How Your Purpose is a Part of You and Put There By God

The following is adapted from Launch with God.

David is one of the most compelling people in the Bible — and for obvious reasons. There’s the battle against Goliath and the journey to becoming king, the ups and downs of his fortune, and the scandals. It makes for great reading.

What makes David so compelling thousands of years later is his origin. He was a nobody with no clear outward signs of greatness. He wasn’t the son of a king or a great general or even a successful musician. He was simply the youngest son in his family tasked with the uninspiring work of watching the sheep.

All that came afterward occurred because he felt this intense purpose, a burning need to play his harp.

You can imagine him sitting up in the hills of Bethlehem strumming away day and night. There was no one to entertain. He couldn’t make a single dollar off of his talent. But something compelled him to keep playing all the same. Something was driving him to play — something divine.

If David hadn’t practiced his harp every day, he never could have become the boy with such amazing musical skill he used to ease the troubled mind of Saul.

We Are Designed to Seek Meaning

When I was younger, I was very interested in hearing the wisdom of older, successful people. While I was saving up and scheming for a Big Idea that would allow me to become an entrepreneur, I took advantage of my circumstances to learn all I could from the people I met. I figured I could mimic their best habits to achieve a similar kind of success.

So any time I encountered an older, wealthy individual, I would ask the same question: “If you were twenty-two all over again, what would you do differently?”

The answers were always interesting, partly because they were always similar. No one said they wished they’d worked longer hours or invested more in stocks. The answers were always deeper than that.

I wish I’d spent more time with my kids.

I wish I’d been there for my family and friends more often.

I wish I’d left the desk job and pursued my dreams sooner.

I wish I’d gone into business on my own instead of climbing the corporate ladder.

In other words, what they all wished they’d done sooner, faster, and more often was focus on their purpose.

Whether that purpose was in their role as a parent, a spouse, a friend, or an entrepreneur, if they could roll back the clock, they would have put more of their hours into what gave their life meaning.

According to Victor Frankl, we are all born to pursue meaning and purpose in life. Frankl developed a theory called logotherapy during his time in the Nazi concentration camps. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and what he noticed when observing his fellow survivors was that it was their purpose that kept them alive.

Those who felt some positive sense of purpose were more likely to make it through even the most horrific circumstances. Purpose — often creative purpose — unlocked something within them. It gave them life, even when others were trying to take it away.

Divine Purpose

We thrive through purpose because we were created with purpose. God did not make us haphazardly. According to Psalm 139, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

You know this already. It’s why you’re here. You have some nagging sense that you were made to be an entrepreneur. It draws your interest.

You feel passion for it.

You didn’t choose this purpose. It’s just something in you.

And you feel more like yourself any time you connect with it.

I’m the same way. I was designed to be an entrepreneur. I was born into a family that merged creativity and business. I took those influences and started my first business when I was nine years old. During an annual visit to Naples, Florida, I made necklaces out of shells and shark teeth. I walked up and down the beach, selling them for ten dollars a pop.

Before I graduated college, I’d written two books, owned a music booking agency, developed a clothing line, founded a social movement inspiring people to smile more, and recorded a lot of music. After graduation, I co-founded a recording studio, opened another clothing company, and crafted a pilot episode for a TV show concept.

There’s no way to look at my life and see anything other than one purpose: entrepreneurship.

I’m sure you’re the same way. Maybe you haven’t actually founded a business yet — or maybe you’ve founded a dozen. Either way, that burning need to follow that path is in you.

And that need comes directly from God.

For more advice on finding your purpose, you can find Launch with God on Amazon.

Author and entrepreneur Zach Windahl has helped thousands of people better understand the Bible and grow closer to God through his company, The Brand Sunday. He’s the author of several books, including The Bible Study, The Bible Study: Youth Edition, and The Best Season Planner. Zach lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Gisela, and their dog, Nyla.