this, right here, is your purpose
Guest post written by my older brother, Lee.
I think one of the greatest college dilemmas, is purpose. “What’s my purpose? What am I supposed to be doing with my life? When do I get married? What kind of job should I get? What classes do I take? What major should I study?”
There are all these questions, these doubts, these life-changing, life threatening even, decisions that we have to make, and it can be extremely overwhelming. “Can’t I just find one thing I’m good at and do that for the rest of my life? Can’t I just be told what to do, that would be so much easier.”
Why is it so hard to make these decisions? Not knowing one’s purpose can be extremely burdensome. It can cause stress, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Especially if you’ve come from hard backgrounds, and different paths of life. I mean, how common is it to ask yourself on a daily basis what you’re doing and where you’re going? The amount of pressure that college puts on you to have your whole life figured out within 4 years can be intense, and very taxing. But what if I told you that you have one reason to exist, one goal for your life? One reason that I am put here, and one reason alone? Doesn’t that sound crazy? Is life really that simple?
And this reason, is to know God, and make Him known.
That’s it. Plain and simple. Right? And of course, as are most things in life, this is much easier said than done. But if this is our sole purpose, our one goal, the reason or existence, why should we care about all these other things? Genesis 1:27 says… “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
What we don’t often realize is the importance and value in this one passage alone.
YOU ARE CREATED IN THE LIKENESS OF YAHWEH.
The Creator of the universe, the one true God. This means that no matter what, you have infinite value. No matter who you are! College students, married couples, children, elderly grandparents, unemployed citizens, doctors, lawyers, musicians, etc. it doesn’t matter. YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN AN IDENTITY AND A DIGNITY. YOU REFELCT AND REPRESENT GOD’S IMAGE. YOU ARE ON THE FRONT LINES FOR REPRESENTING WHO GOD IS. Now I don’t know about you, but that is one valuable identity, and holds dignity beyond anything else.
Here’s the thing. It’s not something you earn, it’s not something that has to be given to you, YOU ALREADY HAVE IT. AND IT’S SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU EXIST. YOU HAVE BEEN CREATED IN THE VERY IMAGE OF THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, FOR ONE PURPOSE, AND ONE PURPOSE ALONE. You have been created to know the very person who created you, and to make Him known throughout the rest of the world. In order for you to understand this identity and make sense of it, you have to truly KNOW Him who created you.
So what’s the purpose of going to school? What’s the point of achieving the highest degree? What’s the difference in studying Business or Engineering? Here’s the catch.
IT DOESN’T MATTER.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to school to be a doctor, or a plumber, an electrician, or a teacher, all of those things serve one goal in your life. They all serve the purpose of knowing God and making Him known. So many college students will face the weight of this world, the pressures and boundaries of what this world calls “success.” But here’s one of life’s greatest failures: seeking after the wrong success. Or to put it another way, succeeding in the wrong thing. Are you a business major that seeks to know God and make him known? Awesome. Are you a student in graduate school attaining their masters, with the sole goal of knowing God and making Him known? Awesome.
I have faced the pressures of college, faced the judgement from people that view themselves as “smarter” or think “he’s going nowhere, he’s just a business major.” Over the years I’ve come to realize that often times they are more lost and purposeless than I have ever been. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
THAT IS WHY YOU EXIST.
This is why you were put here. To know Jesus, but even more importantly to make him known. To go and be His disciples! The hope for us college students is this: that whatever you are doing, whatever major you’re trying to attain, get to know God, and make Him known. He is going to use you in a way that only you can accomplish with the abilities he has created you with. There’s no need to stress over your future, to have anxiety over test grades or study habits, because the truth is: YOU WERE CREATED FOR SO MUCH MORE. All these temporal things serve a greater purpose. To go and make disciples, to make God, to make Jesus known.
What if the degree you are studying is the avenue in which God is going to use you? How do you know? Will you take that leap of faith, will you trust God COMPLETELY, with no doubts no insecurities, in where He will take you?
