Live Your Purpose in Christ
Once you’ve found your purpose in Christ, the next step is to live your purpose daily. While this step can be complicated by “shoulds” and “buts,” Christ calls us to put aside our shame and excuses in favor of grounding ourselves in God’s voice, listening to the needs of our communities, and responding from our security in Christ.
For inspiration, we looked a few weeks ago at stories from The Redeemed Man Podcast, particularly Ben Malcolmson’s reflection on how unshakeable identity means unchanging purpose and Lawrence Scott’s joy in helping others find their purpose.
Ground yourself in God’s Voice
Proverbs 13:20 tells us, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” If you ever catch yourself humming a song and realize it’s what’s been playing on the radio or in the office, you’ve experienced the truth of that proverb. We tend to imitate the habits and quirks of our environment. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that we ground ourselves in the priorities and character of God.
Stay in God’s Word
One way to ground ourselves in relationship with God is to spend time regularly in God’s Word. If you’re anything like myself, you might find it hard to have a long memory for God’s goodness amidst the compications of life. As we read the Bible, we can see God’s story (and humanity’s). We can track how God cares for His people through seasons of immense hardship and also incredible joy.
If you don’t already have a practice of devotions, it can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. One place to start is with a devotional that comes to your inbox each morning. The Redeemed has a few that even touch on what it means to live your purpose in Christ, like Lessons from A King, which David’s story or Colossians: New Kingdom, New King, and New Living, which examines how the Gospel empowers us to live a life aligned with Christ’s teachings.
Pray for discernment
Another way to keep our eyes on God’s purposes for us is to remain in prayer. Like any relationship, communication is key in our faith. When we share the things we care about with God, we declare that we trust Him.
Prayer doesn’t require giving an eloquent speech. Paul says in Romans that sometimes prayer can be “groans too deep for words” that the Holy Spirit pours out on our behalf (8:26). In prayer, the most important thing is to show up with your honest self. That can look like speaking as we would to a loved one, unfiltered. Or, you might try using another’s words: for instance, praying a Psalm or praying a scripted prayer like the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
A middle option would be loosely following a method like “PRAY,” which directs us to give praise, repent, ask for what we need, and finally, leave silence. This method includes an underrated part of prayer, listening. While it might feel silly at first, leaving silent space in prayer reminds us that prayer is a conversation.
Listen to your community
Align yourself with Jesus’ priorities
The next step to living our purpose in Christ is to share Christ’s priorities. For a clear picture of these, we can look to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.
The Bible Project has a helpful breakdown for us of Jesus’ message. While the entire video is worth watching, we’re going to focus on Matthew 6:19-7:12, the section The Bible Project defines as about Righteousness and Relationships. You may recognize some powerful verses here: including warnings against the love of money (19-24), anxiety about status that chokes out trust in God (25-34), and judging others without self-awareness and discernment (7:1-6). All this culminates in the golden rule in verse 12.
From this look at a section of Jesus’ sermon, we can see how much He cares about clearing away the obstacles we face to life-giving and trusting relationships with God and with other people. In particular, He delivers a warning against the lures of material comfort, social status, and religious arrogance.
If we take our cues from the opposite of these temptations, we find calls to remain people of our word (Matthew 5:37), love our enemies (5:43), and care for those in need while honoring their dignity (6:3). So, where do your giftings, abilities, and resources align with God’s priorities?
Learn to be a people person
To have the heart of God is to love people. As an introvert myself, I must clarify that loving people with the heart of God is not the same as becoming a Billy Graham-type public speaker. But as you start looking for ways to live your purpose in Christ, it’s important to keep the “why” in mind.
A lot of the things that make the world a better place are very ordinary. It’s taking time in your day to be present with the people you see every day, even when it might be more efficient to only give part of yourself. It’s shoveling a neighbor’s driveway or checking in with vulnerable members of your neighborhood during a heatwave. And sometimes, it’s filing out paperwork, buying extra snacks for your kid’s classroom, or apologizing and seeking reconciliation with humility.
Individually, these acts are the sweet spot of small and potentially annoying. Altogether, they’re a thousand moments of relief and evidences of God’s grace. And they all start with caring enough to make time for other people.
Pay attention
So, you’re ready to try to go an extra mile (or at least an extra hundred feet) when the moment presents itself. The next step, obvious as it may seem, is to pay attention. Here are a few questions to get you started:
- Where do you feel the Spirit’s call to make an adjustment in your lifestyle?
- What themes, verses, or questions keep coming up in your devotions?
- Who is standing just outside of the circle at your workplace, your church, your family reunions?
- Where do you have a little extra margin?
The overlap of these answers might give you a place to start. Remember, the goal here is not necessarily to find the singular thing you were meant to do forever but instead to find more and more of your decisions guided by and aligned with God’s nature.
Respond in trust
The final step here might be the toughest: respond in trust. There’s a reason trust can be so tricky. In psychology, the tendency to remember bad experiences over positive ones is called the “negativity bias.” Generally, this bias attempts to keep us safe, but to do this it plays on our anxieties.
Making changes to surrender our lives to God will likely come with a host of insecurities. Do I have to be the person to do this? What if I’m not qualified/smart/patient/etc. enough? What could I lose if I go through with this?
Relationship with God does not mean that these anxieties instantly disappear. Only, as we live our days with Christ and get to know God in His Word, we begin to stack up proof of His love and promises.
It’s easier to trust what we know, and the more we know God, the more we will come to see that we can trust Him. That means that we can trust God will be with us as we’re going back to school, making that donation, beginning a difficult conversation, or whatever other change we’re taking to walk in His footsteps.
Conclusion
One final encouragement: living our purpose in Christ is something we never do alone. Whether we’re tracing the steps of believers throughout history or across the world, joining a team of people working together, or simply holding tight to God and His promises, our success does not rest on our strength.
With his final words in Matthew, Jesus assures us, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Paul further reminds us when he declares, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” (Galatians 2:20).
To live your purpose in Christ is, in the end, a matter of allowing God’s grace to be worked out through you. This is a difficult, life-long work, but it is so exceptionally worth it.
Connect with The Redeemed Community
If you’re inspired to explore the transformative power of spiritual freedom and would like to journey alongside like-minded believers, consider joining one of The Redeemed’s small groups. Whether you prefer meeting in person or connecting online, our community is here to support and grow with you.
Join us and discover how surrendering together can lead us into greater freedom.
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