Understanding Your PurposeShembull

I love journaling. It’s a time for me to sit and pour out my heart before the Lord. Yet sometimes, it turns into a list of things I want to do, and into worries about not getting enough done. Even though the Lord cares about all there is to do, sitting with Him is more important than anything else.

This might sound too easy, even irresponsible, because faith without works is dead, right? Well, when Jesus visited the home of his friends, Mary, and Martha, he addressed this very thing. Martha was in the kitchen doing all the work so Jesus and the other guests could eat, while her sister was sitting, resting at Jesus’ feet, soaking up His every word. Did Jesus tell Mary to go and help Martha? No. Instead, Jesus celebrated Mary’s choice to sit in His presence, relishing every word. “One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 MSG)

In our search for purpose, we may approach God and race through our time with Him trying to figure out what to do, as if this will give our lives meaning and purpose. This pursuit misses the very reason He created us.

God didn’t create us because He had to. He created us because He wanted to. To love us and shower us with His blessings. And the greatest blessing of all is being in communion with Him. Loving God is more about being with him than it is about doing things for Him and Jesus’ life made this point clear. He prioritized intimacy with God, then served others. Jesus could have done many “good things”, but he was only interested in doing what he saw His Father doing (John 5:19). In order to “do”, he first needed to see, which meant he needed to be with his Father.

When we seek purpose in doing, we can become obsessed with how well we keep his commandments, and like Martha, we can overlook the most important part.

If you are searching for your purpose by finding and doing the right things, I encourage you to lay aside the emphasis on “doing” today and focus on simply “being” in awe of our great and loving God. Take a moment to list some of the good things he has blessed you with.