Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
To help people discover their purpose for living, one writer offers a set of 15 questions you can ask yourself—questions to discover what makes you happy, or about your strengths and weaknesses. Some questions may be useful, but you can run the risk of focusing exclusively on self, and not on others, or ignoring God who created us. In writing Ephesians, the Apostle Paul alerted believers that they should avoid living empty lives that had little fulfillment. He invited them to live with purpose. To do this, he invited them and us to begin by focusing on God who created us in the first place. God created us for a purpose; our task is to discover it. The discovery begins when we recognize God’s right to direct our lives; then submit ourselves to Him and determine to live out His purpose. God does not reveal His will so we can decide if we want to follow it. He only reveals Himself to those who in advance commit to obey. God gives every believer His Holy Spirit. As we study God’s word and submit to Him, God’s Spirit opens our eyes to God’s purpose for us. He guides our minds to make the right decisions. He arranges our circumstances so we end up in the right places. He empowers us to use our abilities. We can keep in mind Paul’s words in Ephesians 5: “Be careful how you live… Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do” (from vv. 15–17).
