EVERYTHING Begins With PurposeSample

Day 1: Before there was a “you,” there was a reason for you.

In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul tells his readers then and now that God saves us by His grace, through faith from something (sin) and for something (good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do).

There is no mystery to what God has saved us from. Sin, simply put, is missing the bullseye of our purpose. Because of what Jesus did for us through His life, death, and resurrection, we are no longer the worst things we have ever done. We are now the best thing God has ever done for us!

That’s what God saved us from.

That is our history.

Now the question is, what has God saved us for?

That is our destiny!

Paul calls us God’s “handiwork.” The word here in the original language is “poiema,” from which we get our English word “poem.” In other words, you are the rhyming, rhythmic, beautiful, powerful, well-cadenced, perfectly placed expression of God to your generation. You carry His answers to the world’s questions. You contain His solutions for the world’s problems. You were created like a word in a poem at just the right time, in just the right way.

Mark Twain famously said, “There are two great days in a person’s life. The day they are born, and the day they discover why.”

Of course, there will be a process that prepares you to be you, and at times, that process can be difficult and more than a little confusing. Like a connect-the-dots puzzle, the picture appears over time. But once you connect the dots, a clear picture forms from the things that once appeared disconnected. Remember, God uses “all things” (Romans 8:28) for our “good,” not just pleasant things, to form the needed character and trust.

Here is a quick story to help you understand what God is doing through the good things and the bad to reveal your purpose:

Once, a young man walked into a community celebration for a day of fun and food when he heard a sound that didn’t seem to fit his surroundings. Curious, he ventured toward the sound, and to his surprise, he found a man carving on a large piece of wood with a chisel and hammer. The wood was flying as the man moved and slashed in what appeared to be random ways. Sometimes, large chunks fell to the ground. At other times, the chisel took smaller portions out of the pine. Soon, the young man lost interest and went about his day of entertainment. Hours later, as he went to leave, he walked past where the man had been carving. To his amazement, he saw something that was very different from what he had seen just a few hours earlier. The artist had created something easily recognizable: a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The hat, the smile, the beard, and even the eyes were unmistakable. A little embarrassed, the young man approached the artist and asked him a simple question. “Is this the log that you were carving on just a few hours ago?” When the artist noticed the look on the young man’s face, he delighted in his wonder and answered that, in fact, it was. For several minutes, the young man circled the masterpiece with awe and finally asked the question the artist had heard many times. “How did you turn a big piece of wood into something that looks just like Abraham Lincoln?” The artist’s answer was short and simple but profound. He said, “It was actually quite easy. I just cut away everything that didn’t look like Abraham Lincoln and found he was in there the whole time.”

The “you” God made you to be is in there! We just need to trust the hands of the Artist to show us who we really are. Your purpose is central to the life God has prepared for you in advance. Your life won’t make sense until you find who is “in there,” remove the parts that aren’t “you,” and live the life for which you were created.

So now what? For the next four days, we will explore three questions I’ve asked to more than 100,000 people face to face over the past 30 years that reveal three circles that overlap to create a clear course to the life you were created to live. In the meantime, why don’t you read Ephesians 2:8-10 slowly until it really starts to sink in, and when you’re done, think of a few other people you know who might join you on this journey and invite them along.