Sometimes things just don’t seem to work out. When that happens I tend to go through a mental checklist. I play Linda Ronstadt’s Poor Poor Pitiful Me a few times in my head. I repeat a few more times, “It’s not me. I’ve done everything I am supposed to.” Then I start having a nagging feeling that maybe I haven’t. My last stand tends to be “surely God would have wanted this to work out.”
It’s at this point I begin to consider that what didn’t work out might not have been “according to His purpose.” “His purpose” isn’t always clear to me. In fact, it’s often only after things don’t work out that I recognize my lack of acting “according to His purpose.”
How can I know and act in “His Purpose” in advance?
1. Read His Word
To know His purpose we have to read his Word. Notice I didn’t say read about His word or listen to sermons or read blogs. Read His word for yourself. This blog should also always be read. 😳
2. Live for others
If we begin every day asking what we can do for someone else, we will be miles closer to His purpose.
3. Cultivate awe in His World
His creation is awesome. Check it out at least a little every day. It’s there to encourage and to mirror His glory. Through it we can learn more of His purpose.
4. Listen other people.
We sing Poor Poor PItiful me because we believe that bad things just happen to us, that our struggles are unique. When we shut up and listen we learn otherwise. We build solid non-selfish relationships.
5. Find and build community
From our reading of His Word, we will learn how much focus God places on mission in community. From living for others and listening to others, we will appreciate what others have to offer and how they can complete us. From this community, and its power to be agents of change, will emerge.
6. Tell Your Story
If we do 1 through 5, others will see our story and may even want us to elaborate on it, to verbalize it. That, after all, is His Purpose: for us to tell what He has done and, if necessary, use words.
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