Your Purpose

What is your purpose in this life?

We all have a purpose. God has a special plan for each and every one of us.

Jeremiah 29:11-12 (NIV)

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

So what are His plans for you? That is going to be the great discovery of your life.

There are general plans for all of us and then there are specific plans for us, too. What are we supposed to be doing? Obeying the 10 Commandments?

Under the new covenant, we are not under the law anymore. Christ fulfilled the law. He paid the penalty of the law for you and for me. Now many use this as an excuse to sin. But Paul specifically tells us in Romans 6, verses 1 and 2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Emphasis mine, but I have heard some more knowledgeable than myself explain that this exclamation Paul is making is in the strongest language possible. This is no trifle matter with Paul.)

That being said, let’s read Ephesians 4:25-32 together.

Therefore, putting away lying, “ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

This is from the same epistle where Paul tells us that we did not work for our salvation, it is a gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8). Yet, Paul must think that behavior matters. So we see that God’s plan includes the following:

• Putting away lying
• Not letting our anger manifest in sinful actions
• Not to give place to the devil (how do we do that?)
• Not stealing
• To work a job
• To give to others that have needs
• To let no corrupt words come out of our mouths, only things that will build others up
• Not to grieve the Holy Spirit
• No more bitterness
• No more wrath
• No more anger (or you could read this as temper)
• No more clamor (what’s this, you ask? The English word clamor here is the Greek word krauge. It is an onomatopoeic word, imitating a raven’s cry. This means the word sounds similar to a raven’s cry, which is loud and annoying (it's like our English word boom, it sounds a bit like a bomb going off). This Greek word denotes an outcry and controversy. Basically this is describing people that are always making a fuss about things, and are annoying everyone around them in the process.)
• No evil speaking (This sounds like repetition of #7. It must be pretty important if Paul is repeating it.)
• Being kind to others
• Being tenderhearted
• Forgiving one another

Heavy duty list, huh? This is just one New Testament example, practically every epistle has a similar list. But this is not to condemn you, if you fail in any of these areas, it does not mean that you will lose your salvation. We do have a flesh that tries to battle us daily. A few verses previous to this list, Paul says (vs. 23-24) to be renewed in the spirit of your mind (sounds a lot like Rom. 12:2) and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. This is a moment-by-moment thing, choosing, through the power of the Holy Spirit (without which we would fail), to obey the spirit and deny the flesh.

See also Galatians 5:24-25.

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

This is just one example of detail in the Bible about what we are supposed to be doing, hence our purpose in this life. There is much more. Do a study to find out what else the Bible says about your life.