How early in life does purpose start? How far back can you look and expect to find clues or specific indications of your ultimate purpose? I have looked at Paul the last few weeks and would like to do so for one last time before we move on, for I believe this last look will help answer the questions I just raised.
It is my opinion that Paul was partially fulfilling his purpose when he was a Jew by the name of Saul. It's an important point, for I believe that is true for you as well. Most of us have had some experience in our purpose, sometimes early in life, but we are looking past it, expecting it to be something or someone that we are not. Before I explain that, however, let's look at my theory about Paul.
WHAT DO WE KNOW?
We know that this man Saul was from Tarsus, located in modern-day Turkey. Tarsus was one of the most cross cultural cities in the Roman Empire and Saul was truly a man of the Empire. He was a Roman citizen and a Jew at home in a Gentile world. Saul knew four languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, and was a Jewish scholar who studied in Jerusalem. He was a tent maker and probably did a lot of business with non-Jews.
Jesus informed us that there was such a thing as a Jewish evangelist when He said:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are" (Matthew 23:15).
In Acts 9, we are told that Saul asked for letters of recommendation so he could go to Damascus to pursue and persecute believers. Here is where my theory "kicks in." No Jerusalem Jew wanted to go to Damascus due to the risk of becoming unclean through contact with Gentiles. Saul volunteered to go because he had been there. He knew his way around and was comfortable in the Gentile world. He could speak their language, interact with their world and maintain his ceremonial purity as a good kosher Jew.
Does this prove my theory? Absolutely not, but it is possible that it's true. Saul was already working in the Gentile world when he met Jesus on his way to Damascus. He continued to work with Gentiles after that encounter, only after that he went to convert his audience to Jesus and not to Judaism.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
So what clues does your past hold to your present purpose? What did you love to do as a child? What was easy for you to learn? What did you enjoy doing? Perhaps you have dismissed the answers to those questions as irrelevant for your present PurposeQuest. I maintain that the answers are important, even critical.
I have found many people waiting to be something they are not in order to fulfill their purpose. Often the answers to who you are and what you were created to do are as close as your own heart, but you look past that with an expectation that God is going to make you someone you are not, someone He never intended you to be. Is this your tendency?
I dreamed of travel when I was young. I collected stamps and loved to gaze at foreign stamps, finding the country on a globe and then thinking of how I would get there one day. Today I have visited many of the countries I dreamed of visiting. The clues to my present purpose were there in my past, just as they were for Saul.
It doesn't really matter whether or not Saul was a Jewish evangelist. It supremely matters that he was true to who he was and, by so doing, changed the world. If you are going to impact the world or your world, the same will hold true. You must be true to who you are, and who you are is who you've always been.
Spend some time reflecting on your past this week and check out if you're waiting to be someone you're not. The insight you gain from yesterday can provide important evidence as you seek to confirm your purpose today. Have a great week!
Feel free to add your comments on the site where this entry is posted.
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NEW WEBSITE: I
promised to send out a special Memo last week about my new website, but
decided to wait until this week since July 4 was our Fourth of July
holiday weekend here in the States. If you haven't checked out the new
site, please do so, but be looking for a special mailing this week highlighting some of the new features.
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION: If you are able to make a special contribution toward my purpose week this week, it would be greatly appreciated. You can go to my site for directions on how to do so. This will enable me to continue to write and pursue my studies toward my D Min degree through the summer months.
RADIO SHOW: Don't miss the upcoming broadcast of my radio show, Your PurposeQuest: The Power of a Focused Life, this coming Wednesday, July 9 at 9 AM Eastern time on the Voice America network. You don't need any special equipment or software. Just go to their website and click on their flagship station and I will be on for a live broadcast. The show will air at 2 PM in the UK, 3 PM in Zimbabwe and South Africa, 4 PM in Kenya and 9 PM in Singapore. Then it will be broadcast again 12 hours later, and after that it can be listened to or downloaded from the archive section. The show airs every Wednesday at the same time.
You can download and listen to the first three shows by going to station's archives.
Feel free to email me your questions for the show, or you can call me when the show is live at 1.866.472.5787. Here is a description of the next show:
Episode Eight: Purpose as a Business Concept
Is purpose just something personal or can purpose be used in business as a strategy to help your clients and partners? Join John and his special guest, Mary Banks, as they discuss this and other purpose-related questions on the next Your PurposeQuest show. Mary is the founder of Women of Women Consulting Group, whose mission is “to encourage the hearts of our clients and empower them to live the vision God has for their lives, by seeking His divine plan and purpose for them both professionally and personally. We do this through life coaching, leadership development, innovative workshops, and human resource consulting.”
Dear Dr. Stanko,
Thank you so much for the Monday Memo Service and for your faithfullness in producing it, Monday after Monday. It has been so insightful to me.
I am the founder of a Christian organization called Niche which aims to inform young people in Zimbabwe and Africa of their real identity in God as well as empower them through knowledge and understanding of their unique design as individuals. We then assist them to identify the domain they are called to and the niche they were created to fill in this world and help them discover their God-given mandate.
We do this through a four part teaching course. After having completed the course, we encourage participants to continue to refine themselves and equip themselves in order to take authority and dominion in their niche.
As part of this endeavor we are starting a library facility in Harare, Zimbabwe, to make available wholesome literature that will stir young people to be all they were created to be. This library will eventually be part of a Study Centre for young people.
We are therefore seeking assistance in starting this library facility in the form of donations of books, tapes, CDs, DVDs from your ministry that would be part of the library.
Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Chido Rwafa(Miss)
Posted by: Chido Rwafa | July 11, 2008 at 08:16 AM