The Purpose of Purpose

Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything… there is a purpose…

Our existence have a purpose.

The two greatest days in one’s life is the day when one is born and the second is when one finds out why he was born.

Everything in this world has a purpose — from the chair we sit on to the air that we breathe. If non-living objects have their purposes, what more about us being alive?

There’s a specific calling bestowed to each of us. We are placed in a particular place in a particular time for a particular reason.

Instead of living in the mundane and counting each day as it wastefully passes, we need to make each and every day the best that it can be and more importantly, a step closer to our destiny.

In life, we live to regret the things we don’t do, not the things we do. Majority of these regrets will be about failures to act, not actions that failed.

To live without regrets, we need to make our days count and not just count our days. How we spend our days determines how we spend our lives. How we spend our lives determines how we spend our eternity.

Therefore, if each day is so critically important, then we need to make sure we seize each day — Carpe Diem — and to make the right decisions.

Do we wake up in the morning knowing that each day holds opportunities to make a difference? Do we go to bed at night knowing that we have made a difference?

At the end of the day, or rather at the end of our lives, we can look back and ask ourselves: did we lived our lives by design or by default? Did we live our lives by choice or by chance?

Our sufferings have a purpose.

The truth is that life is not a bed of roses and all of us have experienced being dealt a crushing blow or worse, walking through the deepest and darkest valleys of life without seeing the end in sight.

Experience is a good teacher. Good or bad experiences. If we go through bad experiences, it is not the end but something which we can build upon.

Scars that save.
Hurts that help.
Pains that provide.
Sufferings that support.
Tragedies that teach.
Adversities that aid.
Crises that comfort.

Nothing is ever wasted with God, especially our sufferings. It is through our sufferings that we are refined to be stronger and more resilient.

Our blessings have a purpose.

Sometimes, we focus too much on the negative things and are oblivious to the positive things. This is human tendency at its best.

We see our lives as a room which is pitch black and dark, and the only source of light is a small candle lit with a warm and tiny flame. Sometimes, there is no candle or light at all.

We are quick to label the bad experiences but we are slow to notice that there are so many good experiences.

There are so many things to be thankful and grateful for. In fact, acknowledging blessings can be a blessing in and of itself.

When we count our blessings, we realised that there are many things which worked in favour for us — our families and friends, our home, our work, our church, our community. Simply being able to breathe and live each day is a blessing on its own.

Having thankfulness and gratitude allows us to gain perspective into our lives and into the lives of others.

When we known that we are blessed with much, it enables us to see beyond our own lack and our needs into that of others.

Truly, we are blessed to be a blessing.

Our contributions have a purpose.

There are times when we underestimate what we do and what we give.

We think that because of efforts are unseen and our givings are small, they are insignificant.

That is the furthest thing from the truth. In fact, it is the small things that make the biggest difference.

The boy with the five loaves and 2 fish is the classic biblical example. Never forget that God can take your little and make it much.

If you are willing to open your hands, let go and let God, He will multiply your giving and use it to bless others.

Our purpose has a purpose.

There is a purpose to finding out the purpose and the meaning of our lives.

Proverbs 29:18
Without vision, the people perished.
Without vision, the people cast off restraints.

If we do not have a greater purpose in life, our lives shatter when we hit a tough spot as we have nothing to hang onto.

If our sole purpose is to hold a job and earn income to support, what will happen when we lose our job or we become incapable of working?

If our sole purpose is to gain wealth, become rich and successful, what will happen when we have earned all the money that we can earn or on the flip side, we lose everything we have earned through our blood, sweat and tears?

Therefore, we need to actively and diligently seek for a greater purpose than living for ourselves.

God, I pray that we will be captivated by your vision of eternity so that we will not be mesmerised by the details of today.

Once we have found that purpose or vision, we must carry and guard it in our hearts and minds. It will not be long before we realise that the very purpose which we hold on so dearly will in turn carry us forward when we lose the ability and strength to do so.

In the movie Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss muttered this to himself on the treacherous battlefield:

“Help me get one more… Help me get one more…”

Because one man stood by his beliefs and held on to his purpose on the battlefield, even though he was beaten and worn down, he still found the strength to continue saving lives.

He fought for this purpose, and his purpose fought for him.

Find out more about the amazing church I call home: Heart of God Church.