• Youth:
The definition of the word ‘youth’ is relative as there is no clear cut
definition to it. Here are some of the definitions rendered to it:
- ‘The time of life when a person
is young’ (when one is not yet old).
- ‘One within the ages of puberty
and 45years old.
• Life:
This is defined by the advanced Learners dictionary as the quality to breathe,
grow, reproduce etc.
• Purpose: The intention, aim or intention of a
thing.
From the foregoing therefore a ‘Purpose driven life’ simply
means a life that is literally lived on purpose economically, Psychologically,
socially, politically, emotionally, educationally, career pursuit etc (that is
a live that is lived with an aim, intention, reason, principle etc). The
question here then is: “What is the purpose of your existence?” To understand
the purpose of a product, you must work at understand first the product
(anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or a need – it
could be a physical good or service). Let us x-ray the Christian as a product:
A. Nature:
- Molded after God (Gen. 1:27, Psalms 82:6)
- You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)
B. Created for:
- Fashioned to fear and do the will of God (Eccl. 12:13,
Deut. 10:12, Luke 10:27)
- Make God’s kingdom your primary concern (Matt. 6:33)
- Fulfill the volume of books written concerning you (Heb.
10:7)
C. Search out your call
- What you want and delight in as a Christian is important
(Jn. 5:21, Mark 10:17 - 31)
- Consult and confirm what you want (Jn. 5:30; Cf Jn. 5:21)
- God’s leadership (Ps. 16:11a; 119:105, Prov. 3:6; 16:3;
16:9; 21:29:)
5 Practical Steps To Discovering Your Purpose In Life
A. Pitfalls In Searching: Often the following are the reasons why most people run into problems in their personal search for God's purpose for their life:
i. When you don’t understand divine laws, you struggle to
obey God (Mk10:21 Cf. I Tim. 6:17-19, Gal. 6:7)
ii. Where purpose is not known; abuse is inevitable.
iii. Lack of vision (Prov. 29:18). Purpose is the child of
vision. You cannot pursue a goal until you see it; and you cannot achieve what
you don’t pursue. (Note: When you deviate from purpose; you don’t only destroy
yourself but all around you)
B). How To Search Out: The following are some of the ways of searching out God's purpose for your life:
i. God’s express revelation (Joseph - Gen. 37:9):
- Ministration in your heart
- Dream
- Trance
- Second party ministration
ii. Research
iii. Mentorship
iv. Desire/Hunger/passion (David – I Sam. 17:26; Mk. 10:20 -
22)
v. Your skill set
C). God’s Productivity Concept: Below are God's productivity module for all his that look up to Him.
- Get busy - that is get meaningfully engaged (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
- Be a hard worker (Prov. 22:29): This is critical because God blesses the works of our hands
thus whatever your hand finds to do; do it well.
- Be creative and under study another successful Christian
doing what you want to do so that we can:
i. Learn from his successes
ii. Learn from his failures
iii. Replicate what he did to get the success he has
- Success is driven on the tripartite wheel of discipline,
diligence and sacrifice.
Discipline: This is the systematic instruction to a person
intended to enable him follow a particular code of conduct or order.
Diligence: How much time you work on your own determines
your ultimate worth! It is only hard workers who become great leaders (it is
what you put into a trash that brings out the treasure in it). The value in you
cannot show up without it demanding a cost on you.
Sacrifice: There is no star without a scar. Sacrifice is
going the extra mile in your discipline; paying the extra price in your
diligence and taking the extra step to deliver your mandate. Faith is not a
substitute for sacrifice (this is the requirement of every kingdom star).
Invest your time to create the future you desire.
Note: This principle is so strong that “prayer is helpless
when it comes to taking you to the place of greatness without them”. Instead of
praying for greatness, rather pray for the grace to give greatness all it takes
(grace to stay discipline as long as it take and the grace to give it the
diligence requires backed up by the desired sacrifices to get results).
These set of values (meaningful engagement, hard work mindset, creativity, discipline, diligence and sacrifice) so engages you that every
other thing around you becomes insignificant and less worthy of your time. Some the critical questions you may need to ask yourself are:
a. How disciplined are you?
b. How much time do you spend in the front of a television
watching: home videos, wrestling, football, video games, computer games etc?
c. How much time do you waste chatting on your mobile phone?
- What does that chatting add to your overall goal and
vision?
d. Facebook? I would not talk of facebook and other social
network media because they are draining my generation of their intellectual
capabilities.
Get me right, I am not saying that all these are not good in themselves
but consider the wise words of Paul the Apostle:
I Corinthians 6:12 and
10:23.
"All things are permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful
(good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things) ...
D). Strike The Balance: Romans 12:11 makes is very clear that you must strike a balance between your work life and your ministry. There should be no
difference between your vocation and your ministry. Rather see your vocation as
an extension or platform for carrying out your ministry.
E). Character Capacity: You need a commitment to Godly character. Intellectual
abilities (wisdom – acquisition & intelligent application of acquired
knowledge) to be able to fulfil your purpose in life. Remember the saying: 'charisma will take your to the top but character will keep you there'.
Character will keep you up when Capacity pull you up. Though this is the chief requirement for leadership, lack of character will pull you down. Note however that until you pass the character test, you cannot succeed as a leader. This test is not delivered in any university or professional body but your personal effort gives you this. Character is moulded by the word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The universities give you the basic requirement for pursuing your desires in your chosen field of study.
Character will keep you up when Capacity pull you up. Though this is the chief requirement for leadership, lack of character will pull you down. Note however that until you pass the character test, you cannot succeed as a leader. This test is not delivered in any university or professional body but your personal effort gives you this. Character is moulded by the word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The universities give you the basic requirement for pursuing your desires in your chosen field of study.
It is important that you realise however that it is not all about the level of the formal education that you have had so far. Notable international figures like Benjamin Franklin and Michael Faraday respectively barely had two years of education but transformed their generation by their commitment to capacity development.
All I am saying here is that:
- Schooling is periodic but
- Training should be a life style
This is because it takes a lot of training to be relevant in our world today (this is because our world today is very competitive). Where you are today is immaterial as long as you invest in knowledge and stay committed to developing capacity for where you are aspiring to be in tomorrow.
- Schooling is periodic but
- Training should be a life style
This is because it takes a lot of training to be relevant in our world today (this is because our world today is very competitive). Where you are today is immaterial as long as you invest in knowledge and stay committed to developing capacity for where you are aspiring to be in tomorrow.
You cannot take the lead if you have not read anything in
your field of endeavour or chosen profession. Never do anything on the basis of
common sense but seek wisdom. To achieve this, tell yourself the truth that time cannot be
created and make the most of it. Your value for knowledge determines the worth of your tomorrow.
Note: A combination of Godly character (a total commitment to godly character) and capacity development (a commitment to continuous capacity building) automatically makes you a leader that even the devil cannot stop. It takes character and capacity to maximize your potentials
as a leader. How much of this cup you are able to drink determines how far you will go
(where you will find yourself tomorrow is made today).
Conclusion: Observe that your choices are critical in all
these because they help to shape your tomorrow. Not only do they shape your
tomorrow, they also determine where you will be in life and how you will be
there.
Realize therefore as a Christian, that purposeful living is living implies you living your life the way the Bible describes that you should. This means that you must be guided by the precepts, intent and objectives of God in everything we do. God placed this demand on us because without purpose, life becomes a meaningless drift to nowhere.
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