What is my Purpose?

“What is my purpose?” is a universal question. Everyone on earth has probably asked this question at least one time in their lives.

“What is my purpose?” is not a question with a simple answer. I think its answer comes after we ask and discern the answers to two other questions:

What is my purpose as a child of God?

What is my own particular purpose as a unique individual?

What is my purpose as a child of God?

Understand and accept my identity as a child of God.

Understanding and accepting my identity as a child of God helps me to better understand my purpose as a child of God.

Jesus died for me and for my sins so I can be with Him in Heaven and so I can have a close relationship with Him while I am on earth.

Jesus wants to walk with me and have a relationship with me that is as close as the relationship He has with the Father, His own Father, who is God Almighty. John chapter 10 explains this in detail.

You can read more about our identity as a child of God in the post “Accepting my Identity as a Child of God.”

Understand and accept my purpose as a child of God.

Jesus tells us Himself what we are to do. In Matthew 22:36 a lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”

“Jesus said to him:

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind.”

This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it;

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.” Matthew 22:37-40.

So, then, what is my purpose as a child of God? To follow Jesus and to live out the Commandments are two important ways I can live out my purpose in Christ.

To follow Jesus, I need to know who He is. He is the Son God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. He Himself is God. I can get to know Him better by reading my Bible, attending Mass, and receiving the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation regularly. I can’t forget prayer, too! For me, I need to remember that prayer should not be a monologue on my part. I need to listen to God as well.

What is my own particular purpose as a unique individual?

Recognize the gifts God has given me.

God gives each of us unique talents and gifts. He knows how we are best to use them and He knows what will make us happy and fulfilled in our lives.

It is up to us to discover what those gifts and talents are and to find out how God intends for us to use them in our lives for ourselves and for others.

1 Corinthians 2: 11-12 and 16 has a beautiful explanation of how the Spirit of God works in us:

“Who, for example, knows a man’s innermost self but the man’s own spirit within him? Similarly, no one knows what lies at the depths of God but the Spirit of God. The Spirit we have received is not the world’s spirit, but God’s Spirit, helping us to recognize the gifts he has given us. . . . For, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

This passage is so rich with meaning and information. God’s Spirit is at work in us, “helping us to recognize the gifts he has given us.” These gifts are already inside of us; the Spirit of God helps us to “recognize” them. With God’s Spirit working in us, “we have the mind of Christ.” God shares His own wisdom with us so we can know how to use the gifts He has already given to us. We can also know how to follow God faithfully in our lives.

God’s love and care for us are truly amazing.

Take time to discern God’s plans for me.

It has been valuable to me to spend time in prayer to discover and discern what God wants for me in my life.

God calls us to different paths at different times in our lives. We may be single for part of our lives and then be a religious or married later in life. We may start one career and then switch to another one that is completely different and not at all what we thought we would ever do.

God can also call us to use our various gifts in different ways at the same time in our lives. For example, while our kids are still growing and we are busy as a parent, we may be called to be a catechist at church as well or help a sick friend for a period of time.

The post “How to “Pray About It”” may be helpful for ideas to use in discerning where and how God is calling you.

Taking the time to discern God’s ideas and plans for us and knowing where and how we can use the gifts and talents He gave us is a valuable use of our time. After all, God created each one of us, and He knows the plans He has for us and what will bring us happiness and fulfillment. Recognizing our gifts and discerning how to use them is something we will do many times over the course of our lives.

Don’t be afraid or give up hope.

Don’t be afraid to follow where God leads you. He is God! He knows what He is doing and He is faithful and trustworthy.

Don’t give up hope. You can discover the gifts God has given you. He gave them to you for a purpose. Trust in Him to reveal that purpose, or those many purposes, to you. He will.

A prayer of blessing from St. Paul

As I was researching information for this post, I came across (or, God led me to) a beautiful prayer of blessing from St. Paul to the Ephesians. I want to share it with you.

“. . . I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name; and I pray that he will bestow on you gifts in keeping with the riches of his glory. May he strengthen you inwardly through the working of his Spirit. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of God himself.

“To him whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine–to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:14-21