DISCOVERING
PURPOSE
Winston Churchill made a very memorable observation
about the nation of Russia during a 1939 radio broadcast: “It is a riddle,
wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
William Shakespeare wrote a similar comment about this journey that we call
life. “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth, act 5, scene 5) Unfortunately for many, all that life represents
can be summed up as riddles, mysteries, enigmas, idiotic tales, furious sounds…a
totality of nothing. Such sentiments make it difficult to get out
of bed in the morning, let alone to confront the unknown and potentially
troublesome circumstances of each day.
Such is the perilous plight of those whose lives are devoid of purpose.
Dictionary.com defines “purpose” as “the reason for which
something exists.”
Perhaps, our more momentous accomplishment
prior to our ‘dirt naps’ will be the
discovery of why we are here. It is the
question of our lives. It is the
underpinning of all our conscious and subconscious thoughts, it is what
motivates all our decisions and actions.
Friedrich Nietzsche contended that “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” I heartily agree. It is the absence of purpose that haunts and hurts us. To live without purpose is to live without meaning.
About a hundred years ago, a man
looked at the morning newspaper and, much to his surprise and horror, he read
his own name in the obituary column.
The newspaper had erroneously reported
the death of the wrong person. His first
response was total shock. He thought, “Am
I still alive? Am I here or there?” When
he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had
said about him. The obituary title was, “Dynamite King Dies” and it described him
“the merchant of death.” This was the
public view of this man, the inventor of dynamite. When he read those words, “merchant of death,”
something stirred deep within and he asked himself an important question, “Is
this how I will be remembered?” That
day, he got in touch with his deepest feelings and concerns about life and decided
that this was not the way he would live or be remembered. From that point, he started working passionately
toward world peace. His name was Alfred
Nobel and he is remembered by the prestigious prize that bears his name, “The
Nobel Prize.” Alfred Nobel searched his heart,
redefined his values, and transformed his legacy. We can do the same.
Carefully consider this. If you were to leave this plain-of-mortality today, how would you be remembered by
your family, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, your co-workers, or
even by your enemies? More importantly,
what ‘spiritual obituary’ would God inscribe within the Book of Life?
The discovery of your purpose is the
greatest gift and glory to the Creator who endowed you with the most precious
personal gift: your life. Exactly what are you doing with that which
HE initially endowed to you?
Jesus Christ taught a poignant
parable about our Creator’s expected return-on-investment. He said “the kingdom of heaven is as a man
travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto
them his goods.” (Matthew 25:14) This act
is very significant because it is symbolic of our God-given lives and distinctive
abilities. Our Creator designed uniqueness
in each of us, and so the servants in this parable were provided with differing
degrees of “goods” or “talents” in accordance with their abilities: one, two, or
five. The servants who received two and
five talents traded and doubled that which had been initially granted. The servant who received one talent hid it in
the ground and offered insufficient excuses for his lack of productivity at the
return of his estate master. The former
were commended as “good and faithful servants.” (Matthew 25:21;23) The latter was condemned as a “wicked and
slothful servant.” (Matthew 25:26)
It is my contention that this
one-talented-servant underestimated both his personal worth and the value of
that which had been entrusted to him. It
seemed somewhat small in his eyes, and that is precisely how he treated
it. The result was an unfulfilled life
and a calamitous ending.
(Matthew 25:13) Ready or not, He is coming. Discover your purpose…and pursue it!
