Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Shifting From Purpose Driven to Purpose Living

 

Sometimes I forget my purpose and am tied up in knots to rediscover it. Those are times I get sidetracked by a search for significance. My purpose isn’t that complicated to find. And my significance comes completely from the One to whom I belong. My significance comes from being in relationship with Jesus – spending time with Him. When I return to this one important, rock solid truth, the passion He placed within comes to the surface. This passion drives my purpose. I am passionate to help others fall in love with Jesus, to know Him more fully and learn what it means to walk with Him. I don’t have this perfectly figured out but as I follow Christ, I want to bring others along.


It makes me think of the phrase said by Erin Napier at the opening of the show Home Town, “You don’t have to be an expert to save your town, you’ve just got to care enough to get up and do it.” My purpose as a follower of Christ is to care enough to get up and follow where He leads – to do the things He puts in front of me. I have to care enough to get up and do the work of His kingdom so others may know Him. And it really looks quite ordinary much of the time.


But there are days when I might not look like I care enough to get up and serve however and wherever He invites me to serve. And if I am honest with myself, I sometimes don’t care or I would be living in love toward Jesus and others and not fixated on myself. Sometimes I am afraid to move forward for fear that no one would respond. Here again, I have returned to a place of self-importance and a need for validation, not service.


I am being vulnerable. Are any of you with me? Do you ever find yourself looking for a position of importance or the having the illusion of being valuable because of your busyness? I am learning to do what I can where I am at the moment with what has been given me. I do look for ways to use the gifts He has given but I must seek the Savior first and follow His leading, surrendering the temptation to live in self-importance and learning to be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (Philippians 2 NIV). I am to have the same attitude as Christ – not grasping for position but becoming a servant. I am not always comfortable with this. You?


Emily P. Freeman spoke with Christian comedian Michael Jr on the The Next Right Thing Podcast. I highly recommend listening to it.

 https://emilypfreeman.com/podcast/the-next-right-thing/164/

Emily and Michael Jr talked about how complicated we make finding our purpose. Michael Jr says it well using the language of his occupation: we have a set up – our story, our training, our living situation, our relationships, our woundedness, it’s all fodder for the punchline – the act of service – what we can deliver. In Michael Jr’s words, “But people don’t always understand what their line is and they’ll feel there is a void. Like there is something missing. And what people do more times than not to fill that void, they think that what they need is more set up. (ex. Better training, a new car, cool clothes, etc.) . . . What you really need to know is what is truly your punchline . . . even your setbacks in life are part of your set up so you can deliver the punchline you are called to deliver.”


Dallas Willard writes in The Divine Conspiracy quite succinctly, “The kingdom disciple teaches from his or her storehouse of personal experiences of God’s rule in the commonplace events of real life.”


This brings to mind the words of poet Enuma Okoro (Passing Ordinary Time):


“This ordinary time is

gifted in its quiet, marked passing

Christ slips about

calling and baptizing,

sending and affirming,

pouring his Spirit like water

into broken cisterns,

sealing cracks and filtering our senses,

that we may savor the foolish

simplicity of his grace.”


He goes about doing kingdom work in quiet, uncomplicated ways. I long to follow in His footsteps. So much of kingdom work is a response to what we see, to what is pressed upon our hearts. How can I move about in this rhythm of purpose without making it such a big deal? It requires abiding in His presence, being sifted by the Spirit, confession, humility, and doing life in relationship to Jesus. This is a relationship and all my doing is better when motivated by walking with Him day in and day out. Abiding in His presence and listening helps me grow in awareness to His Spirit’s leading throughout my day.


Christianity and being a disciple of Christ isn’t designed for my significance, that thing I look for when I am fixated on my purpose. This is a life of sensitivity to what the Spirit places before me. And sometimes that might mean serving my husband while he carries a heavy burden in the midst of side effects as a result of cancer treatments. It might be a meal for someone, letting someone go ahead in a line, or posting a blog no matter how many people read or don’t read it. My purpose is to glorify God in whatever I set my hands to this day and that means my eyes must be fixed on Him. The following interview on Fully Expressed by John Dembeck of my husband, Jim Joiner, challenged me anew to live a life of faithfulness to God in the present moment. I hope you will take time to listen to it.

 Fully Expressed episode 23


Erin Napier is passionate about saving her town by restoring neglected houses and giving others a welcoming home. What is my passion? How has it fueled my living the life of a disciple in the kingdom of God? Am I motivated to get up and do, in love, whatever brings others to the kingdom of God, to shine the light in my community? I desire to shift from searching for a purpose to living purposely.


None of us does this life of purpose alone. We have Jesus and we have each other. Where are you today on your journey of living purposefully?