Finding Purpose in a Christ Centered Life
I helped my brother rearrange some of his furniture
yesterday. My Saturdays are basically on repeat. Early morning runs are
followed by breakfast at home, then a few hours of writing before heading to
church. My brother texted me the night before. He worked in the morning and had
to pull down the baby clothes from the attic. I was impressed with the tidy
assortment, 0-3 months, 3-6 months and so on.
Our task was to rearrange a few of the rooms and make one a
nursery for his and his wife's incoming baby. I thought he might need help putting the dresser
together, or the crib. He’d already taken care of that. The biggest part was
pulling down the plastic tubs of clothes and setting up the nursery.
It took two looks at the new set up. We couldn’t figure out
how to make the space look open. Every direction and corner the crib ended up
in felt cramped. Placing it under the window was a non starter. I guess the
noise from street could wake her up. It’s not a terribly loud street but the
neighborhood does have a lot of kids. That only left two options for how to
angle the crib. The second one just looked better. The middle of the floor was
open, the dresser under the window and the bed along the long wall seemed like
the best arrangement.
Purpose
We talked for a few hours about life and relationships.
He gives good advice. As an older brother I’m not used to
any of my younger siblings doing this. They do though. The married ones at
least. For years, some of the best relationship advice I’ve received has been
through one of them. ‘Older brothers sort everyone else out, not the other way
around. At least that’s been my default attitude towards help, advice and
scolding. But it hasn’t been true for a long time. Thankfully, default
attitudes fall off when we let them. What was helpful for a time can become a hindrance
if we don’t cut it loose.
Refusing to hear advice from younger siblings is called
pride. Good advice doesn’t just flow one way when humans are involved. Leaders often
struggle with this. Especially if they’ve had success being the go-to font of
wisdom. Business CEOs that adjust to changing times can ruin their company with
an obstinate attitude and a hardened stance. This doesn’t apply to values and
service culture, which hopefully remain, but on course corrections. Churches
fall into this as well. A dynamic leader that’s built a large congregation
might be loathe to hand it off to a son or daughter. It’s an understandable
reaction. When you do something well it becomes your reason for existing,
fairly or unfairly. You found your gift. Let others find theirs.
Fulfillment
Purpose drives us. When it’s from God, it’s particularly
fulfilling. Even moving furniture and sorting baby clothes is purposeful. It’s
not the big picture creative stuff, but it’s critical and worthwhile.
God fashioned us for a reason and put us on this earth to
complete a specific plan to meet the needs of others. How we do that varies.
It’s something that goes beyond career or skill or interest. Those play a role,
but the goal is to share Christ in a meaningful way. Even that description
doesn’t quite get at it. Jesus isn’t just a story about a manger, or a ministry,
or a death followed by a resurrection. It’s a plan. It’s redemption. It’s
victory over sin and death and disease. Life is a gift, but life with purpose
is something eternal that we get to discover every day we’re on this earth.
The purpose is the gospel, the “how” is ours to find. The
big change of direction for me is seeing life in that order, Christ first and
me second. When we put our gifts first, it limits plan of God. We’ve handed Him
a matrix through which we offer our service. Here and not there. “I’m a singer
Lord, use me”. Or “I’m great with children but not the homeless”. Our interests
or skills can be a starting point but they don’t define the mission. When we
understand the first principles of following the Lord, our gifts will come
alive. We worry about gifts at the expense of the mission.
Conclusion
Paul sums it up like this:
“There are
diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are diversities of ministries,
but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities; but it is the same
God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each
one for the profit of all”. (I Corinthians 12:4-7)
We all want to matter. Giving our gifts to God ensures that
they’ll be used in the best way. Comparison gets us all in trouble. It’s easy
to feel that we aren’t doing enough with our talents. But our task is to be
useful where we can and show Christ in every action. The big picture in life
will take shape when we let God be the author of our story. Sometimes it’s
writing an essay and sometimes it’s moving furniture.