Principle #1—GOD IS A GOD OF PURPOSE.
Every creator or manufacturer begins with purpose.
He first establishes his intent before beginning the process of production.
God is the source of purpose.
Nature is filled with evidence that He determines the purpose for a thing before He creates it.
In other words, God never made anything for the fun of it.
He never created something just to see if He could make it.
Before the creative act ever takes place, God has in His mind the why and the how of what He decides to make.
He does everything with and for a purpose.
Long before God became the Creator, He was planning and designing the many things He would speak into existence.
The intentional nature of God is also seen throughout His interaction with mankind.
He is a God of purpose.
He never acts without first setting the end toward which His actions are directed.
God never creates before He purposes.
It was His purpose that generated all He created and forever established the intent for everything that exists.
Principle #2—EVERYTHING IN LIFE HAS A PURPOSE.
If God is a God of purpose and He created everything, then everything in life has a purpose.
This amazes me. When looking at a roach before killing it and a rat caught in a trap, I wonder that God has a plan and a purpose for each of these creatures.
The lice we detest and the snakes we fear were made by God to fulfill a specific purpose, as were mosquitos, birds and trees.
God took as much time putting together spiders and ants as He did creating butterflies and flowers.
Just because we don’t understand a creature’s purpose doesn’t mean that it is purposeless.
Our reactions of fear or disgust do not negate their reasons for existence, because everything serves a purpose.
In essence, ignorance of purpose does not cancel purpose.
Consequently, everything, no matter how insignificant it may seem, exists for a distinct purpose in the mind of God to serve a greater purpose.
The hairs in your nostrils were carefully designed by God and intentionally placed there for the purpose of trapping bacteria, germs and dust particles, preventing them from contaminating the lungs during inspiration.
The wax in your ears has a purpose.
Your ear glands were created to produce wax to attract and trap dust particles, bacteria and germs before they can enter the delicate inner ear and cause infection.
There is nothing in your body that does not serve a vital purpose, even down to the smallest detail.
This is also true of nature.
Mankind has recently discovered that every animal and every plant was created to balance the ecosystem. Any disruption in its purpose affects everything else.
The ozone layer of the upper atmosphere has recently been discovered to have a critical purpose to perform.
It was designed to help preserve life on our planet by regulating the intensity of the ultraviolet rays from the sun.
The plants themselves absorb the ultraviolet rays of the sun and produce chlorophyll for their food, while releasing oxygen for us to breathe.
Their purpose involves keeping us alive by providing both food and oxygen.
We, in turn, inspire oxygen and expire carbon dioxide, which the plant absorbs to make its food.
Therefore, we need their purpose and they need ours.
It should also be noted that God created nothing for beauty, even though the things He created are beautiful.
Beauty is a by-product of design, not a creature’s intended purpose.
Thus, if God designed the hairs on a bee’s leg to transfer pollen from one flower to another, and placed the hairs in your nostrils and the wax in your ears for a specific purpose, then you must know that He has a purpose for your life.
Principle #3—NOT EVERY PURPOSE IS KNOWN.
Our world is plagued by the desire to have more and more and more.
But having something is not really the most important thing.
Knowing the reason for what you have is much more important.
There are times, however, when the why is not known.
This doesn’t mean that the thing, event or person doesn’t have a purpose; its purpose just isn’t known.
The story of a man named Jonah shows what can happen when purpose is unknown.
The Book of Jonah describes the adventures of a prophet who didn’t want to obey God’s command.
When God told him to go to the Assyrian capital of Ninevah and preach against their wickedness, Jonah disobeyed.
He tried to run away from God by boarding a ship that was sailing in the opposite direction.
While they were at sea, a violent storm nearly broke the ship apart.
The terrified sailors cried for help and threw the cargo overboard to lessen the danger.
Meanwhile, Jonah was sleeping in the hold of the ship.
When the captain found him, he awakened Jonah and told him to pray to his God.
The storm continued to rage until the sailors finally decided to draw lots to see who was to blame for the danger.
The lot fell on Jonah, who then answered their questions saying, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land” (Jonah 1:9).
Then he described how he was running away from God and told them to throw him into the sea.
Because the sailors were reluctant to follow Jonah’s suggestion, they tried to row to shore.
But the storm became worse.
Finally, they threw Jonah overboard and the sea became calm.
The sailors’ problem was not the storm, but the unknown purpose of the storm.
Had they known earlier that the storm was God’s means of talking to Jonah, they wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to save themselves.
Their lack of knowledge didn’t cancel the storm’s purpose.
It just meant they didn’t have the same information Jonah had.
They didn’t know the storm’s purpose.
Unknown purpose always wastes time and gives the possibility of danger.
Principle #4—WHEREVER PURPOSE IS NOT KNOWN, ABUSE IS INEVITABLE.
Abuse occurs whenever we don’t use something according to its creator’s intentions.
In other words, if you don’t know the purpose for something (or you choose to ignore that purpose), you can’t do anything other than abuse it.
No matter how good your intentions may be, they are canceled by your ignorance.
You may be sincere and committed toward your husband, your child or your boss, but your sincerity and commitment cannot make up for your lack of knowledge of their purpose.
Abuse remains inevitable, and you put them in danger.
Thus, when we run into problems with certain aspects of God’s creation, the plant or the animal or the person is not causing the difficulty.
It is our use (or abuse) of that plant, animal or person that gets us into a predicament.
The word abuse means “abnormal use.” Or to say it another way, if you don’t know the proper use for something, you will use it in an erratic and disorderly manner.
Unknown purpose also leads to misuse, which is a stronger form of abuse.
To misuse something means that you miss the intended use.
Although the product has a purpose, you miss knowing it and thus use it for something other than what the creator had in mind when he designed and made it.
