We are looking at the relationship between your purpose and finances because, in my experience, I have found that provision is often the greatest concern for people searching for purpose. They assume that their purpose will be their source of revenue, but I have found that isn't always the case. Let's look at the Apostle Paul this week to see what he can teach us about our topic.
Paul's purpose was to bring the gospel of Christ to the Gentile world. We know this because his call on the Damascus road has a prominent place in the book of Acts. After that experience, Paul referred to his purpose in each of his letters, usually relating his purpose to an Old Testament passage about the Gentiles seeing a great light. When Paul talked about himself, he always referred to his purpose, and that purpose wasn't his occupation.To earn a living, Paul made tents, for no rabbi accepted money to teach God's word.
The only way we know that Paul made tents was that Luke wrote about it in the book of Acts. Don't you find it interesting that Paul never referred to making tents? That was what he did to make money, but it wasn't who he was. He was an apostle to the Gentiles and that is what got the choice place in his heart, time, efforts, and writing. (Paul returned the favor. Nowhere did Luke ever mention he was a doctor; Paul informed us of that in Colossians 4:14. Obviously Luke learned from his mentor the difference between purpose and occupation.)
WHO ARE YOU?
If I asked you what you do, what would you say? You may be an insurance agent or engineer, but who are you? You may also be a missionary to some people group, while insurance or engineering pays the bills. When people ask you what you do, like I just did, how do you respond? If you answer the salesperson or engineer, then you are defining yourself by what you do.
If you say missionary, you are focusing on purpose and not on what buys your food. You may only get to the mission field once a year on your vacation time, but the other weeks you're praying and working for that mission. You don't have to quit your occupation to embrace your purpose. You may simply need to distinguish between the two. And this is important because then you will see that your job is what funds your purpose, and God may change your jobs along the way but you won't have to change your purpose if and when He does.
Os Guinness wrote the following paragraph in his book, Entrepreneurs of Life (since he uses the words "calling" and "vocation" instead of purpose, I have taken the liberty of inserting the word "purpose" where appropriate):
Calling [purpose] helps us finish [our lives] well because it prevents us from confusing the termination of our occupations with the termination of our vocations [purpose]. If we ever limit our calling [purpose] to what we do, and that task is taken away from us—we suddenly find ourselves unemployed, retired, or pronounced terminally ill—then we are tempted to depression and doubt. What has happened? We have let our occupation become so intertwined with our vocation [purpose] that losing the occupation means losing the sense of vocation [purpose] too.
Have you either not found or lost your sense of purpose? Then perhaps you have confused the difference between what you do and who you are (parents and spouses included—that's a role you have but not your purpose). I would suggest you take time to reflect on this important distinction and then no longer be content to define your life in terms of what you do to earn cash but rather who you are. It will make all the difference in the world and it will set you free from thinking that your purpose has to pay your bills. Have a great week!
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