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How much time do you spend thinking about your purpose in life? I suspect most people are too busy to stop and reflect on that. Maybe folks don’t want to because they won’t come up with an answer. Or won’t like the answer they come up with. The psalm you may have heard in church yesterday (reprinted in this email) speaks about the amazing grace that God has a purpose for us (v.9). I’m wondering what you think that purpose might be.
According to Simon and Schuster, the study guide called The Purpose Driven Life has sold more than 50 million copies, making it one of the best selling nonfiction books of all time. Its author, Rick Warren, led one of the biggest non-denominational churches in the country. While my own spirit seems to be better fed by a quiet 8am Rite I Service of Holy Eucharist than the worshipping community he led, I think it’s obvious that Pastor Warren was on to something.
One may not prefer his style, theology, or views on social issues, but I think it’s worth identifying the five purposes he believes God has for us, as described in his book. I find them helpful. As Ted Lasso said in that famous dart game: “It’s better to be curious than to be judgmental.” So here’s my curious take on Warren’s five purposes:
- You were planned (purposed) for God’s pleasure, which is why we come together for worship, and why God looked at creation and said it all was very good. It's why the first and greatest commandment is to love God with our whole heart.
- You were formed for God’s family. Apart from hermits, we are called to live in community, as exasperating as that may be at times. It's why we are commanded to love neighbor as self.
- You were created to become like Christ. That’s why the old fashioned word “christening” matters. It means in baptism we are set on a journey to become little Christs.
- You were shaped for serving God. Just as Jesus said he came not to be served but to serve, so in this Christening journey, our purpose is to be of service, to look around our broken world and ask: “How can I be of help today?”
- You were made for mission, or as the baptismal covenant says, we are called to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.
This focus on purpose is not the exclusive province of evangelical preachers. Consider these various voices from across theological and philosophical perspective:
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
- The Buddha: “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it”
- Thomas Merton: “If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”
- Friedrich Nietzche: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
Apparently, after a while, Pastor Warren felt led to add to his popular book, describing what gets in the way of the purpose driven life. He said it has to do with envy, related to both regret and resentment. And it has to do with an excessive focus on people pleasing. That’s a special challenge for clergy. I speak from experience.
Maybe you want to see whether those obstacles surface in your life, and if they are keeping you from living into the purpose God intends for you. That self-examination can involve some work, holy work. The good news is that God is with us in that process. I’m grateful for this insight from the Rev. Phillips Brooks, a great Episcopal preacher. He said: “You must learn, you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of the past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.”
That holy work was captured in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in which we find a marvelous summary of the entire Bible, and great insight into the journey of faith. Paul writes: “Work out your own salvation (Note: Might that be another way of saying find your purpose?) with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in us willing to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12,13)
Those are my thoughts this Monday morning on purpose. What are your thoughts?
-Jay Sidebotham
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