1 Peter 2:21
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…” The concept of discipleship has been popping up here and there and everywhere in my life. It was the theme behind our pastor’s Sunday sermon a few weeks back and it got me thinking about this thing we Christians call discipleship; where we find our purpose in life and pursue it passionately for the greater good of God and humanity. And in my contemplation about this phenomenon I have observed that very few people, very, very few people actually live life according to the instructions of our faith to continue the work of Christ in our lifetimes; to become true disciples and carry on the work of Jesus. That involves finding our passions, our great and useful skills and talents and using them to better our world as he asked us to do. But most of us simply don't get around to it. I find that sad. Sad that our earth does not receive the great rewards that would come of the majority of people on earth pursuing their call to discipleship; and, I find it also sad that so few of us even seek out our passions in life for our own personal growth and benefit. In fact most people travel through their lives like sheep, paying the bills, doing what it takes to raise a family and end up pensioned off some day till the knock of eternity comes to the door. Some would say that is a noble life’s pursuit; but I see it as a life partially wasted because life can be so much more positive if life is lived from the heart, from the soul. For instance, if only a very few people reach out and grab onto their passion in life the majority of the world obviously does not and there are negative consequences to a planet full of unfulfilled, less contented, unhappy people. Flip that scenario around and have the majority of people on earth enjoying a life of satisfaction and fulfillment and passion in their daily lives using gifts and talents, impacting the world positively as the decades pass behind them, well, this earth would be a different place indeed and so would each and every person live a completely different experience. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Pablo Picasso This spiritual investigation of finding our passions, our gifts, is a responsibility of Christians. Finding our gifts and living a life of giving them away, in the Christian faith, is called discipleship and it is the Christian call of duty. We are all commanded by Christ to follow his path of charity and helping society and doing so by using our own unique talents and abilities to accomplish that task. While doing so we bring meaning not just to our lives but to all life and we honor our commitment to our creator. No One Said It Would Be Easy A life of meaning, a purpose driven existence, sharing one’s gifts - who has time to soul search for that mystic guru stuff when the costs of living keeps rising but wages are not? Who has time to contemplate about discipleship in a dog eat dog world when the kids need braces on their teeth, when the car needs repair, when a parent breaks a hip? The sad thing is that there is illimitable joy to be had when a person does that soul search and discovers what rings their spiritual bell and then hunts down a way to harness their gifts and live that passion in their daily lives. Very few will ever know the power of purpose, of discipleship, of fulfilling the edict of following in Christ’s footsteps. In a selfish way, this lifestyle is by far the most rewarding at a personal level. Granted, it isn’t an easy thing to do. It takes devotion, examining every aspect of your life, facing hard truths. But the prize at the end of the winding road that leads to the discovery of your genetic passions is, well, that is utterly life changing. Easily, the happiest people I have come to know are the ones who have discovered their gifts, purpose, meaning and passion in life. Some devote their entire lives to this lifestyle while some make it a pursuit outside of their working career. But that state of being, that way of thinking, the paradigm of purpose in a person’s life turns on an inner light that glows blissfully from deep in the heart through the eyes and into everything they do in the world. And it just takes a little digging. You don’t have to drop everything and join a traveling folk band and smoke marijuana and sing songs about angels and climate change and whales. Perhaps your woodworking skills are a part time gift used to build stairways for Habitats For Humanity. We all have something special to us that God can use, too. Just saying. We just have to change our paradigms of purpose and make the right sacrifices for true joy, not to be a “part” of our lives but to “be” our lives and that comes from living and giving the best of you to what and who you love and to society in general. My paradigm of purpose: to use my gifts, follow my passions, to advance society’s need for goodness by following the path of Christian discipleship and to use my talents and abilities to satisfy my needs to be happy. If all 7 billion people on earth lived that ideology or a close facsimile every day, the world as it is today would be a much, much better place. Thanks to the internet, of course, there are web sites to help people find their gifts, and purpose in life – and how to answer the call from Christ to continue his work by meeting the Christian responsibility of discipleship. Here are some links and quizzes to get you going: (I took them all and each one was bang on correct.) http://www.higherawareness.com/soul-purpose-test.php http://www.goodnet.org/articles/how-to-find-your-passion-in-life-quiz http://psychcentral.com/lib/6-clues-for-finding-your-purpose-and-passion/ http://m.wikihow.com/Find-Your-Purpose-in-Life https://zenhabits.net/life-purpose/ Comments are closed.
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