1. What is My Purpose in Life as a Christian?
How do I find God’s purpose for my life? Use these helpful questions to help discover your unique purpose, call, assignments, or next steps.
“For the Lord takes pleasure in His people” (Ps 149).
Years ago, when Bible scholars diligently searched the Scriptures to discover the main purpose of humanity, they summarized their findings in The Westminster Shorter Catechism.
The very first question asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer states, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. [1]
This is a good summary of various Scriptures, for the prophet Isaiah also writes that we were made by God’s love and for God’s glory (Isa 43:7).
Think about that for a moment.
God is God. He was not required to create you, but He chose to create you to enjoy friendship with you.
You are loved and valued. What He desires most is for you to choose to love Him.
Moses taught the Israelites, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut 6:5). In Matthew 22:37, Jesus calls this the greatest commandment of all.
Paul writes, “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:9 NIV).
If you wonder what your main purpose in life is—wonder no more. You are called to fellowship with our Truine God!
So, our primary purpose on earth is this special love relationship with Him as His child!
Our purpose is to love Him completely and enjoy His love.
For to love God is to enjoy Him because in His presence is fullness and joy.[2]
In His love we are healed of our deepest hurts and fears. In His love we experience the fullness of life we were intended to have in the Garden of Eden. In this love relationship of knowing God intimately and fully, all that we need for every issue in life is provided.
2. What is My Secondary Purpose in Life in God?
From this primary purpose—to love Him and enjoy His love—flows our secondary purpose, which is to function as a representative (ambassador) of God, and to love and serve other people by way of our jobs, callings, and assignments.
These two purposes often get mixed up and confused. We all want to understand how we fit in this world.
I have counseled folks who for some reason or another have had to step away from their calling, job, or assignment. When the job assignment was over, they were devastated because their identity was tightly bound to their job.
You may have various jobs and assignments in a lifetime. God will even change your assignment at times or add another call to your life.
Your occupational job does not define you.
Your identity is not first a teacher, minister, plumber, electrician, mechanic, government worker, doctor, corporate executive, cashier, flight attendant, janitor, or engineer, etc.
Whatever your job, assignment, or call may be, first you are a beloved child of God!
First, you are a beloved child of God created to love and enjoy Him! This is your true identity and purpose!
Then, secondly, you are an ambassador in whatever job, assignment, or other call you may receive!
As we grow in understanding our primary purpose as a beloved child of God and our secondary purpose as a representative, our lives transform.
We lose layers of insecurities and fears. Inner hurts and abandonment from the pervasive sin nature are healed. We begin to live in our divine role and manifest something of the image of Christ in the world.
When we live from the experience of our Creator Father’s intimate love and favor, other people take notice.
We reflect God’s love working in and through us which exhibits His magnificence, splendor, beauty, wonder, grandeur, brilliance, and love. In other words, we show forth His glory.
When we invite Him to work in us and through our lives, and He is glorified.
When people see these glorious attributes in the way we live and the things we do, God’s glory is manifested on earth.
In this way, people see the glorious love relationship between us and our Creator.
As believers, together we become the glorious light of the city set upon a hill that Jesus taught about. [3]
3. Discover Your Purpose For Life in God’s Love
However, in attempting to fulfill our main purpose in life—to love God and enjoy His love—an essential obstacle towers large: to enjoy God, we must know God.
None of us know Him nearly as well as we could know Him. Furthermore, many of us experience this inner longing that we cannot describe and can’t get away from. There is a hunger to know our Creator in the pure love relationship for which we were created.
Some people intellectually know things about God from the Bible, but many have not learned to experience His love.
Some folks can only feel God’s love through other people. Some may experience His presence sporadically in a time of worship or a serene moment in nature.
Many people have not learned to consistently experience His genuine loving presence often enough to say they enjoy Him.
Many believers are not close enough to hear or understand when He speaks.
The overarching purpose of this series is to help you discover the deeply intimate relationship with your Creator and learn how to grow up into all the treasures that spiritual maturity brings.
Ideas about your personal relationship and purpose in God will continue to grow, develop, and expand.
Even if you have been disappointed in your pursuit of God before, I challenge you to keep reading, ponder these ideas and experience the prayers with expectation and excitement to discover the kingdom of God’s astonishing treasures for your life and relationships.
For “He rewards those who diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6).
Reflect on Your Purpose in Life as a Child of God
- Have you ever considered your primary purpose in terms of enjoying God? Does this idea of God’s purpose resonate with you in some way?
- How does it feel when you drift from your primary purpose?
- In your life how do you live as an representative (ambassador) of God?
How to Find My Divine Purpose In Life
“You empower me for victory with your wrap-around presence. Your power within makes me strong to subdue, and by stooping down in gentleness you strengthened me and made me great!” (Ps 18:35 TPT).
You are uniquely you! God made you, and you are a masterpiece![4]
You are fulfilling your primary purpose in life by loving God and loving other people.
From this primary purpose will arise other assignments unique to your personality, the ways you think, and the things you love.
You are a royal priest unto God and are His child to rule in the sphere of the earth (the land) He has given you.
What this looks like in your life may change over time.
You will likely work at and accomplish many different assignments, but your core identity as a child of the King made in His image will never change.
Your primary purpose—to know and love God with all your heart, soul, and strength—will never change.
From this solid foundation, other secondary purposes, callings, and assignments will flow.
Specific assignments in the royal kingdom will come out of the specific gifts, talents, and passions God has given you.
If you are in the process of discovering or changing assignments this next exercise may be able to help.
Questions to Discover God’s Purpose For Your Life
Action Steps:
- Find Your Next Purposeful Assignment. To find your next specific assignment, ask Jesus to reveal His next assignment for you. Ask Him to lead and guide you in this quest. Sometimes He wants us to continue to be faithful in our current assignment until He opens the door for another. However, each person and situation is different. If you feel a stirring for change, stay in communication with God for next each step.
- Know Yourself. The Holy Spirit can help you answer the following questions that may give you more clarity. Take some dedicated time to go through this list. Take some notes. Jot down some thoughts in your notebook/journal. Ask God some questions.
- What kinds of things am I good at? Diagnostic tests can help here. It is helpful to understand our personal strengths, weaknesses, and internal rhythms.
- What do I love to do?
- What do I dream about doing if money were no object? It is important to dream. Dreams are part of the language of our heart that communicate our true inner selves. Your dreams may even change over time as you grow in different areas.
- What things, when I think of them, drain me of energy?
- What things, when I think of them, excite and energize me?
- What kinds of things make me upset or angry? The kinds of things that make you angry are a good indication of the things you are passionate about. You may need to begin to explore those things. You may need to look into areas around those things you are passionate about to discover your unique assignment and area of future rulership on earth.
- One way to narrow your interests to your most important passion is to fill in the blanks of this sentence: Every ____________ should ____________.
- What skills do you already have? This area does not just appear out of thin air, it is based in your unique personality and talents. Take a look at what skills you already have. The Lord said to Moses, “What is in your hand?” In other words, “I have given you what you need. You just need to figure out how to use it.”
from Return to Eden, Dr. Cynthia Johnson, Copyright 2024
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[1]Westminster Shorter Catechism, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous/westminster1.i.i.html (30 Jun 2021) Also, Isa 43:7; Ps 16:11; John 17:22, 24; Matt 5:16; Deut 6:5; Mat 22:37; 1 Pet 2:9.
[2]Ps 16:11.
[3]Matt 5:14.
[4] Ps 139:14; Eph 2:10.
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