God's Plans For Us

It seems to me that a lot of Christians, including myself, often find themselves living under a cloud of guilt when it comes to the work Christ has for us. We seem to know that there's something we ought to do with our lives, after all the Bible makes it clear that God has plans for our lives, but what those plans might be remains elusive. Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life has remained a best seller for half a decade now precisely because of this issue. While I have no big issue with the book and feel there are many good things it, I do think it's safe to say that it hasn't been the final word on this issue. Many of us finished all forty days of the book and a week later felt just as confused, purposeless and guilty as we did before we began.

In finding our purpose, the devil is going to hit us with lie filled guilt trips from both sides of the issue. One moment he whispers "You're lazy, pathetically so. You're not anywhere close to where God wants you and you'll never find what He has for you." The next it's "You have nothing to offer. If you really believe this whole business of God having a plan for you, then you're kidding yourself. As a Christian you're a worthless failure." I mention these two lies here at the outset because I want to make it clear that if we're going to move past these lies and into freedom we're going to have fight a two front war with the enemy. We're going to have to break the agreements we've made with these lies if we are to have any hope of seeing the truth God has for us about our purpose.

Here's the good news: God does have a plan for all of us but guilt is not a part of it. Nor is that plan meant to be yet another thing to check off on the to do list. It's not meant to be something that wears us down and runs us dry. It's meant to be something that makes us come alive. We see the word plan and we immediately think endless duty. But what God wants is to make that plan come alive in us through the passions and desires He has given us.

I believe that to find our purpose and life we need to start living through our passions and desires. The obvious objection to that is that it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. But our desire is not wrong, it's just fallen and Christ can redeem it, transform it. Once we've received Him our heart is no longer dreadfully wicked. He's removed it and replaced it with a heart of flesh. He gave us our passions and desires and He wants to use them for His kingdom and to make us come alive. (for more on this I strongly recommend Desire by John Eldredge).

Even after we realize what we're passionate about and how those passions lead us to our purpose, the devil does not quit. One of my big struggles in life is with being easily overwhelmed and that plays in big time here. Whatever work God has for me, I am just one small part of His plan but the devil wants to convince me that it's all riding on my back. His goal is to make me forget I live in a bigger story, that I'm only one small part of a part in the Body of Christ.

One example of how this plays out is in helping the needy. The devil will convince you that it's your job to go solve the entire issue of modern poverty but maybe all God has for you here is to help your struggling neighbor. But even if He does have a bigger role for you, we need to remember that He is in control. As the Sunday School song says, "He's got the whole world in His hands." Our purpose, great or small, is to be a part of His larger purpose. To get past this lie we're going to need to let go of pride and step into trust.

The other major trap we fall into is failing to see that God doesn't always have some big job for us to do. Sometimes He just wants us to rest in Him. That time of resting may be for a week, a year or it could even be that your purpose has shifted altogether and you're meant to spent the rest of your life resting in Him and loving Him. We tend to freak out when this happens and think we're doing something wrong. Using the example of helping the needy again, maybe you struggling neighbor has stopped struggling and God hasn't yet show you who He now wants you to help. That's ok. It's part of the Christian walk.

I believe that not only are these times of rest inevitable, they are essential to centering us once again on Christ. The work God has for us is important but at the center of the Christian life is passionate relationship with God. Everything else flows out of that, including our purpose. If we're not centered on that relationship whatever we're doing, no matter how needed, will start to become about us and not about God. Will give our hearts to the work rather than to the one who gave us the work.

Finally I would say that we need to be careful about being too anxious in finding our purpose. God has promised that He knows the plans He has for us but we're not going to get too far in finding them out for ourselves so long as we're nervously sitting around wondering if we're doing a good job of finding our purpose. I believe that if you really want to find what you're supposed to be doing your best bet is to go to the one who already knows what it is. Let Him speak to you, heal you, and lead you in whatever He has for you to do.