Back in 2002, Rick Warren stuck a cord with his book. The Purpose Driven Life. The concept definitely fits into the neglected third dimension of holiness. That we are set apart for a special role in the Body of Christ. This is not only vital to achieving the spiritual prosperity that is three-dimensional holiness. It goes a long way toward our ability and desire of maintaining righteousness for more than just a moment.
However, with that being said, it is still but a single leg in a tripod. It cannot stand alone. So it's no surprise that Warren's forty days of purpose left many people feeling lost. I have heard people say, I don't know what my purpose is, or I don't have any talent countless times. So let me remind you if you really don't know what you are set apart for, it's probably a righteousness problem. It's only by walking the path of righteousness do we start to become like God, and can get close enough to him to discover that level of revelation. Just as if we struggle with righteousness, it's probably a wholeness problem.
So many struggles we have in our walk as disciples and in holiness is that we plain get ahead of ourselves. Maybe the church itself is even perpetuating the problem by pushing people to do more than they are ready for since they are that desperate for volunteers and church growth. Not that I am saying you have to achieve a certain level of perfection to help. Just don't confuse good in general for the specific purpose you were set apart for. We all got to start somewhere. Jesus put his 12 disciples to work pretty quickly, and they were far from perfect. However, he was there to walk them through it. Are we doing the same in our church, or just telling them the final destination without showing them how to get there?
Consider this, King David wanted to build the first permanent temple. However, God told him no. There was nothing particularly wrong with King David’s desire to do so, it just wasn’t what he was set apart for. That was reserved for his son Solomon. So David had to respect that. Yet David had to take a step in that wrong direction to get a revelation about it. As I said already, there is a difference between good in general and the specific good you were designed for. (1st Chronicles 17)
Also the apostle Paul was specifically set apart to bring the gospel to the gentiles. (Galatians 1:15-16) Yet he didn't always stay on that specific track by preaching to Jews as well. Yet, the pattern we clearly see is that when he focused on gentiles, his efforts were blessed. When he strayed from that path, the results were often less than blessed. Again, there was nothing wrong with him having a heart for his fellow Jews. It's just not where his God-given talents lay, so it wasn't what he was set apart for. It's a common part of the learning process; we sometimes have to make the wrong choices to realize what the right ones are. As well as to realize what makes the right choices right for us, and the wrong choices wrong for us. Yet, we often make a bigger mistake by refusing to try without absolute assurance of success. Who knows what God will have to resort to, to work through you, if you're not actually doing anything?
Are you getting ahead of yourself in your search for a purpose? Or just the opposite, lagging behind because of inaction?
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