Your True Purpose in Life

Written by Jimmie Burroughs   

Introduction

Every person has a true purpose in life, but not every person fulfills theirs. Why? Because they never know what it is; they don’t know because they never made it their purpose to know.

Finding happiness, pleasure or making money are different subjects from finding your true purpose in life; it is true that finding your true purpose could bring more happiness than you have ever known and earn you a lot of money, but that isn’t the goal. This article centers on “Finding your true purpose in life”, nothing more.

So, how can you go about finding your true purpose in life? This article will present some illustrations on how others were able to discover theirs, in hopes that you also may discover yours.

It takes time to discover your true purpose. Our purpose becomes more clearly defined in time and sometimes evolves into something entirely different from where we started. For example, sometimes a medical doctor spends years in getting his education, becomes a well-known doctor in his field and then changes courses and pursues something entirely different as his true purpose becomes more defined. I had a doctor friend who did just that. He finally spent 18 years in college to reach his final true purpose.

Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, was broke at 65, but he had just received his first Social Security check and decided to use it to embark upon his true purpose in life. All he had of value was a recipe for fried chicken and a “never-give-up” spirit. His goal was to sell restaurant owners on the idea of preparing and selling fried chicken, using his recipe. He began by knocking on doors; he received 1009 rejections before someone finally agreed to his offer to pay him a royalty on every piece of chicken sold, using his fried chicken recipe. Over a period of time, the Colonel had 600 franchise restaurants.

Moses of the Old Testament was 40 years of age when he decided he was not fulfilling his true purpose, although he lived in Pharos’ palace; he had all the luxuries of life afforded by being the son of Pharos’ daughter. He had riches and power at his fingertips and the possible heir to Pharos’ throne; yet, he was ready to give it all up in order to find his true purpose. He moved to the backside of the desert and lived another 45 years tending sheep before God revealed to him his true purpose; he was to lead the people of God, living in bondage in Egypt, to the Promise Land, all two and a half million of them.

After World War II, Japan struggled to redefine their purpose. Believing that the United States wanted to buy cheap products, they began to produce shoddy merchandise. Their economy was going nowhere and their reputation was on the bottom; that is until they employed an American, *E.Edwards Deming, to guide their industry. From the very beginning, under Deming’s guidance, the Japanese economy started upward. Their workmanship went from shoddy to excellent, and they discovered their purpose in the world and became the cutting edge of technology.

What determines our purpose is already in our heart waiting to come out and be refined and developed? It is mixed in with all the other aspirations and desires. Drawing it out can take time. Sometimes it helps to write down every desire, every aspiration and everything we wish to accomplish in life until we come to the one thing that we are the most passionate about; it can become our first purpose.

Our first purpose may not be our true purpose but it can lead us to it. One thing leads to something else until one day we know that our course is right on target, and the goal is now clearly in sight.

I was 34 when I first realized my purpose. It would require a degree, which I didn’t have. I had two very young children, a 40 hour a week job and no money in the bank. For 6 years I struggled through college working full time and part of the time carrying a full load at college. Through it all, I managed to graduate with honors and a 3.72 grade point average.

It took until I was 68 years old to further refine and define my purpose and to actually discover my true purpose. I now have a 20/20 vision concerning it. I pray I will live long enough to complete it.

When the first rocket blasted off from Cape Canerval, Florida and headed towards the moon, it wasn’t really headed for the moon at all; instead it was headed for a tiny window in space that would position it to make the journey to the moon. How consistently was it on course? It was on course 2.5% of the time and the rest of the time it was making corrections. That is also true for each one of us; there will be many corrections as we continue our forward motion and it could be the results of the side effects that become our true purpose.

The person who invented the transistor had little idea that the side effects would one day result in a Rocket Ship going to the moon, along with all the other uses is has in present day technology.

The honey bee’s true purpose is actually a side effect; her goal is to collect nectar to produce honey for food but the side effect is she pollinates plants which forward life on earth; we could not exist on this earth otherwise. Could it be her true purpose for being on the planet is to preserve life? Her goal it to collect nectar and produce honey, but the profound side effect is something altogether different.

*R. Buckminster Fuller wrote a book titled, Critical Path. Buckminster set out to find out the rules God set up to govern the universe, believing that we could apply the same rules to our own life and learn purpose and direction.

It has been told that Buckminster’s life was at one time ordinary. He was wild, ran with a bunch of party goers, just out for a good time. Something happened one day in his life that would change things forever. He had a daughter whose name was Alexander, only 6 years old and very sick. He was preparing to go to a football game one day and promised his little daughter to be back soon and told her that he would bring her a little flag from the football game.

He didn’t return for three days, which time he spent partying. When he did finally arrive home, his wife told him he better immediately go directly upstairs and see his daughter; the little girl had taken a turn for the worse. When he got upstairs, he took her up in his arms and kissed her and she asked him where it was, the little flag he had promised to bring her. Of course he didn’t have it as he promised, and the disappointment for her was so great that her frail, weakened little body couldn’t take it and she died in his arms.

It was so devastating for Fuller that he decided to take his own life, but before he could, he heard a voice tell him that he didn’t have a right to do so before he completed the purpose for which he was on earth.

He pondered what could he do; he had no money and was unknown. What in the world could he do on the behalf of humanity? What was it that God had for him to do that only he alone could accomplish?

