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 so 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 lifetime.
It is the underpinning of all our conscious and subconscious thoughts
and it is that which motivates all our decisions and actions. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
I heartily agree. It is the
absence of purpose that perennially
haunts and hurts us. To live without
purpose is to only exist, 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?” After regaining 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, who was 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 designs
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 in number.
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 upon the return of his estate master. The former servants were commended as “good
and faithful.” (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 awesome value of that which had been entrusted to his hands. Thus, it seemed somewhat small and insignificant
in his eyes, and that is precisely how he treated it. The result was an unfulfilled life with a
calamitous ending.
What is
your worth? What is the value
of the talents that have been assigned to your hands? And what are you doing with them? My greatest fear in life is the possibility
of standing before my Creator without a meaningful response to this question or
without fruit that would verify any of my self-assessments or decisions. Jesus Christ issued this grave warning to all
of us. “Watch therefore,
for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew
25:13) Ready or not, He is coming. So discover
your purpose…and pursue it!
Sisters and brothers, be continually
blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON
COMING KING. Maranatha!
