How to Find Your Purpose

My pastor gave an interesting sermon awhile back on how to find your purpose in life. He shared something at the beginning that I wholeheartedly agree with—each of us was created by God for a purpose. It wasn’t an accident that you were created. We weren’t given the beautiful gift of life just to mope around, acquire a bunch of stuff, and watch TV. There has to be something more.

But sometimes finding your purpose can be tough. I was feeling kind of down about my purpose last year. I have a great job, but for some reason I was feeling discontented about it. I felt like a lot of the research and writing I was doing wasn’t really impacting the world in an important way. I felt like I was just getting up and going through the motions. Life can be tough when you don’t have a clear vision for what you are supposed to be doing and why you are doing it.

My pastor shared two questions that he encourages people to ask when trying to find their purpose. I think both are important.

Question #1: What Makes You Angry?

The first question is what makes you angry? What is it about the world that makes you mad? There’s a lot of brokenness and pain in the world. Some people die because they don’t have enough to eat. Some kids don’t have clean water, or can’t afford a malaria pill. People are discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Families break up. People get divorced. Some people get so depressed that they take their own lives. What is it that makes you stand up and say “Something has to be done about this!” If you can identify what makes you angry, you might find some clues about your purpose.

Question #2: What is Your Passion?

The second question is what is your passion? In other words, what do you love to do? What gets you going in the morning? What kinds of activities do you lose yourself in—you could do them for hours and not even notice the time passing? The problem is most people delegate their passions to their hobbies, rather than thinking about how their passions might inform their purpose. If you can identify your passion, you might find some clues about your purpose.

Putting It Together

What came up for you when you thought about what makes you angry, as well as your passion? Take some time and think about these questions. Talk about your answers with others who are close to you and know you well. It might also be worth talking over the answers to these questions with a counselor or coach. If you can find the intersection of your anger and your passion, you might be close to finding your purpose.