GOD Morning! What is My Life Purpose? December 24, 2016

GOD Morning!

What is My Life Purpose?

December 24, 2016

John 1:29-51 AMP

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’ ³¹ I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah]; but I came baptizing in water so that He would be [publicly] revealed to Israel.” ³² John gave [further] evidence [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah], but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I myself have [actually] seen [that happen], and my testimony is that this is the Son of God!”

Jesus’ Public Ministry, First Converts

³⁵ Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as He walked along, and said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ And Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and asked them, “What do you want?” They answered Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went [with Him] and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard what John said and [as a result] followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first looked for and found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means the Christ). ⁴² Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).”

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go into Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher, and walking the same path of life that I walk].” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote about—Jesus from Nazareth, the son of Joseph [according to public record].” ⁴⁶ Nathanael answered him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor duplicity!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do You know [these things about] me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, when you were still under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered, “Rabbi (Teacher), You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” ⁵⁰ Jesus replied, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe [in Me]? You will see greater things than this.” ⁵¹ Then He said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man [the bridge between heaven and earth].”

“Look the Lamb of God!”

John the Baptist’s life purpose was to lead folks to Jesus.

What is my life purpose?

I googled life purpose and, after I sorted through the plethora of “junk” online on the topic, I found 3 simple steps, by Tor Constantino.

1.    What do I love?

2.   What am I good at?

3.   What does the world need?

Well, as many of you can guess, I easily skipped to question 3. That’s a given. The world needs Jesus. I am not just throwing Jesus out there as an easy answer. Jesus IS the ANSWER. For everyone. Every time.

Based on question 3 alone, my life purpose is to clear the path, as John the Baptist did, so that all folks see is Jesus Christ. My life purpose is to lead folks to their life purpose, which is to lead folks to Jesus Christ.

So back to question one. What do I love?

I love studying God’s word. I love blogging my personal daily devotions.

I love teaching God’s word. I love watching hope spring up in folk’s eyes as we study God’s word together.

I love music and writing music.

Question two. What am I good at?

I’m good at the above things. I definitely need a lot more training in my giftings. 

I have been blogging since 2012. I look back at my early blogs and it’s obvious that I have improved. Practice is an amazing teacher. But I would like to mentor with an accomplished writer as well.

I have written a little music. Periodically, I wake up with a tune and/or lyrics in my mind, and sometimes I complete a song. Most of the time, I don’t move forward with the tune or lyric. Again, practice is crucial. I would also love to collaborate with an accomplished songwriter in order to fine tune my gift.

Which leads me to a forth question.

4.   What is hindering me from doing my life purpose?

Lack of time management is hindering me from doing my life purpose. There. I said it.

Folks who accomplish their life purpose literally fall in love with their life purpose. So much that it’s all they think about while they are at work. And the minute they get off work every day, they start doing their life purpose.

John Maxwell refers to himself as a workafrolic. He absolutely loves what he does and, at the age of sixty nine, he has no plans to retire.

I long to be this person. Instead, I am that person who thinks about how tired I am after work and sits down with a Hallmark movie or a good book. Seriously? I am shocking myself as I take a hard look at the facts.

Every year, I say the same words. This year I will spend more hours actually doing my life purpose! And every year, I fall short.

I know the answer. Keep setting goals. Keep reaching for my goals. Baby steps. I must talk to God about my life purpose goals. My life purpose is actually my God purpose. He has given me the skills that I need.

“Dear Jesus, thanks for this morning’s devotion. I long to be a workafrolic. Doing Your work. With the gifts that You have given me. Lead me Lord, I will follow. Guide me on how to best use my time. How I love You, Jesus, AMEN.”