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.

PURPOSE: Abandoned

The quarterly tells the story of a grand piano and how it was repurposed.  In part the story is:

I was given a grand piano.  It only cost me the lunch that I bought for the men who helped me get it home.  A local church wanted the piano removed because its soundboard was cracked and it would no longer stay in tune.  

Over the next several months this grand piano resided in my garage as I slowly worked on it and gave it a new life as a bookcase.  Another free lunch for the men who helped me move the piano bookcase to my office was all it took to give the old piano new life.  It now resides next to my lamp–that was once a clarinet.

While this repurposing is not uncommon, it is not the original purpose for which the instrument was created.  The same is true for us.  Many have lost the purpose for which God created us...a creative relationship with the creator.  Instead of returning to God to regain that purpose and make beautiful music together, many settle for something less re-creating them selves in some other creative purpose.