Here you are. Frustrated. Living the mundane life you never wanted. You were going to be different! You were going to be purpose-driven! You most definitely weren’t going to join the rat race, work a normal job, live a normal Joe-Blow life. But somehow you ended up doing just that.
You’ve prayed for direction, begged God for answers, told Him you’re willing to go wherever He wants you to. And all you get is closed doors and confirmation after confirmation that you’re supposed to be right here, in the most boring of places.
You’re not a missionary in China. You haven’t given an orphan a home. You haven’t started a non-profit ministry helping troubled teens. You haven’t preached to packed-out stadiums. You haven’t given years of your life to minister to those in prison.
What is your deepest purpose, your driving force? Why are you still aching to have a job that makes you excited to get up every morning? Has God forgotten you?
Is your past unworkable in His plan? Are you too imperfect for Him to use? Are you not talented enough for Him? Are you just slated for a drifting, boring life?
No.
I know this because I’ve been where you are, wondering if I’m actually making a difference in this broken world. I’ve quietly thought that maybe, just maybe, I’m not good enough for God to really use. And I’ve faced the gut-wrenching feeling that perhaps I have no purpose at this stage in my life.
However, I’ve also stood in the trenches of the mundane life with my head held high in victory, fully assured that I do have a purpose right here and now.
You wanna know where this confidence comes from?
God’s Word:
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (NIV)
Go ahead and read that again.
(Seriously. I meant that. Read it again. Those are the most powerful two sentences you’ll read in this entire article.)
In His death, Jesus paid the highest price possible for us, and now we no longer belong to ourselves, but to Him. When we understand Christ’s love for us, it motivates us to love and live the same way He did.
Too often we look to what we do for our sense of purpose. You can do many great things, but without the love of Jesus motivating you, it’s useless (1 Corinthians 13). When the thought of Christ’s love for us and our love for Him drives us in our daily lives and interactions with people, God’s plan is being fulfilled in us, often without us even realizing it! When we no longer live for ourselves but for our Savior, God can use even the most mundane task to bring Himself glory, because He’s God and He’s super awesome like that!
So in your mundane life, look at Jesus. Fully focus on Him. Draw your daily energy and purpose from Him. Let Him spur you onward, not a cause. Living for causes quickly draws energy out of us and can leave us disillusioned. But when we live for Jesus, He graciously pours His strength into our weakness and gives us the “umph” to keep pursuing the purpose He has for us, no matter how boring it may seem.
Silvia Polanco says
Is a good article, in the best moment of my life, God is amazing!
Well, Excusame, there is a mistake in the biblical text: is not 1 Corinthians 5:14-15, but 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15.