in pursuit of purpose

The greatest tragedy in life isn't death, but life without meaning and purpose.

There are at least six things that all men continually seek and struggle to attain. These six senses as I like to call them are self worth, self esteem, self concept, significance, self value and self destiny.

Achieving all six requires us to answer the five critical questions which are: 

Who am I? 

Where am I from? 

Why am I here? 

What can I do? 

What is my destiny?

From scripture, we understand that one of the key distinguishing factors that separates God from other deities is His ability to start from the end (Isaiah 46:9-10). He’s the only one who works from the end to the beginning. He never begins with the beginning. Therefore, if He made us, then that’s undeniable evidence that He’s already concluded everything about us. The only thing that pleases Him is his pin-point specific purpose for us. 

We know He made fish to swim – This explains why fishes don’t go to school to swim, rather they swim in schools. By observing the things around us, we recognize that destiny isn’t ahead of us, but is inside of us. We may not be certain about which came first between the chicken and the egg but we do know that inside an egg isn’t only a chicken, but also a chicken farm. No one can judge a man’s true potential. What one man can do is an eternal mystery.

“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone!” A Prophet named Isaiah uttered these exact words after he realized that the life he had lived up until that time was meaningless and without purpose. He had been a good man doing laudable things before that time, but these things had little to do with purpose – they all constituted a pile of irrelevant activities. 

At the turning point of his life, he got caught up in a vision where he beheld the source, architect and dispenser of all destinies and purposes. After this once in a lifetime experience, he became a “sent” man. That was the defining moment of his existence. (Question: Can I beat my chest and declare boldly that I am a sent man in my sphere of operation today?)

Still in scripture, a man named Paul said “Not that I have already attained, but I persist that I may apprehend that for which I was apprehended……I press forward toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God”. This man had a similar experience. He had pocketed great accomplishments within a short period, but he was gifted with a life transforming encounter that rendered all his previous accomplishments “dung” in comparison with the assignments that lay ahead of him.

A great friend recently quit what many would classify as an outstanding career opportunity in an industry that everyone wants to get into. He did this to pursue his original God given dream in another industry that is currently facing huge challenges globally. Many did not understand why someone would take such a daring decision to quit a “God given” secure job that offered remuneration that is considered competitive anywhere in the world. To make matters worse, he crossed over into an industry riddled with uncertainties. What the 99% that queried his decision didn’t understand was the sheer force of purpose. Purpose and logic are not often found together, but logic always ends up deferring to purpose. Soon, they will understand the mystery behind this choice because purpose never, and I repeat, never disappoints!

What is Purpose?

Purpose is original intent, the reason why something exists, the result that a manufacturer intended, the cause for creating something, the destiny of a product. Purpose is established end and destiny. Purpose predates production. No company designs a product before deciding its application.   

If we take it to another level, we can yet understand purpose as the end from the beginning, the finish before the start, the destination before the journey and the underlying basis for conception and propagation. In essence, purpose gave birth to you. Purpose is by default programmed into a carrier.

What happens without purpose?

Without purpose, life has no meaning, no definition, no precision and is emptied of passion. An American medical research revealed that 80% of deaths from heart attacks occur between 7am and 9am on Monday mornings. Prolonged stress and frustration induced by the unending pursuit of what we hate was identified as the reason behind this. Purpose guarantees you never have one more boring day. This explains why those who have found her hate sunsets and don’t need an alarm clock because passion wakes them up every morning. Passion takes away the need for external motivation. Without purpose, you dream of 5 o’clock every day and dread day break.

Furthermore, we do understand that passion is stronger than opposition. Purpose makes problems your friend. Purpose gives you company even when everyone leaves your side.

Locating Destiny

Destiny simply means destination. Purpose transports you into destiny. Your destiny is your performance stage. It’s the place of unending display. An interesting characteristic of destiny is its ability to pull you to itself like the gravitational force. Destiny does this by frustrating you whenever you are not on its path. When you find purpose, you don’t want to do anything else. Your destiny makes you uncomfortable until you reach it. Your destiny is the source and generator of your dreams, passions and desires. Visions are photographs of your destiny.

That’s why many of us must recognize that what we are engaged in right now should be called a pre-occupation, not occupation. There’s something ahead that we are going to occupy and it’s far bigger than where we are right now. Every residence we occupy is temporary until we reach purpose and enter into destiny. Under normal circumstances, Purpose and Destiny never expire.

Finding Purpose

Purpose is found in quietness. Many people get caught up in endless pursuits of power and significance and in the process lose sight of their personal identity. This explains why we often seek external validations for the externally motivated pursuits that distract us from our God given assignments. Purpose is never fully discovered in the presence of adversaries. It’s absolutely critical to excommunicate toxic minds and personalities from our inner circles of influence. An interesting fact about wrong people is that they never leave our lives voluntarily. Since persistence breaks resistance, we have the ultimate responsibility to get rid of wrong folk before they suffocate our dreams. This is more than a game. We must fight in order to possess the future and walk into destiny.

We must constantly remember that our dreams are our Number 1 employer!

Everything has a purpose, but not every purpose is known. We don’t have to know the purpose of everything, but it is an unforgiveable crime to not know our own purpose.