There are so many things that we can busy ourselves with today, between work, family, ministry, hobbies, friends, projects, weight loss, school, memberships, business, even keeping up with the flowers on the porch. We do what we can to be comfortable and to be successful, to feel accomplished, and to feel that we have made something of ourselves; we want to feel needed and important.

In the Western culture, it is all about independence and making sure “I got mine” and self is taken care of. So we put every bit of effort as we can to make it from day to day, some more ambitiously as others, striving to meet the world’s expectation of worth. We get educated and chase money, pursue dreams or pursue that which we think will make us happy. With all this running around, it gets tiring and it is so easy to lose focus and sight of what is really important. Our priorities get messed up and we tend to leave others behind.

Our efforts are temporal at best, surface level satisfaction, and after a while it becomes mundane and we just go through the motions of life even though we aren’t truly living. When you look at it, it’s as if we operate and function as if there are mirrors everywhere we go, and at some point we look in one and see ourselves smiling; we are the center of our universe and frankly put, that’s vanity. This “all about me” society has crippled us, and at some point we have to ask, what I’m doing, will it last? Am I leaving the world in better condition than when I first arrived? What does it all count for?

Living a life of purpose means that you understand first and foremost, that it is not about you. Your being is not for the purpose of making yourself happy, but pouring out and impacting others lives. Those are the things we take with us when we cross over. Furthermore, we can get so caught up and wonder why we are tired and all but satisfied, because we fail to confer with the Author of our life. Though there are many things that are good, not everything will push towards the specific destiny that God has for each of His children.

When we work in our human effort and move without the hand of the living and active God, it is all worthless and means nothing. He is the only one that gives us value, not money, possessions, accomplishments, degrees, good deeds, etc. It’s only the work for Him that will last. We can try all we want, but apart from Christ, it all means nothing, no matter how “noble” or “positive” or “good” what we do is. Just because it’s not bad, doesn’t mean it’s what God has for you to do. As I have read before, we tend to be unsatisfied and tired most when we do what the Lord is not telling us to do, not necessarily living a sinful life, but simply not walking in His will.

Being you for a purpose means that you understand that if God is not behind you, there is no point in going forward in a direction, which may also mean cutting things and people off, good or bad, that are hindering Him doing what He has purposed to do in, by, through and for you. It means acknowledging that God is the One that gives life and meaning to everything. It means recognizing that time is too precious to waste on things that have no eternal significance. Know that in God alone will you find true and everlasting satisfaction because He created you; He is the only one that can lead you and make you into all you were destined to become. It’s easy to be busy, but the goal is to make it count, and without Christ, that is impossible to do.

Be you for a purpose, not living or being otiose.

Psalm 127: 1-2