Some people might ask this question, "Why do I need to know my purpose? I just live my life as it comes. I don't want to think much about it. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I become." I can assure you that it may be frustrating at first when you don't know your purpose, but when you find it, there will be a sense of liberation within you. You will finally know that you are not wasting your time.
Here are some of the benefits of knowing your purpose:
Knowing your purpose gives meaning to life
Here's a scary statistic for you guys to think about. In 2008, over 30,000 people committed suicide n the US. Which means that in every 16 minutes, someone commits suicide. Let's ponder on that for a moment. Everyone dies at one point in their life. Some die early, and some later. But why should we continue living? Since there is so much pain and suffering and if there is no meaning to life, we might as well end our life now. Have you been told to do something and you didn't know the meaning or the purpose of doing it? I remember my friend once told me during the exam period of Form 5, "Why do I need to study Additional Maths? It' not like I'm gonna use it or apply it in my life anyway!" However, my friend did try his best to practice doing his Add Maths, but he dreaded it for 2 years. In this scenario, my friend only needed to suffer for two years, but life lasts a lifetime. Not knowing your purpose in your a lifetime will result in a life of suffering without a purpose. Which makes life pretty much meaningless.
Knowing your purpose simplifies your life
Especially nowadays, life is much more complicated. In a research that I read about recently, by the time we are 25 years old, we would have made over 80% of the decisions that would form the course of our entire life. Wow...Complicated huh? (for those older than 25 don't worry...haha!! I always believe God allows u-turns). Knowing your purpose in life would simplify your life in a sense you know what you will do or become in the future. For example, If I know at the age of 15 that I am suppose to be an astronaut, I wouldn't have to make difficult decisions on whether I want to apply for going into engineering, marketing, or any other course that does not help me be an astronaut. I would just take an astronaut's course (sorry la..don't know what it's called). That makes life easier and simpler.
Knowing your purpose focuses your life
Being focused in what we do is an important thing. As human beings we all know that our time on earth is limited. We actually do not have time to do everything under the sun. Rather than doing everything, it is wiser to choose which to focus on and master it. Jesus Himself was very focused in His life. He knew what His purpose was and He did plainly what He was meant to do. No time wasting, just a very purposeful life according to God's purpose. Because of that, by the age of 33, He made a long lasting impact in the world. We need to know our purpose too so that we can focus and be more effective in whatever we do
Knowing your purpose motivates your life
Whenever somebody knows the purpose of what their doing (especially if it is a good purpose), the person is motivated to do the task, whether or not he/she likes the task. Let me give you an example. Jesus had temptations to give up on going up to the cross because He knows very well that He is going to suffer terribly. But He yielded to God's purpose for Him and went up the cross. Even in our life, sometimes there are certain things we don't want to do because it's hard to do. But when we know our purpose, we will be motivated to do it because we know that somehow there will be a positive outcome. As for myself, I know my purpose and I like doing what I'm doing now. But there are times when I struggle with fulfilling my purpose in life. But I know that one day, all these will be worthwhile.
Thanks for reading, I hope you will be motivated to know your purpose in life after reading this post. I guess the next question is, "How am I supposed to find out what my purpose in life is?". The next few posts will give you some guidance on how to know God's will for your life. And please pray for me that whatever I write here in this blog will continue to glorify Him and encourage other people. God bless.
Wow...only 2 post and i got visitors from other countries to my blog...lol...
Anyway to those who want to post any comments..i would appreciate it if you guys were to put your name and city and country...
