Purpose: Exemplified

The Bible tells us that everything we do is to be for God’s glory.  It explains that when we live in obedience, serving and living in the purpose God has given us, we will bring glory to God.  But what is "everything" we do?  Does this include how we brush our teeth or other mundane routines?  Does it include only public interactions?  How can we bring glory to God in "everything" we do?

Purpose Expressed

In the previous study Paul wrote of how the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit changes the focus of how a believer lives from works of the flesh to the fruit of the Spirit.  This change should not lead to vain glory or conceit Paul tells us, but rather to a life of service to God and to others out of the agape love that the Spirit has for all.

From most physical to most spiritual the various types of love described by the Greeks were:

Purpose Lived

Purpose is an "intention put forth".  Setting an intention is like drawing a map of where you wish to go—it becomes the driving force behind your goals and visions, your actions and attitudes. Without an intention, there is no map, and you're just wandering in the dessert with no destination in mind. Many go through life with merely the dual intentions of self-survival and self-satisfaction – staying alive and feeling good doing it.

Too many go through life not realizing that God created humanity with a purpose and it wasn't JUST be fruitful and multiply. One source summarizes the biblical purposes of humanity as "God created humanity in his own image for four purposes: to have fellowship with, to cultivate God's garden (literally "delightful enclosure"), be fruitful and multiply, and govern the Earth and all that is in it. When we discover God's purpose for humanity life takes on new meaning and richness that the world can't offer.  

We will see that we live out our purpose as we are led by and filled with the Holy Spirit.  That said, an authentic intention cannot be forced. You can't set an intention for purposeful living that you don't believe in. The problem is that humanity has dual natures – a spiritual nature in the image of God, and a physical nature that is similar to all in the animal kingdom.

PURPOSE: Restored

A sense of purpose isn’t only about your career; it’s also about what you believe in, what you value in life, and what motivates you. 

Having a sense of purpose gives us clear reasons for what we want to do. People with a sense of purpose are diligent because of a true interest in their goal, rather than because they have to.  There are three components of a sense of purpose: 1) goals related to sense of purpose are more stable and far reaching, e.g. loving God, managing his creating, raising a family, etc.  2) there is an external aim that reaches beyond the self, e.g. to help others, to safeguard family, work against injustice etc.  3) it is achievement driven. Sense of purpose works from one achievement to the next building and growing throughout life.

There’s evidence that having sense of purpose maintains health and well-being across your lifetime.  Sense of purpose also helps you through the low points. When things go wrong, sense of purpose helps you to put this in perspective, preserving self-esteem and giving you the resilience to push forward. It helps maintain optimism about the future, and that underlying belief that you can do it. In other words, having a sense of purpose builds your growth mindset.