If you don’t know the purpose for a baby, you will misuse the child. (We call that child abuse.)
If you don’t know the purpose for money, you will abuse the money.
If you don’t know the purpose for a job, you’ll misuse the job.
If you don’t know the purpose for your mate, you’ll abuse your spouse. (We call that wife abuse or husband abuse.)
It is therefore very important that you either discover the purpose for everything you encounter in life or refrain from using that person or thing until you gain that knowledge.
If, for example, your friend asks you to marry him, but he doesn’t know the purpose of marriage, you would be wise to refuse to marry him until he discovers the God-given purpose for marriage.
Otherwise, he will abuse both marriage and, as a result, you.
Many of us have been victims because others have abused the very things that God Himself created. That’s why it is very important that we not move into marriage, school, a new job, and so forth until we know God’s purpose for giving us that relationship or position.
It is the violation of this principle that is the cause for all our social problems today.
The drug problem is not a substance problem, but a substance abuse problem.
We abuse the godly gift of sex and experience the fatal consequences because we don’t seek the purpose for these things.
Principle #5—IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE PURPOSE OF A THING, NEVER ASK THE THING.
Principle #5—IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE PURPOSE OF A THING, NEVER ASK THE THING.
You will never find your purpose as long as you ask a creature who you are because a person or thing apart from its creator cannot know its purpose.
You may even come up with a purpose that isn’t God’s purpose and think that you are finally on the right track.
The futility of understanding God’s purposes apart from Him is graphically portrayed in the encounter between God and Job in the latter part of the Book of Job.
Job was a faithful worshiper of God who lost everything when God agreed that satan could test his faithfulness.
Job’s friends incessantly speculated, lectured, blamed and argued, trying to decide why Job was experiencing such misfortune.
When Job and his friends had ceased talking, God spoke to Job out of a storm.
Again and again He questioned Job’s understanding of things he could not know because they required knowledge of God’s purposes in creation.
Who are you to question My wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Stand up now like a man and answer the questions I ask you.
Were you there when I made the world? If you know so much, tell Me about it. …What holds up the pillars that support the earth? … Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer Me if you know.
Do you know where the light comes from or what the source of darkness is? … Do you know the laws that govern the skies and can you make them apply to the earth? … Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain …? Job, you challenged Almighty God; will you give up now, or will you answer? (Job 38:2-4,6a,18-19,33,37; 40:1-2 GN)
Obviously, Job could not answer because only God could tell him how the world was created to operate and why it was made that way.
The rain could not, neither could the light or the darkness.
Finally, Job admitted defeat.
He would never know the reasons behind his experiences unless God explained them to him, because creatures can never know purpose apart from the creator.
Principle #6—PURPOSE IS ONLY FOUND IN THE MIND OF THE CREATOR.
If you want to know the purpose of a product, you must ask the manufacturer or his authorized representative.
The product, itself, cannot tell you.
That’s why most manufacturers put a label somewhere on their products or they give you similar information in an owner’s manual.
They want to teach you about the product and give you the opportunity to contact them if you have any questions about its purpose, use, operation or maintenance.
They know they must give you this information if the product is going to fulfill the purpose for which they made it.
This principle of asking the creator for the purpose of a thing is also evident in the story of a blind man healed by Jesus.
Jesus and His disciples were walking along when they saw a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples immediately wanted to know why the man had been born blind.
Because their tradition said such things were the result of sin, they wanted to know if the man or his parents had sinned.
Jesus went straight to the root of the matter. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned … but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).
After Jesus had healed him, the blind man was questioned by everyone he met, including the Jewish authorities: “What happened to you?” “Aren’t you the blind man who used to beg by the gate?” “Where is this man who healed you?” “Don’t you know He’s a sinner?” The man didn’t attempt to explain why he had been healed, he simply told what he knew.
If the Jewish officials and everyone else wanted to know why he had been healed, they would have to ask Jesus like His disciples had, because only the originator of an action knows the purpose behind it.
Therefore, if you want to know the purpose of a thing, including yourself, you must discover who created it and submit to his knowledge. Only God knows the purpose for your life.
Principle #7—PURPOSE IS THE KEY TO FULFILLMENT.
Manufacturers always want the consumer to be satisfied with their product.
Labels and instruction books are their way of telling you what they had in mind when they created the product so you can compare that to your expectations when you bought it.
If the purpose of the manufacturer and the expectations of the purchaser don’t match, the product can’t possibly satisfy both the consumer’s desires and the manufacturer’s objectives.
Purpose dictates performance, which influences satisfaction.
Thus, purpose is the key to fulfillment.
Likewise, your purpose is the key to your life.
It tells you what you are supposed to do and why.
It reveals the reasons behind life’s experiences and demands, and supplies a vision for the future.
It also provides a perspective that gives life significance and meaning.
Apart from purpose, life seems fatalistic and haphazard, and the events of life become more important than the reasons behind them.
In essence, you will never experience true fulfillment and peace until you are executing the purpose for which you were born.
Just like a trumpet’s purpose is fulfilled when it is blown, a piano when it is skillfully played, a car when it is safely driven and a seed when it becomes a tree, even so your fulfillment is dependent on your discovering and fulfilling your purpose.
Too often we look at life carelessly.
We seek satisfaction in life’s activities without considering the purpose behind them.
God’s word is all-powerful.
When He determines a purpose for our lives, we will find fulfillment only when we are walking toward the end He has set.
God wants us to know His plans and purposes for our lives because He knows that apart from them we cannot know hope, peace and joy.
In all things, purpose is the key to fulfillment because it establishes the foundation on which all life must be built.
Ultimately PURPOSE is the center to which everything in life anchors on, without Purpose life's meaningless and not worth living.
Stay inspired and about the fulfillment of your purpose.
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