In Pursuit of Purpose

Most of us spend our lives in pursuit of purpose, trying to figure out exactly what it was that God had in mind when He created us. What are we meant to be? What are we supposed to do? Who are we supposed to love? Where are we supposed to live? Our lives are summed up in the same 5 W's and an H that we ask about almost everything - Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

At some point, God begins to answer these questions for us, as our lives are steered in one direction or the other. One thing becomes very clear to us, and we're pretty sure this is it - God is finally going to tell us what it is that He has dreamed for us from the very moment He knit us together in our mother's womb. 

And then, nothing. Silence. Dead end.

That's hard for us. We're a people who want a plan. Like, a whole plan. We want to know all of the details. We want to know how it all comes together. We want to know everything that's going to happen before we make a move, but that's not the testimony of God, and that's not the testimony of His people. 

One of the things I'm learning, the more I grow into my own God-given purpose and the more I explore the world around me, is that so many of the lingering questions that we have are answered when we act on the first "Go!"

Abram had a good sense of the presence of God. After all, it seems the two were fairly good friends. So his friend calls him to go to the mountain, and he goes, even though he has some lingering questions about how this is all going to go down. When he gets there, he finds not only the presence of God, but the provision and the promise of the Lord, as well. 

We laud Abram for his faith, but the truth is that he was in the same boat as the rest of us - he only had the answer to one question. He only had one word to move on. He only knew one thing for sure; the rest was kind of up in the air. 

But he moved. And in moving, he discovered what else it was that he needed to know.

The question we have to ask ourselves is if we, too, would be willing to move. Are we a people willing to go on just one word? Are we a people who trust in God so much that we're willing to go to the mountain and discover what else He might have for us, even when we don't know what that might be? Are we? 

If we wish to discover our God-given purpose, we must be. 

I think our pursuit of purpose begins with one simple answer. One categorical affirmative that sets our whole journey in motion. And I think that categorical affirmative falls into one of three groups: people, place, or thing. That's where our adventure starts. 

And it's where our lingering questions are answered. 

Stay tuned this week as we walk boldly into the unknown, toward God-given purpose - presence, provision, and promise - through the people, places, and things to which we have been called.