Discover Life Purpose & Life Balance
My first job in high tech was in the Research & Development (R&D) group. It was around the time when the computer was main stream but new peripherals were being invented and improved upon. I was not a “computer guy” since I was in the Finance group, but I enjoyed going into the R&D lab. I’d look at a small device and wouldn’t have a clue what it was, so being curious I’d ask an engineer, one of the device’s creators, to explain it to me. In the same way with life’s biggest questions, we need to ask our Creator, to get the answers.
Craig Foster PurposeWorks Executive Director
Some of life's biggest questions...
- Why do I exist?
- What is my mission in life?
- How do I discover my calling?
- Can I live out my calling while working a regular job?
- Do I need to work for a church or nonprofit to live out a “higher calling”?
The answer to these questions and more are found in a relationship with our Creator, God, and in His guidebook, the Bible. They are not found in the latest self-help book or trendy magazine. If you don’t have a relationship with God, you can explore that here.
You are a masterpiece created by God and He has laid out a plan for your life - including loving Him and loving others and has provided many examples of what that looks like. (Eph 2:10, Great Commandment)
PurposeWorks, through our Living the Called Life workshop, can help you identify your life purpose and mission statement, understand how your gifting, heart, abilities, personality and experiences inform your purpose and develop a Life Calling Plan that includes work-life balance.
Learn more about our Living the Called Life workshop.
A good place to start as you’re seeking to find more purpose in your life is to assess your God-given passions, gifting and values. We all have those things or causes that seem to stir something deep inside our heart that we care a lot about (this might identify the cause). We are also all naturally gifted in some ways that God might want to use (this might identify how we help a cause). In addition, we have values, those things that motivate us towards action (this might identify the why it’s important to us). Living the Called Life uses assessments and activities to help you identify those.
Another step would be to consider past hurts that you have experienced. Whether that’s something that happened in your childhood or a divorce or a different difficult relationship or work experience. God may want you to help others who are experiencing a similar pain in the same way God led you through it.
As we said at the beginning, we need to explore these things in the context of a relationship with God and his Word. What better place to start than what Jesus said when asked, what is the greatest commandment:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40
In essence we should love God and love others! The Bible and God also tells us reach and teach others in the Great Commission and value justice, righteousness, humility, obedience, service to others, forgiveness, reconciliation, grace and faith. Any mission we embark on will have elements of some or most of those.
God does not want us to be alone in this journey towards purpose. He wants us to connect with others to explore this, and to put our purpose in action by volunteering in some way. Sometimes it takes the act of volunteering to find passion or purpose. You can confirm a calling when you help someone do a budget for the first time, feed a family in need, mentor on parenting or marriage, or any of a number of ways where you are helping someone physically or emotionally but most importantly spiritually. God puts people in our path every day we can help in small ways and big ways.
Finding purpose typically doesn’t just happen naturally or spontaneously. One of the benefits of Living the Called Life is it gives you some structure and a plan to discern your calling. Frequently, it’s helpful to write out your thoughts on how the Holy Spirit is leading you to impact people. It’s also good to research how others are helping people in a similar way and join them.
Sometimes a cause goes “viral” and goes way beyond our human ability because God shows up in a transcendent way. There are many stories of people, resources, circumstances and results coming together in a remarkable way. PurposeWorks came together in a transcendent way because things came together in a way that was not planned or expected. Experts in their field volunteered to help and developed or deliver training, a lot of people came seeking help and many wanting to help others and the impact was astounding.
During the work week, the typical person spends half their waking hours at work so it’s important to God and to us that we find purpose there. Understanding God’s view of work, knowing that we should work heartily for the Lord and not for man (Colossians 3:23-24), and viewing our work as worship to God are all ways we can find purpose in work. We can honor God by doing excellent and ethical work, engaging with others and encouraging them spiritually.
- Learn more about our self-study Work as Worship
- Learn more about finding a job or career in alignment with you God-given wiring so you can find more fulfillment in your work through our Design & Focus workshop.
Obviously, work is not the only place to find purpose. God also has a call on our life in the areas of family, friends, faith, finances, fitness, fun, work, community and personal growth. Living the Called Life includes an assessment and activity to develop a Stop, Start, Continue list and prioritize the top two things to do to bring your work-life harmony back.
Learn more about our Living the Called Life workshop.