There was one thing he knew very clearly and that was words had great power and produced unimaginable results. He felt the pain of his own spoken words. He decided not to speak at all until he learned how to say the right words. It took two years of silence before he could come to terms with the devastation in his life; during which time he found a new direction for his life.

He come to believe that God had a purpose for every person that would give a new found meaning to their lives, if known, and could produce a standard of living not known before.

He discovered that God’s principles for the operation of the universe all had meaning and purpose and they were consistent and unchanging.

One of the great principles he discovered is called Precession. Precession sounds similar to procession; both words have to do with motion. Procession has to do with forward motion and precession has to do motion that effects the motion of other bodies in 90% angles. For example, a stone cast into the water has a ripple effect that has a widening influence on the water around it. The ripple effect is the side effect and the resulting motion is caused by the original motion.

The moon seems only to have one goal, a trajectory orbit around the earth but in fact it is precession. Its right-angle effect on earth is one the earth could not exist without. The gravitational pull of the moon with a little help from the sun causes the rise and lowering of the ocean tide. It does this by pulling the ocean up in a bubble and then releasing it slowly. It the moon was suddenly removed; it would create tidal waves around the world and destroy all the coastal cities. Just like the honey bee that I mentioned earlier, the side effect of the moon’s motion impacts life on earth.

What is the true purpose of the honey bee…to gather nectar and produce honey or could it be that its purpose is to pollinate plants to forward life on earth? Our existence would be impossible without them. If God has such a profound purpose for a simple little honey bee, don’t you just suppose that he also has a purpose for you and me? But of course, he does; therefore, it is expedient that we discover it and fulfill it.

It is far more important to be in motion pursuing our goal than actualy achieving it, since to reach it and then quit means the precession stops and there are no more right angle side effects. Our purpose goes beyond reaching any particular goal. Our purpose is for a lifetime.

The man who won D.L. Moody to the Lord was a shoe salesman. The side effect was one of the greatest evangelists of the past century.

The evangelists that convinced Billy Graham to accept the Lord had a ministry that nowhere came near to the side effect that Billy Graham’s ministry would have on the entire world for more than 70 years. It is often the side effects that become our true purpose in life instead of the goal.

I think most of the world has it wrong when it comes to purpose. It is not solely to make money, pursue pleasure or even to be happy, but it is to give value. When we do what we are supposed to be doing, then God will add the rest. “The lily of the field’s nary labor or toil but God provides for them.”

The definition of precession is “the effect of bodies in motion on other bodies in motion. Our biggest mistake in life is our fear of making a mistake, therefore refusing to be involved in the motion of life. Our motion in life is going to have a precession side effect on all those around us. It will take another world to know exactly the impact that one body in motion had others.

Our goal never needs to be in terms of how much money we are going to make but instead how much value we are going to add; if we add value, the money surely will be one of the side effects.

If the lilies of the field do nothing but what they are supposed to do, and God takes care of them, how much more will he take care of his own children who are doing what they are supposed to be doing and fulfilling their purpose on this earth.

The secret is to set the right goals that create the right-side effects; goals that add value that adds to the quality of life for others. Although making money is a need we have in order to sustain life, it is not our true purpose. Our true purpose is to add value to the lives other others.

What an exciting thing to know that you are on center to fulfill the purpose for which you are here; being in motion with others who are in motion to change the world for the good.

Precession means to be in motion. The questions to ask yourself are: Am I really in motion? Am I on course? Do I matter? The best way to get started is to interact with others who are in motion.

Don’t let past failures stop you. Thomas Edison had many failures before he found something that worked? It is said that he failed 10,000 times before he finally invented the light bulb. It has been said that someone once asked him, “How did it make you feel to fail 10,000 times?” His reply was, “I never failed; I just found 10,000 things which didn’t work.”

When there is no purpose in your life, then there is no longer purpose to have life. Some have only one goal in life and that is to retire. Please don’t make that your goal. If you quit and sit down, you will have only three years left, on the average, before you die.

There are three categories of people on this earth when it comes to purpose and adding value to the life of others:

1. Those who take value away; they lie, cheat, steal and kill.
2. Those who do nothing; they are complacent, uncommitted, self-centered and lazy.
3. Those who have discovered their true purpose; their goal is to add value to the lives of others and create a better world.

Choose your category; if you are intelligent and have character, you know that the third one is the only acceptable option. That being the case, *don’t you think it is high time to find your true purpose and commit yourself to it?

Your greatest purpose of all: Life is so brief even if you live to be 100 years old. The Bible’s description of life is, it is like a cup of water poured upon the sand, which quickly vanishes away, or a vapor that only lingers a little while and then it is gone. God’s purpose for you is eternal life; He wants you to live for all eternity with Him in heaven, a place where there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, and no more pain and suffering. Even during your brief stay on earth, He wants to give you an abundant life. Jesus said ‘I came that ye may have life and have it more abundantly.” Are you ready to discover your greatest purpose of all? If so, CLICK HERE for step by step instructions.  

Recommended reading

*Critical Path: by R. Buckminster Fuller

*Dr Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese about Quality: By Rafael Aguayo. Foreword by E.Edwards Deming

*The E Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It: By Michael Gerber