Living life on purpose – Wednesday, 31 January

When you look at the dictionary definitions of “destiny”, it usually appears to be a destination somewhere out in the future that is going to happen with or without your participation. Many Christians seem to believe this – but the Bible teaches something quite different. Your “destiny” isn’t something that just happens to you and your purpose in life isn’t going to be accomplished ‘no matter what you do’. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time, and passivity will not help you fulfil your purpose. You need to choose to live life on purpose.

“I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I finish my work. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do–to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.”
Acts 20:24 ERV

Paul (the grace-preacher) said that he had a work to do and that he wanted to finish that work. The King James Version says, “that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received…” Paul said that he wanted to finish the work that Jesus gave him to do. That means that is possible to not finish the work given to you to do. Paul said that he wanted to finish the work Jesus gave him to do; that means that Jesus wouldn’t finish the work but rather it was Paul’s responsibility. You have a course to finish. You have a work to complete. Paul accepted responsibility to finish the work entrusted to him – he was not passively waiting for God to do it. Likewise, you have a work to finish. Your destiny isn’t going to be fulfilled by accident. God empowers us to do the work (that makes it much easier) but He wants to work with you (1 Corinthians 3:9) to accomplish it. Your passivity won’t get you there. You need to discover your purpose and be purposeful about fulfilling it.

I like what the Easy-to-read Version says, “I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I finish my work.” That gives you an important key to living in your destiny: that you need to not care about what you want for your life. What God desires for you is far greater than what you could ever want for yourself. When God called me into full-time ministry as a vocation, I was busy pursuing a career in politics and government. God spoke to me and said: “You need to let your dream for your life die, and choose My dream for you – otherwise you’ll never be as fruitful as you could be.” This is true for all of us. We need to say: “Not my will, but Yours, Lord” and pursue what He has for us. What He has for us is far greater than what we could ever imagine!