Would love to know who's viewing my blog....God Bless
As promised in my last post, this post will be about purpose. I'll start this post by quoting a famous saying,
"The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder..." Thomas Carlyle
How true. Normally when a ship is without its rudder, the ship normally sways to wherever the wind blows. It's pretty much same with life. Each of us have our own 'wind' in life (don't think of fart please!). 'Wind's are deciding or influencing factors as to why we take that particular course of action. For example, an after form 5 student who just got his/her results for SPM will start thinking on is/her next step. During this decision making process, there will be 'winds' that will influence him/her. For example, some people will base their decision on the subject which they like the most. If a person likes the subject physics, he/she most probably will go into engineering or any other course which has something to do with physics. Other's might treat money as their 'wind'. They might choose a course based on the amount of money they are able to earn after they graduate. Same goes to choosing a job. People might choose their job based on career advancement oppurtunities or simply the fact whether that job is stressful or not. Whatever it is, we all have 'winds' that blow us to a certain direction.
Now back to the ship and the rudder. When a ship has a rudder, the rudder is the one that controls the direction of the ship. But of course, we need someone to be in control of the rudder in order for the ship to stay on course. It can't steer itself. Not only that, but the person who steers the rudder needs to be someone who knows the way to reach the destination. In this analogy, I would like to put the ship's journey as our life's journey, the ship as our life, and the rudder and the person steering the rudder as God. The only one who knows the purpose and direction of our life is God. No one else. He created us and therefore He alone knows what the creation is for. As long as He is the one steering our ship, we are heading the right direction.
I believe many Christians are missing out on the blessings of God in this life just simply because they fail to put Him first in their life. Most of us think that God's blessings are riches or material things. Oh no, it's much more than that. It's things that money can't buy. Peace at heart, inner joy, a purposeful and etc. When I say put Him first, I really mean put Him first (Duh! right?). I'll give both examples on what is putting Him first and what is not.
Let's say Mr. XYZ wants to look for a job. He is a Christian and he did not really do well in his studies. He only passed his SPM. Let's say he got two job offers. One job was a job as a Marketing Executive with a basic pay of RM2000 (in Ipoh is quite a lot) and has many posibilities of career advancement (promotion, high yearly pay rise, high commission rate, etc.). However this job, requires Mr. XYZ to work overtime to meet his target sales which maybe twice in a month, work on a Sunday morning (church time) inclusive of a five and a half day minimum. Whereas the other job, was a job as a clerk with a basic pay of RM1300 with a yearly increment of RM50 and without much job advancement opportunities. However, this job requires Mr. XYZ to work only five and a half days a week (exclude Sunday). Well, obviously Mr. XYZ should take the job as a Marketing Executive because God really blessed Mr. XYZ with such a good job which is normally very hard to get. I mean come on...If it's not God's will how come He blessed Mr. XYZ with such a good job? He doesn't even have a degree or a diploma. It's impossible to get a job like this with his education level but with God we all know that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!! Amen?
BLASPHEMY!!!!!
God wouldn't 'bless' us with a job, a university course, a scholarship or anything that will potentially take away our relationship with Him. The marketing job requires him to work at least twice in a month on Sundays. You may say "Twice a month only ma, I'm sure God will understand one, He's so good to us. As long as I got go to church one a month can already". God understands alright, understands that you don't love Him enough to spend at least every weekend with Him together with other believers like how He likes it. God really treasures our relationship with Him. He treasures so much until He is willing to send His Son to die on the cross for us. You've seen it in the movies. Wives who treasure a close relationship with their husband might end up in divorce because he was always working and was never there for her. Well you can still try and think "Twice a month only ma, I'm sure my wife will understand one, she's a good wife. As long as I got come back to drink soup once in a while can already". Good luck with your marriage.
I think you guys got the point by now. Mr. XYZ should put God first and choose the job as a clerk or any other job that puts God first. For those smart fellas who already knew the answer, don't get too cocky because knowing what is the right thing to do doesn't make doing the right thing any easier.
Well, that ends another post. If you guys like my posts, please continue to drop comments so that I know you all like it. It will serve as an encouragement to me as well. My next post will be on 'The benefits of knowing your purpose'. Ciaoz.
