The Search for Purpose

The indisputable reality…

            The search for purpose is at the core of every man’s heart. It is a hunger put inside everyone by the Creator to serve as a guide that lifts us towards the course of life that brings maximum satisfaction, fulfilment, and sense of significance—as every man so desires. It is a thirst so intense that nothing else can satisfy besides patiently searching out for it, finding it, and then running with a vision that shoots out of its discovery.

It is a desire that has been the major drive behind the best of inventions we have known; the greatest, most passionate and courageous freedom movements spare-headed by great leaders in history were products of this search. It was what prompted the likes of Apostle Paul to be bent on affording the Gentiles spiritual freedom at all cost; the same thing that was the impetus within Martin Luther to initiate the Reformation, the same fire burning within Martin Luther King Jr. who faced terrifying threats, even till death, just to see his fellow black race physically and mentally free from the oppressions of fellow men. However, interestingly, it is also this same search that birthed some of the most ruinous attempts and acts in history—the 9/11 saga by Osama bin Laden, and the Nazi’s rule of Adolf Hitler are two examples of such. All these people were searching for the sense of significance that genuinely comes only from a true understanding of the concept and principle of purpose. A faulty understanding of this could be dangerous: Hitler and Osama are obvious proofs to this! “When the use of something is unknown”, they say, “ then abuse is inevitable”.

God’s Real intent…

Living a life of significance has been God’s idea from creation. It has been his desire that everyone would discover their unique God-given purpose and then run through life with a unique vision, thereby deriving their sense of fulfilment from having accomplished his purpose through Him. Like aforementioned, until a man finds out his purpose, that is the “why” behind his existence, nothing else will consistently satisfy. Moreover, any attempt to go ahead and discover it or run with a vision apart from the One who placed the content on our inside would only at best result in an underutilized potential, distorted fulfilment, and bad success (a success at the expense of something of equal or more importance in one’s life), and at worst, deeper and deeper sinking into a life of indulgence, depravity, or frank wickedness resulting from an attempt to find an alternative to the original—which only proceeds from God.

Wake-up Call…

If almost every day you wake up, you do not have so much enthusiasm to enter into the new day, then, this message is for you. If you usually look up to the next opportunity to fall asleep just to escape the realities of boredom, disinterest and challenges faced at work, in school, or at home, and then wishing to have an endless sleep lest you wake up to find out the difficult and hard realities are still existing; then that is a convincing enough indication that you really need to understand the subject of Purpose. With a sense of purpose, each day is seen as a reason to be grateful to God for providing another opportunity for moving closer to the apprehension of the immeasurable fulfilment that comes from living for purpose. If pleasurable things like watching movies, partying, chatting aimlessly, pointless chatter or gist are the only activities that keep you high or free from boredom; if you cannot stand your being alone for any length of time and yet feel good and therefore helplessly crave for the company of friends, movies, toys, tasty things(food) for you to feel alright, then these series on purpose is truly for you.

Are you still there?

If you are so eaten up with jealousy towards friends, colleagues or relatives that you cannot stand the sight of their successes and be genuinely happy for them—from down deep within you—then you really need to discover your unique meaning and purpose in life. With the understanding of the uniqueness of our individual purposes, we would come to realize that there is really no basis for comparison, competition, envy or jealousy among us as humans. Though our transient societal value systems try to make us believe that these strong feelings and mind-sets are normal, yet they are not—from the Creator’s point of view, of course! Why?  Simply because we, as distinctive individuals, have unique abilities and potentials that are different not really in degree, but in kind. I really hope you got that! With the right concept and appreciation of purpose, every other person’s success is an opportunity to learn another success principle to be inculcated on our journey towards the pinnacle of significance.

No offence meant—trust me!

If you find it quite difficult to give yourself to discipline, to say “No” to some frivolous, unproductive and self-destructive acts or activities, and to successfully stand by these decisions, then you need a bigger “yes” burning on the  inside of you—which only the sense or discovery of purpose can supply. If, as a student or employee, you do not  really like being cumbered with so much workloads as you currently have in school or at work, but then you become so quickly bored upon any short break from the same work or school, and soon start craving for resumption into the same duties or activities you so despise; it, thus, passes a message that you aren’t free yet: you are still enslaved! I’m sorry if that hurts. No offence meant—believe me! And the fact is this: you can’t change what you tolerate. Some bitter pills of realities need to be swallowed sometimes so that we can forcefully spit out the disgusting vomits of lifestyle that has held us bound to mediocrity for so long. If you can presently relate to this, if it is (similar to) your present situation, then you may try considering the freedom from external limitations and subconscious oppressions that a purpose-driven life has to offer. If you constantly feel the pains or pang of inferiority complex and low self-esteem such that you almost never see anything worth taking pride in about yourself, understanding your God-given purpose will do more than morphine in curing the pain, I promise!

Where do we then go from here?

With all this said and found indisputable, the big questions then are, “where do I go from here?”, “How do I find that unique purpose of mine?”. Moreover, even before that, “what is ‘purpose’?”, “How about ‘vision’—how do they both differ?”. Answers to these questions shall be the contents of our subsequent articles in these series on the subject of Purpose. Watch out for subsequent posts!!!