What is purpose? What is living purposefully? The word purpose is thrown around a TON. It has different meanings and implications to different people and groups.

Since purpose is the main topic here at She Lives Purposefully – I wanted to break down what I believe purpose is Biblically, or in other words exactly what we believe God says about purpose. Is purpose about what we become? What we accomplish? The impact we make? Is it focused on how hard we work? On what we do? On who we please? Do we each have a purpose? Are our purposes different? We’re gonna talk allll about the must-know about purpose on today’s episode. 

Here are 7 must know truths about God’s purpose for you. 

• You have a purpose. You have a God-given purpose. God has plans for your life. You are on this planet for a reason, for such a time as this. You are not an accident. God loves you. Your actions don’t qualify or disqualify you from that purpose. God having a purpose for you to walk into is a gift but it is one that He has given! You have a purpose. In fact, every day has a purpose. And every situation God can bring purpose out of. That, for me, is what really started my thoughts about purpose was actually realizing that God can bring purpose even out of pain. He showed me that in my own life through a family tragedy. And if He can do that, then He must have purpose for everything – for every situation He can bring good out of it and have purpose in it, for every day, for every person. 
• Our purpose revolves around God not us. Colossians 1:16 says that all things were created by Him and for Him. We see in John 15 that He calls us friends. We were created for Him, to have a relationship with Him.

To dive more into purpose let’s look at Ephesians 2:10. This is the verse on our crewnecks in the shop. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

• We are His workmanship – God created us. That means He created us like a carpenter makes one of his creations: hard work, care, detail, etc. We’re not number one of countless billions of the same person, without differentiation or made without care. He created me and you, SPECIFICALLY. 
• We were created in Christ Jesus for good works – We were created FOR SOMETHING. This is a purpose. We were created for good works. Not for our own pleasures, not for success, not for recognition, not for wealth, not for influence, not for leisure. Often in the Christian social media world,  I see a lot of talk of how Christian purpose has become so much about what God wants for US, on what WE can do, on who WE are, on what WE can accomplish, on the great things God calls US to. And before I continue, I believe God does call us and have a purpose for us but just with a different – majorly important – emphasis. I believe GOD WANTS things for us, I believe HE CALLS us to do good things FOR HIM. I believe HE DEFINES who we are. I believe HE CALLS us to not waste what HE CALLS us to do FOR HIM. But as I’ve surfed the Christian Insta-world, I’ve noticed and been confused by the very me-centered Christian culture that speaks to purpose. PURPOSE, my purpose, is not about me at all. It involves me, ABSOLUTELY. God cares about me, wants good for me and has plans for me. But purpose – the general and specific purposes particular to me are ALL REVOLVED around God. God has a purpose – He involves us in it. Therefore, we have purpose.  
• A huge part of what God has for us is good works to step into.  Stepping into those good works – the specific ones God has prepared for us to take – will take us to the people we’re supposed to connect with, opportunities, jobs, or whatever else God has for us – or doesn’t have for us. But it’s important to make the distinction between acting upon our purpose – good works GOD HAS FOR US – and what our purpose leads us to. For example, owning a successful business is not someone’s purpose, BUT the good works they stepped into and the way they glorify the Lord that got them there AND the good works and glorification of the Lord they do with that business are. This means that YES, their successful business may be something the Lord has planned for their life – but their life purpose is not about them having this business – it is about them glorifying the Lord in that specific way He has called them. Okay, so then what are those good works? One way is to know that God called us to be obedient –He has specific things He calls us to be obedient to in in the Bible. In Ephesians 4 & 5, there are multiple examples of ways we can be obedient to God: https://www.shelivespurposefully.com/2020/02/20/what-is-purpose-part-3/. And what is the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God. and the second? Love your neighbor as yourself. And friend, God prepared beforehand the good works, that we should walk in them – God prepared our purpose, the good works, before they came for us to act upon. He PREPARED those good works specifically for us to walk in, to step into, to act upon. What God has for us is pre-laid out. How cool is that? There are good works that God has prepared for us to do in this life. The question is will we do them? Will we step into those good works? 
• The Lord has good works for us to step into in our day to day. This is why purpose leads us to a bigger concept of our life calling and plan, but also applies directly to what we do, say and act and step into every single day. It applies to those little details. There is purpose in TODAY. You have things you’re called to TODAY. What a HIGH calling and way to live life!
• Your purpose isn’t about all you can accomplish. God wants a relationship with us. Often I can confuse what I can DO and associate it with my purpose. My purpose is not based in what I can do or accomplish. I’m called to glorify God, know God, love God and love others. I’m also called to obey Him YES but in what He’s called me to. That means that I don’t have to do ALL the things. THAT’S not my purpose. But we can trick ourselves into thinking that our purpose is maybe eveb what people see or how great God makes us. And then if I fail to be the best or do all the things I feel like I’m falling behind in my purpose or not living it out but that’s NOT my purpose. Paul in prison could have felt like he was not doing all the things, Joseph in prison, David with his sheep, Jesus working as a carpenter before ministry. But they weren’t called to do all the things. They were called to love God and step into good works – however God led them to do that.