Beware of Purpose killers!

What was the first question that came to your mind as soon as you woke up this morning. Some woke up with the question such as
What’s the time now?
What am I going to do today?
What am I going to wear today?
What am I going to eat today?

and some woke up to the question, what’s the purpose?

“Sense of purpose ‘adds years to life’,” BBC News reports, after a new study found that having a purpose in life is linked to living longer, regardless of your age or retirement status.(1)

This study found an association between people who felt they had a purposeful life and a reduced risk of death.

The US study asked more than 6,000 people aged 20 to 70 whether they felt they had a strong sense of purpose in life. This was assessed using a scoring system of how strongly people felt about the following statements:
They were also asked about their social relationships with others.
Death rates were recorded for the next 14 years. The study found that people who died scored lower on purpose in life and positive relations with others.

An average of 12,000 people in UK are asking google ‘what is the meaning of life’ (2) That’s every 5 minutes someone is asking google what is the meaning of life! In the next 30 to 45 minutes 10 people would have asked google ‘what is the meaning of my life’? I don’t know how many people reading this book are asking the same question.

H.G. Wells, famous historian and philosopher, said at age 61: “I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether.” (3)

Ralph Barton, one of the top cartoonists of the nations, left this note pinned to his pillow before taking his own life: “I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day.” (4)

The late actor George Sanders was one of Hollywood’s leading men a generation ago. After a glamorous life, however, he felt there was nothing else to live for. Having no peace, Sanders took his life, leaving this note: “I committed suicide because I am boring and because I have already lived long enough.” (5)

But look at what some of the finest people this world has ever seen said.

Dr. Myles Munroe is an internationally renowned bestselling author, lecturer, teacher, life coach, government consultant, and leadership mentor. He said, “The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.” (6)

I don’t have to tell the legacy left by Martin Luther King who said,
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t really matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.” (7)

Many believe D. L. Moody to be the greatest evangelist of all time. In a 40-year period he won a million souls, founded three Christian schools, launched a great Christian publishing business, established a world-renowned Christian conference center, and inspired literally thousands of preachers to win souls and conduct revivals. He traveled across the American continent and through Great Britain in some of the greatest and most successful evangelistic meetings communities have ever known. At his deathbed he said,

“Is this dying? Why this is bliss.
“There is no valley.
“I have been within the gates.
“Earth is receding; Heaven is opening; God is calling; I must go.” (8)

Billy Graham needs no introduction and he is still being used by God. He once said,

“My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ.” (9)

You can find a strong sense of purpose in these people who did great things in their lifetime!

There are only 2 kinds of people in this earth. One who knew their purpose and the other who does not! Which kind are you?

These people achieved great things and left a lasting legacy. But I don’t know anyone who left a legacy like this man did. He was born to a carpenter in a village called Nazareth in Israel. Since his birth, more books were written about him, known in each generation, in over 2800 languages i.e. 10 times the one in 2nd place, The Bible being the top published in the numbers billions, almost six times more than the book in 2nd place. Yea, I would say he is the world’s most known person to ever live (a short 33 year life on earth) and still counting. Most number of songs were written about him in any generation. People talk about him daily and think about him daily.

The Pastor of Calvary Baptist SM Lockridge once said “He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is the center piece of civilisation. He is the loftiest idea in literature.” (10)

He has 2 billion followers in the world. Many nations justice system is built around his teachings. Many successful businesses and organisations carry his name.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution said “I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.” (11)

So he must have done something right!!!!
That is why reading the bible is very important. You are not studying D.L Moody’s life, Myles monroe’s life or not even Billy graham’s life. You are studying the life and the words of the ‘Greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world’!

Look at what he has got to say today. The scripture says,
“35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” (12)

“That is why I have come!!!”That’s an incredible statement! He lived with a strong sense of purpose. No wonder he made such an impact in this world.

Not only he had a sense of purpose. He moved with purpose. That is what God wants you to do. God wants you to move with purpose. When I say ‘move with purpose’ it means everything you do should be based on your purpose. There are 5 important things you need to consider when you want to move with the purpose.

Make everyday decisions based on your purpose

Jesus made everyday decisions based on his purpose. Look at the above scripture again. He had options either to stay in Capernaum or to leave and go to surrounding places. But Jesus made the decision to leave Capernaum based on his purpose. He said ‘that is why I have come’.

When you are moving forward in life it is very important you don’t take decisions based on any other factors apart from your purpose/calling. When you take decisions based on other factors, it is when you will get into problems. I call these as ‘Purpose killers’ and I want to talk about five purpose killers that you should be aware of.

A) The first purpose-killer is taking decisions because “someone wanted it that way”

Taking decisions because someone wanted it that way is highly dangerous for a life that wants to achieve something. Or we can simply say “trying to please people” is highly dangerous for your life. You cannot please everyone all the time. Some people will be unhappy no matter what you do in life. Don’t waste your life, energy, time on these people trying to please them. Draw a line and keep your vision in front of you.

