02 - Purpose Series

Hello and welcome to our second talk on perspectives. Let me begin with a greeting, “Hello! Why are you?” I am sure you are wondering what kind of greeting is that. For those of you who read my earlier message, you might recall I asked you to greet your neighbor with the words, “Hello who are you?” Today I am greeting you with the words, “Hello Why are you?” You know last time we talked about ‘Identity,’ today we are talking about another very related and very important topic, ‘Purpose’ You know, “Who am I?” and “Why am I?” are two very important questions that every human being needs to answer, and they are so related. They are like two sides of the same coin. You can’t answer one question without answering the other question.

I don’t know how many of us have really stopped to ask ourselves that question, “What is life’s purpose?” “What’s the purpose of me being here on earth?” Let me begin by telling you about a little activity I do at trainings, it is called ‘Criticos.’ I begin by asking the participants to let me know if they’ve had breakfast that morning, and to put their hands up if they have. Then I say to one of those who’ve raised their hands, “Why did you have breakfast?” and they would say something like, “I had breakfast because I was hungry.” So then I say, “So, why would you eat if you’re hungry?” and so the person would say, “So that I have strength.” So I would say, “So why would you want strength?” and he or she says, “So I can work,” to which I’d ask, “Why do you want to work?” to which they’d respond, “So I can earn money.” “Why do you want to earn money?” “So I can live.” and “Why do you want to live?” Very often when that question is asked, there’s no immediate response, and that’s because not many people are clear about the reasons behind why they want to live.

That’s what I am addressing today, “Why do I want to live?” “What’s my purpose in living?” Why should we even think about Purpose? Should there be a purpose? Have you noticed that you do anything better when you have a purpose behind doing it, rather than when you do it merely because you’ve been told to do it. Purpose drives us forward. It gives us a reason to do what we do. We do it better, we do it quicker, and we do it with more passion when there is a purpose behind what we do. So, “What’s the purpose of life?”

• For some people there is no purpose in living – they just live. Whatever happens in life happens - you can’t stop it. That’s one view.

• There are some who feel their purpose in life is to be the happiest person possible. They want to have as much fun as possible. That’s some people’s purpose in living.

• Another person’s purpose could be that they want to be the best-looking person

• Another one’s purpose might be that they want to be the most popular person

• Another one might say, “I want to be at the top wherever I am.”

• Another might say, “I want to be the strongest person.”

• Another might say, “I want to have as much knowledge, my purpose is to have as much knowledge in life about everything possible.”

• Another might say, “I want to be the wealthiest person possible - to possess as much as I can.”

• Another might say, “I want to be the best in my area of expertise nobody should be better than me. That’s my purpose - to be the very best.”

• Another might say, “I want to be known as a good person.”

So you find all these purposes I mentioned are very connected with the identities I referred to in my last message. Some believe their identity is derived from their looks, for some it’s derived from their wealth, for others, their identity is derived from the knowledge they possess, for some it’s derived from how popular they are, for some it’s based on the skills they possess. As we compare the things we derive our identity from, and compare it with our purpose for living, we will that our Identity and Purpose go hand in hand.

If I derive my identity from something, then that’s exactly what I want to pursue. If I get my identity from riches, then I want to possess more riches - that’s my purpose in life. If I get my identity from knowledge, then I want to possess as much knowledge as possible. That’s how connected identity and purpose. When you see a phone you know it’s used to communicate. When you see a comb you know it’s meant to comb your hair. When you see a torch, you know it’s meant to shine light in the dark. You just know it’s purpose immediately - you don’t even need to think. That’s how closely linked identity and purpose are. So, if that is how it is for man-made objects, where every item has a purpose, much more is it true for you and I who are created by God. God never does anything without a purpose. Just like I said in my last talk on identity. “Let’s not wait for many years from now to begin our search for our purpose.”