I'll start my blog with explaining what the acronym D.E.E.P. means as it is posted as the title of my blog. Uncle Don (my church leader and mentor) ask me to write a personal vision around 2 months ago. I gave it much thought and prayer and the acronym D.E.E.P. became my personal vision. This vision is something that I live by. I pray and hope that in every day of my life, I do only these 4 things or least whatever I do leads to these 4 things.
The first letter is 'D', Which stands for 'Depend'.
For the first part of my vision, I want to make sure that it has something to do with Jesus. I'm working part time for church and depending on Him really is a must. In John 15:5, Jesus said that apart from Him I can do nothing. This is one thing I realize in my life. Whenever I am close to Him (depending on Him), things seems to go much better. But when I don't things seems to go tougher. Some people may disagree about this. For example, someone who studies diligently will get good results for their exam. I know that without Jesus people are able to do many things. But I know that none of those things will matter because what we do on our own strength will not bring glory to Him. I prefer to depend on Him because I want all glory to be for Jesus. Truthfully speaking, this part of our lives are often neglected. We rarely seek Him or depend on Him. But be rest assured that when you do, you will find it a joy, rather than a chore.
The second letter is 'E', which stands for 'Equip'.
I believe that God also wants me to impact other people by equipping them with the Word of God and with skills that I currently possess. As a result, I too will have to equip myself so that I have something to offer to other people. This is the hard part. As a leader I need to be above other people in terms of my spirituality, attitude and knowledge. Although ultimately I want all of those in my youth group to follow Jesus, I know that as a leader I play an important role in setting a good example. "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ," apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth. Apostle Paul here urged the Corinthian church to follow him. However it's not just him, but as he follows Jesus' example. My call is to follow Jesus' example, and hopefully, those who are under me will follow me as I follow Him. I accept the fact that this is my calling, so I will try my best. I pray for all those that I am trying to equip so that they will see Jesus in my life and start to follow His footsteps
The third letter is again the letter 'E', which stands for 'Encourage/Excite'
One of the gifts that God gave me is that He gave me the ability to restore passion for Jesus (I don't know whether this is true but so far it has been proven). I believe God gave me this gift to make young people excited about the things of God. We all should be excited about Jesus. Why shouldn't we? He died on the cross for us right? If that's not enough of a reason to be excited, Jesus also gave us joy, love, peace, forgiveness of sin, help in times of trouble and the list goes on....However, excitement comes and goes, when times are down it's hard to be excited. That's why I also include encourage into the acronym. I also believe God wants me to encourage those who are down and out so that they be lifted up again. We all need someone to encourage us once in a while. I thank God for the youth and friends that He has blessed me with. I hope that I am someone who is encouraging to them.
Last but not least is the letter 'P', which stands for 'Proclaim'
Somehow deep inside me there is a desire to let people know about Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. i won't forget the time I organized a concert in Ipoh. I've organized around 3. Be it as a coordinator or just a committee. In the first one I organized, I remember that there were around more than 10 who received Jesus on that night. When that happened, I remember kneeling down, and with tears in my eyes thanked and worshiped Jesus. The thought of someone receiving Jesus just drive me to tears. I don't know why. Maybe it's just the fact that I know that those who received Him will change their lives forever. This drives me to share the gospel. However, I don't believe I have been doing that enough. I pray that my life and my words will proclaim Jesus and His gospel to everyone that I meet. I won't shove it down their throats, but I pray that those people that I meet will have their hearts opened to Jesus.
That ends a very long post. I hope you all have not fallen asleep halfway. My next post will be on the topic 'Purpose'. I already shared this with some of the youth in Genting. But I hope this simple message will touch others who read this blog as well. God bless.
i just changed the background of my blog...well i dont know why i chose this one...i like black and i like guitars...i guess so far this is the one i want...haha..ciaoz
hmmm...I figured since many people i know is blogging... wanted to try it out and see...haha.I don't really know whether i have the time to even update it but we'll see how...lol...here goes..