Leadership Thought: What Is Your Purpose in Life? Check Your Passion and Your Giftings.

Dear Friends,

At one of our past staff meetings, I played a brief two-minute message on finding your purpose in life. I thought it was an excellent message and one that would challenge each of us to think or rethink our purpose in life.  The speaker suggested that one way to find our purpose is to determine our passion (a subject I discussed a couple of days ago in my Leadership Thought) and discover our gifts and talents and when we do this, we will find our purpose, or what God has designed and created us to do.

When we look at our passion and ask ourselves what excites us, what energizes us and keeps us awake at night and combine that with what we are good at-our natural talents and our giftings, we will discover our purpose, or what God has designed us to do.

Each of us went around the table wrestling with these two questions: "What is our passion" and "what do we do well", and the discussion, not only helped us get to know one another better, but provided valuable information for future reflection. 

One of the hardest things about answering these questions was to acknowledge what we were good at for we all feared being accused of being prideful in acknowledging our talents and giftings. And yet in doing the exercise, I was wonderfully reminded that what I am good at has nothing to do with me, for it's all about Him. God is the giver of my passion, and He is also the giver of my gifts and natural abilities, so why should I be embarrassed to acknowledge what I excel at since any abilities that I possess are not my own doing but simply a gift from Him.

That is why one speaker I know, who, after being applauded for delivering a message, will simply turn and say to his audience, "Thanks, but you are not applauding me, but you are applauding God for He is the one who has enabled me to do what I do well."

So, what's God's purpose for your life, and if you know it, how well are you fulfilling it? If the answer is not very well, then maybe today is the day you make some lifestyle alterations.

Hopefully when you do, your purpose will look something akin to the answer given in the Westminster Shorter Catechism to the question "What is the chief end of man?"  It is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom