and also your gifts, skills and talents until you get to the
role that captures all the three, expressing
your inner values, doing what you love to do and what you are good at and
maximising on your creativity.
Life gets its meaning when you
begin to serve; you begin to serve when you begin to exist for a good cause to
someone. - Coach Tarie: The Wisdom
Garden Volume (1).
The best way to prepare for
tomorrow is not to be anxious about it but to do all that you can do today and
do it to the best of your ability considering all the resources at your
disposal. - Coach Tarie: The Wisdom
Garden Volume (1).
Let's walk together in the journey towards PURPOSE DRIVEN
LIFE (PDL). Don’t forget to look for Stage 2 of the PDL journey.
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