Too many people believe God is a mysterious, other-worldly being who longs for us to know him but hides behind the clouds. We’ve been told he is like Father Time, an old and grey-bearded man who sets things in motion and is waiting for us to do whatever we are supposed to do whenever we are supposed to do it, even if we don’t know what we are to do. We get caught up asking, “What is God’s will for my life?” and lament when things go wrong, believing we might not have been “in the center of God’s will” after all.
What would it look like if we all believed Jesus came to tell us the truth? That he came to set us free and to rebuke the lies. What would that look like?
Paul encouraged us all, saying, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). We are free! We are no longer burdened by our sins, and we don’t have to believe the lies!
As you wonder about your purpose in life, know that you are not alone. You have been made for something more than this world, but while you are here, you and I both know you want to make something of your days. That is why I wrote What’s Next: Talking with God about the Rest of Your Life and began it by asking,
How are you going to spend the next part of your life?
The following is intended to encourage and challenge you to achieve gray hair (wisdom) now—to examine God’s word, the voice of the world, and your own life—and to discover and embrace meaning. Why? Because the Truth is out there in the void, and he beckons you.
Numerous books have been penned, sermons preached, and coaching sessions conducted to aid men and women in finding meaning in and for the last years of their lives. But what if by the time you settle down, have kids, and are into your second or third career, it is too late to get started?
At the age of forty-one, while on a personal retreat in the Colorado Rockies with my Bible, journal, and numerous books, I was struck by an author’s quip about spending your 30s getting ready for the second half of your life; well, I missed it. If forty-one was too late, and my 30s were the right time, might my 20s have been too early?
There is a proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today.”
Today is a great day to be asking questions; it is also a fantastic day to discover the Truth.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus turned their idea of God upside down by inviting them (and, by extension, you and me) into a personal relationship with God. How did he do this? By telling us we can and should call him “Abba,” a wonderful term of endearment often appreciated as the equivalent of “Daddy.” Our Father in heaven is not a distant, uninvolved deity like other pagan gods who demand to be worshiped or crops will wither, and death will come upon you. Our Father in heaven is near to us. He is teaching us how to live with him and with others. He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Psalm 103:8). How do we know? Because Jesus came to earth and showed us who God is: “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17).
Jesus is God. And Jesus made God discoverable. Why? Because he wanted to make it possible for you to know who you are meant to be: a son or daughter of God.
What does that look like, practically speaking? It looks a lot like doing the things that make you smile, so long as they honor God. Play sports. Be the best electrician or lawyer you can be. Give generously to a local charity that loves and serves people in the name of Jesus. Start a small business. Stay home and raise your kids. Pay your bills. Put together a puzzle.
But it also looks like caring for the people you care most about. Do you cry when you feel the loneliness of seniors facing their final years in a nursing home or get angry when you learn another earthquake has devastated a city because the region is too poor to build quality buildings? Well, your purpose just might be found in your longing to make those things right.
Jesus started his earthly ministry by reading from the book of Isaiah and claiming that these words were about him:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
If you want to discover and live your purpose, this is what you need to do. First, learn to call God by his real name, “Daddy.” Then, go and do what Jesus did: proclaim the good news, set people free, heal their bodies, and tell the people of this world that God loves them. That’s it. That’s the secret sauce!
Jesus did all these things, and it made him smile. I’m pretty sure if you do the same, you will smile too, because whatever you do, whatever it looks like, so long as you love God just as Jesus did, you will be in “the center of God’s will” for you.