Sometimes pleasing people can lead you to dangerous places. It can destroy the purpose of your life and sometimes it can be fatal for your calling. You do certain things in life because someone wanted it. Slowly you will try to accommodate things beyond your ability and capability. But you fail to understand that you have a set 24 hours in a day and within that you have certain important things to do which directly affects the purpose of your life. When you start pleasing people and try to accommodate other things it slowly takes life out of other things. You start spending less time with God, with your family or you fail to focus on your career. It takes life out of them and you end up in a mess. And we don’t know why we end up in mess. Because when you take life out of things it eventually dies. If you want to kill a relationship just slowly take time out of that relationship and it will die. If you want to kill your career slowly take time out of it and start being insincere and careless. Slowly your career will be in a mess. If you want to kill your studies start spending less time and it will die. Same principle works for your relationship with God and your marriage.

But Jesus was not a people pleaser. The disciples and the people of Capernaum wanted him there. But he chose to go to a different place. That is how you move with purpose in life. That is what differentiates a man with a purpose and a man with no purpose. Yes, he did disappoint those waiting for him. But you might have to disappoint certain people if you want to move with purpose. If people are not part of your purpose disappointing them is o.k. If people are part of your purpose they will understand you one fine day. So keep on moving with the purpose.

B) The second purpose-killer is taking decisions based on your setbacks and failures.

Setbacks and failures shouldn’t stop us from moving with purpose. If setbacks and failures are supposed to be the final word, the world would have been empty and void. There would have been no civilisation, no inventions, no big corporations and the world would have been full of bunch of people who have miserably failed.

Martin Luther King Jr one said “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” (13)

When you have a purpose before you, you need to take every setback and failure as ‘God moment’. You need to learn to navigate out of that failure. You either move forward in spite of failure or navigate around that failure. It’s a way of God telling you ‘it’s not the exact path where I want you to be’ or ‘I want you to overcome this’. The word failure shouldn’t be in a christian’s dictionary.

Jesus faced several setbacks. When he heard about Lazarus sickness he wanted to go to Jerusalem. But only few days before that he faced severe opposition in Jerusalem. The Jews tried to pick the stones and stone him to death.
The bible said “They tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” (14)
So it’s a highly dangerous place for Jesus to go again. Even the disciples warned him saying  “Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” In spite of all these setbacks he went to that place and performed one of the greatest miracle. Jesus was not afraid of setbacks. He kept moving forward with the purpose.

I love what Winston Churchill said “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” (15)

When you have a purpose before you nothing in life matters to you. So never take decisions based on your setbacks and failures.

C) The third purpose-killer is taking decisions because “it is highly beneficial, profitable and attractive from worldly perspective.”

If Jesus was all about fame and power he could have decided to stay in Capernaum because everyone was looking for him. You don’t take decisions because it is highly beneficial and profitable to you. You take decisions because it is in alignment with your purpose.

Rick Warren starts his book Purpose driven life by saying “The purpose of your life is not you but God.” If you understand this truth then you don’t have to hear another sermon on ‘purpose’. It was never about you.
Paul said “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (16)

Lot is a perfect example for how not to take a decisions in life. Lot and Abraham entered an agreement to part company.
So Abraham said to Lot “Let’s not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

The bible says “Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. ” (17)

To Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah looked like “Garden of Eden”. So he chose to go to that place without knowing that city will soon be destroyed by God. Lot lost his wife because of his foolish choice and his family had to be rescued by an angel and suffered severe consequences later because of his decision. All because it looked attractive and beautiful! How many men and women of God have fallen out of their purpose because they thought it was attractive? How many ministries and marriages were destroyed because of extra marital affairs?

Therefore it is never about you and never take any decisions based on your personal benefit and pleasure. Always look at the big picture and ask the question whether it is in alignment with God’s purpose in your life or not.

D) The fourth purpose-killer is ‘assuming it’s too late’!

It’s never too late to start moving with the purpose.

Ray Kroc worked as a piano player, a paper cup salesman and a multi-mixer salesman until the age of 52! Do you know who Ray Kroc is? At the age of 52, he founded a hamburger restaurant chain called McDonalds!! Now you know who Ray Kroc is.
He once said, “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.” (18)
At an age of 52 he made a significant impact. If you think you are too old to do anything significant think agin. Your best years are yet to come.

At the age of 65 when Colonel Sanders faced a huge calamity in his career, he was just left with social security check and his secret recipe for a fried chicken. That was all needed for him to start a new restaurant chain called KFC all over the world!

Moses was 80 years when he realised his purpose and started moving with the purpose!

It’s never too late to start moving with your purpose.

E) The fifth and final purpose-killer is that you take a decision out of fear.

Out of all the five, this is the most dangerous as it is directly against your faith.

Someone once said, FEAR has 2 meanings. “Face everything and Rise”. “Forget everything and Run.” Which one applies to your life?

Nehemiah set a perfect example on this. Once he was threatened by his enemies to stop the work he was doing for God. They threatened that they are going to spread false reputation against him and also to kill him. But he never gave in to those intimidation.

He replied “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (19)

He refused to take any decisions based on fear.

Similarly, one day some pharisees came to Jesus and said to him

“Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! (20)

What a strong sense of purpose! Jesus was simply saying you cannot stop me from finishing my purpose on earth. In any case I must press on!

Can you say these words in your situation? Can you say ‘In any case I will do this because it is God’s will’? Just like Nehemiah and Jesus, refuse to take any decisions based on fear for such decisions can be dangerous for God’s calling in your life.