Created for a purpose

Last week, we began to discuss the fact that many of us live without ever tapping into our full potential. Graveyards are full of untapped potential and unlived purpose. Countless people are living a ‘settled-for life’. Somewhere along our journey, we became complacent and content in our circumstances. We settled for what we believed was adequate or satisfactory, and stopped hoping for more.

Pastor Charles Stanley once shared, “A friend reminded me recently that, several decades ago, children in the earliest grades of school were given one of three marks for their achievement: outstanding, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. Children frequently compared their results, telling how many O’s and S’s they received from their teacher. They never bragged about any U’s. For most children, getting an S for satisfactory was just that, satisfactory. ‘S’ might also stand for ‘settled for’. If we become content with a satisfactory effort, we rarely apply ourselves to push for an ‘O’; to push for outstanding.

The same is true in life. If we become content with what is average, minimally acceptable, or satisfactory, we will rarely exert the effort or work towards something truly excellent or outstanding. In most cases, the longer we remain satisfied with a string of ‘satisfactory’ marks in life, the more we become complacent about life. Going through the motions to achieve satisfactory results then becomes our norm.

Eventually, as we accept a ‘settled-for-life’, we may feel threatened by challenges to achieve, have, or experience more than our present reality. Ultimately, we turn our backs on the future and refuse to hope for, seek, or pursue more. This makes life bland. A purposeless life is a bland life.

Perhaps there was a time when you were excited about your life, but now the excitement has faded and you are asking, ‘What has happened to me?’ You may have become apathetic about life and lost your inner drive. If that is where you are, you must make a shift in your life, and it begins with seeing yourself the way God sees you. When you look at yourself through His eyes, you will no longer rest on the satisfactory marks of a settled-for life. Start with seeing yourself differently – see yourself the way God sees you.

Our Heavenly Father sees us through eyes of love, understanding, and forgiveness. He sees where we are but, more importantly, He sees the persons He made us to be. God sees all the awesome potential and possibilities He created us to fulfil and is calling us to take hold of them. Inventor Thomas Edison said, “If we did all the things we were capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

If we’re willing to discover and align ourselves with God’s plan and purpose for us, He will bless us beyond our imagination with life at its best. God wants to restore the joy, peace, and sense of accomplishment that He wants in your life.

The Bible speaks about the way our Heavenly Father sees us. It says: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvellous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” Psalms 139:13-16(NKJV).