God creates us, and redeems us, to live for His purpose—2 Cor 5:14-15 (NIV):
¹⁴ “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

And He is constantly at work in us to align our will and our actions with His purpose— Phil 2:12-13 (NIV): ¹²“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

What is God’s purpose for our life? God has two main purposes for each of us:

(1)  A general purpose—to produce a common (same) outcome in the life of every believer…that we grow to spiritual maturity, for example, Gal 4:19 (NIV): “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”.

(2)  A specific purpose—to produce a personalised (personally designed) outcome in the life of each believer…as we recognise, and outwork, a specific ministry He has appointed for us, for example, 1 Cor 12:18 (NKJ): “…God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

When Saul (also known as Paul) was intercepted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, he asked Jesus two of the most important questions of life (Acts 22:6-10 – NIV):

(1) “Who are you, Lord?”—That opened the door for him to connect with God’s general purpose by becoming a disciple of Jesus through that encounter.

(2) “What shall I do, Lord?”—Jesus’ answer was: “go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” That began to connect Paul with the specific purpose that God had planned for his life.

I believe that God has assignments planned for every believer…not just for Paul and other people featured in the Bible. The Bible presents principles of truth that are relevant for each of us, for example: Rom 15:4 (NIV): “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

When God creates something, He designs it in an optimum way to fulfil its purpose. And He does the same with people—He designs our spiritual being in an optimum way to fulfil His purpose for our life. This includes embedding in our spirit some key motivations, natural talents, and other capacities, that will be needed by us to outwork His specific purpose for our life.

Then He looks down the timeline of human history and introduces each of us into human existence at the right time, in the right place, and in the right circumstances, to fulfil His purpose for our life.

Hebrews 12:1 exhorts us to “…run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (NIV). God has “marked out” a “race” for each of us to run.

Do you know what “race” God has marked out for you to run? And do you know how to run that “race”, “with perseverance”, so that, at the end of time—like Paul, in 2 Tim 4:7 (NIV)—you might be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”?

Ray Graetz
May 31, 2024