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What is your purpose in life?
If you were to ask me this question when I first entered
university, my honest reply would be, "I’m not sure. In
fact I have never given much thought to it. Maybe my purpose
in life is to be able to get a degree as soon as possible.
Next would be getting the 5Cs, that is, career, cash, credit
card, car and condominium. Apart from that, I will of course
serve in the church if I could spare some time."
However, after working for 2 years, I realized that every
year is simply a repetition of the previous year. One question
came to my mind, "When my last moment comes, would I
regret how I have been living my life?" My immediate
decision was to invest my life in a more meaningful way.
Well, is there anything wrong with the 5Cs mentioned
earlier? No, as someone has said, though money cannot get
everything done, yet without money nothing can be done.
However, pursuing the 5Cs should not be our ultimate
life purpose. By now I have graduated from the
university for 14 years; my friends and I are
in our early forties.
Our recent conversation revealed that after
having all the 5Cs, our life goal no longer centres on ‘success’
but ‘significance’. "What am I living for? What is
next? What is it be like to have a meaningful life? How
can I have a positive influence?"
An Influencer for Christ (IFC) seeks to live a life that is
characterised by a right purpose. God
certainly had a purpose in mind when
He placed each of us in this world. Indeed a
life that is lived according to God’s purpose is an
authentic life. Matthew 16:25 says, "For whoever wishes
to save His life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for
My sake shall find it." And Jesus also talked about
dying to self in verse 24. It means we do not live
according to our own purpose but God’s purpose.
An IFC is certain that his purpose in life is to glorify
God (Isa. 43:7, 1 Cor.6:20, 10:31). How do we glorify
Him? The Word reveals that God’s desire for us is to:
Know Him and love Him.
Grow in character: to be more like Christ.
Serve others through our gifts and talents.
Make known the good news to others.
Now, you may say, "This sounds spiritual. Does that
have anything to do with my daily life? Yes, certainly. If
we look back upon our lives, we will notice that:
We come to know God in a deeper way through trials
and heart-breaking failures; our experience with
God is no longer "I have heard of Thee but
my eye sees Thee." These often take place in
the valleys.
We learn to be more like Christ in the
process of handling relationship problems, be it in
our family life, working environment or
social interactions.
We are able to serve others in our
office and daily life through our
God-given gifts and talents.
We can be His salt and light by sharing His good
news through our words and life testimony.
When your purpose in life is right, you can
then go on to seek the Lord for a clearer vision (changes
you hope to see in your personal life, family, career,
social relationships, your community and the world as a
result of your existence) and mission (the things that God
calls you to accomplish in this life), and then
establish the goal and scope of your mission. A
person who lives such a life will certainly
make a lasting impact and be a blessing unto the
nations.
How would you live your life? Would you:
spend your life?
waste your life?
invest your life?
I urge you to invest your life in
making a positive impact and in
blessing many more others.
To be an IFC, let us begin with setting a life
purpose that is after God’s own heart.
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