by Chaplain Aaron Reitz
A deep longing in our souls is to discover our purpose, to be someone worthwhile, or to do something significant. Many of today’s popular Christian books say that God has a specific will or purpose for each of us. Yet many disciples of Jesus have a difficult time discerning their purpose.
On a grand scale, we do not feel that we measure up to the “Super Christians” who seem to lead people to Jesus in droves, have memorized most of the Bible, and launch international mega-ministries. Naturally, comparing ourselves to others often discourages us from discovering our own purposes.
God’s will for our lives—the purpose He has for each of us—is custom tailored. It works itself out through our talents, abilities, life situations, spiritual gifts, personal histories, and faith. With that said, how do we discover that purpose and do it?
I believe trying to discover our entire life’s purpose is too weighty of a question. Instead, we ought to ask, “What is my purpose today?”
Return to Daily Living
Daily living requires a few changes in how we think about the world. We must surrender all lifelong plans, goals, achievements, and ambitions to God. We have to accept that we control none of our long-term outcomes. Not one of us is promised tomorrow (James 4:14). How silly of us to think we can manipulate things even five years down the road!
Surrendering our plans to God is actually a terrific and wise move on our part. When we do so, we commit all long-term things to God’s custody, intellect, and wisdom. This actually serves to make us amenable to His desires for us. It also takes the pressure off of us to fulfill our own plans, which generally lead to failure because we just don’t have the power. Furthermore, our outcomes become God-directed outcomes which have a 100-percent success rate for Him because He has all power, knowing, and positioning at His disposal.
Return to daily living. I intentionally call this a “return,” because at some point in our lives, generally as children, this was the only way to live. It requires a childlike dependency upon God to live this way, yet this is how Jesus explains that we must receive the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:13–17). Furthermore, there is a plethora of biblical examples that encourage us toward daily living.
- Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
- In Luke 9:23, He also says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
- In the Lord’s Prayer, we are to ask for daily bread in the same manner that the Israelites received daily manna in the wilderness (see Matthew 6:11).
- Within the Psalms, we have a collection of prayers that were meant to be recited or sung daily.
- Even in the Creation account, we see the focal point of God’s creative activity upon each day without reference to what would happen the next day.
What Daily Living Looks Like
The most important element of a good day is to put God first. That entails starting the day with a habitual devotional time. It does not need to be overly elaborate.
I generally read through a couple of chapters of the Bible followed by a time of prayer when I ask the Lord to order my steps that day. There are other elements I include, but committing the day’s activity to Him is crucial. Once I do that, I can trust that God is working through my day with me.
The next element is my ethical positioning. Now that I have committed my long-term plans to God, all I really need to do is find the Lord’s will or purpose in the decisions that I make that day. These tend to be smaller moral decisions based on my situation that day, where it is fairly simple to apply God’s Word.
At this point, I have rid myself of long-term strategic decisions that are morally vague. Once again, this allows me to make small bite-sized decisions that take the pressure off difficult and complex problems. I need to get the small, daily stuff right because that is what is within my small circle of control. We must trust that God controls the big picture in such a way that He directs us into circumstances and He provides opportunities that work in conjunction with our created and Spirit-filled makeup.
Ultimately, I think it is good to have long-term dreams and desires to do significant things for Jesus. Good daily living transforms those dreams from pressures into hopes. Furthermore, we are in no position in our finite knowledge to judge what actions are actually significant in the Kingdom of God.
When we surrender our long-term plans and choose to live daily, we begin to construct a good day by the mercy of God. Before we know it, we have a single good day. Next thing we know, we string a few good days together in daily obedience. Then we have a good week, month, and year. As we do this, we see the Lord taking over and maneuvering in ways that we could never have imagined. Then we may even witness our dreams being transformed from worldly plans to godly desires.
One Day at a Time
Perhaps you are not at the point where you feel that you can put even one good day together. Maybe you are in the midst of crisis or some overwhelming situation. The good news of daily living is that no matter how difficult life gets, you can survive the next 24 hours.
Instead of dwelling on the large, complex problem, commit it to God and work on small issues that come your way with the help of His Word, His Spirit, and His people. Tackle issues that need attention before the sun sets and live to fight another day.
Once again, as the Lord works through your days, you will find that overwhelming situations become manageable by this approach and the grace of God, because you are being obedient to His Word.
Adapted from “How Do I Live? Daily,” originally published in Wisdom, Discipline, & Understanding, an annual publication of The Jacob Institute in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, 2017.