Understanding Your PurposeSample

As my children grow, so do the number of crafts and pieces of art left all around the house. When I try to get rid of some, I am met with heart-rending cries, “Don’t throw it away Daddy, please!!!”. I think to myself, “There is no good reason to keep all of this stuff”, but to them, each item recalls a priceless moment and has great purpose. The word purpose defines the reason for something’s existence as well as its value and worth!

When we seek to discover our purpose, we are also attempting to define our value and worth. Our purpose and our value are based on His love, alone. If we allow experiencing God’s love to be our primary purpose, we’ll have an unmovable foundation for our value and self-worth. If our worth is not based entirely on God’s love for us, it will be defined by our efforts or “works”. Many people have based their worthiness on their effectiveness in particular roles. When works define our worth, even though our actions are dedicated to Him, when we fall (which we most certainly will) then our value plummets too.

Finding our purpose and value in what we do leaves us striving for perfection to be good enough. Success-based self-worth increases on good performance days and decreases on bad ones, leaving us feeling insecure in our relationship with God. Instead of living in fear of losing His love because of wrongs we’ve done, rest assured, nothing can separate us from His love.

The Father has always seen value in us. So much value that despite our sin, He sent His son to die for us. When we are secure in His love for us, we won’t try to prove our worth by pleasing others. Nor, will we seek to earn our worth by over-working, pursuing unhealthy relationships or careers that sap us of the joy and peace that come from being who He has created us to be.

Doing things for Him in response to His loving call is good, but what we do for Him is not as important as who we are to Him. Today, I invite you to be still and know that you are loved by God, that nothing can separate you from His love, and nothing can deprive you of your purpose and worth because of His perfect love.