THRIVE: For Your Purpose

how to succeed in today's economy

It’s the age-old question…

What is my purpose? or Why am I here?

I believe there is a pretty simple answer to that at the core. The interesting part comes when we get away from the core and try to figure out our daily lives.

NOTE: If you haven’t read the beginning of this series or the previous post, do.

At The Core

If you’ve read me much, you know I love to get to the core of everything. I like to break it down into 3 or so words and try to make the message easy to digest.

So, for your reading pleasure, at your core, you were Made to Serve.

That doesn’t sound very awesome to many people. We first think of serving as a bad thing. Like slavery or being a servant for some rude rich dude.

But that’s not what it means at all. We were made to serve our Lord and Maker. We have the opportunity everyday to live out life for Him in a way that no other creation is able to do. Not even any other human can do the things you can.

Sure there are people that are better at things than you and I. Some are better at most everything. But there is a least one thing you are awesome at, even if it’s just having heart for trying.

God gives E’s for effort…and not those junky “Thanks for showing up” ribbons you get at elementary school track meets.

He wants to see us working for Him and serving Him with all our hearts. It doesn’t matter if we’re not making progress in this world, though it might get frustrating at times. He just wants our efforts.

That alone shows our love for Him.

I’m Jared and I was made to serve.

Zooming Out

If you digested that well, we can now zoom out a bit and look at daily life. We are called to serve daily, yes, but we are also called to contribute. We should not be wasting our million dollar gift God has so graciously given us.

Throughout our lives we can serve in a multitude of ways. It could be work, yes, but also at home, in our families, in our church, in our communities. There is no end to where we can serve and where we may be taken if we will listen to the calling of our hearts.

I realize this might be getting a bit deep for what I typically write, but I encourage you to think it through. Let’s look at the impact of serving on our personal brands for a moment.

If I’m going to be the resource I want to be for anyone who decides to come read my work, I need to make sure I’m serving real needs. To the point that I’m not fulfilling those needs, I am failing. And something must change or I won’t be doing the work I was put here to do.

If you’re a consultant and your client is looking to solve a particular problem, whatever it may be, your job is to help them work through the stages to come to a solution. The value the person derives from your services is what they are paying you for, not just the time to hang out with you.

The things you do in your daily life can and will affect the work you do and the way people see you. We must always make sure we’re looking at the larger picture everything we do and only when we have a good understanding of the situation do we need to dig into the details further.

Thinking It Through

You were put here for a purpose. If you get nothing else from this series, understand that. I’m not here to try to convince you of that, but I would like to offer up that truth.

Think about the times you felt the best in terms of what you were doing in life. Don’t think of the happiest times, but rather look at the times when you felt the most fulfilled and that feeling stuck with you for days. I’d venture to say that those were times when everything was not about you. In fact, it was probably about someone else entirely and you played a small part in the scenario. Am I correct?

I’ve often talked about doing what you love and what you’re most passionate about. I do believe that but at the same time, it has to be something that is larger than yourself. We will never be truly fulfilled if we’re just working for what we want. I once heard a quote that goes perfect with this. It said “No matter where you are going, when you get there you will always be able to see further.” I truly believe that not only in the context of this world, but of eternity.

The choices we make in our daily lives will affect the days to come. We have to be on the lookout for opportunities to fulfill our purpose that has been laid about before us. We have to make sure we’re actively seeking the larger things life and not getting caught up the miscellaneous nonsense of our culture today.

Take note of what you are doing the most of and make sure it’s what you want to be doing.

The Importance of You

This could easily be a series in and of itself but I want to keep it brief. There’s really no need to drag it out.

You were put here to do something awesome. We all were. But the importance of you to this world is absolutely incredible. I believe we will never truly know how impactful we were or could have been until we are able to reflect back on this life. That will be the day we get to truly see what our lives have accomplished…or not.

Where will you stand? In amazement of the impact you were able to have…or the lack thereof?

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