What’s my Kingdom purpose? I was asked this some time ago, and I frankly found myself stuttering. I’ve been a believer for some time, so you figure I’d have a god answer. But I didn’t.
Instead, my mind raced to all sorts of places. I thought, “Good question…I should know this…what exactly is that anyway?” I knew that Jesus talks about “the Kingdom” a lot and that many agree that the Kingdom of God was Jesus’ central message (Google “Jesus and Kingdom of God” to find more than a few). I knew that Jesus informed a particular group that “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
What did that mean for me? On that day, I think my answer was accurate, but not complete.
I came to decide to change the question. If the Kingdom is within me, the question really is just, “What’s my purpose?” Or perhaps “What’s my why?” (if you haven’t seen the “Start With Why” TED talk by Simon Sinek on YouTube, I’d recommend it - the video, not the book). As a believer, how do I fit in to God’s story? How do I live it out so that others can see it? Ask questions about it?
When I was wrestling with Spiritual gifts, someone pointed me to the Message’s translation of 1 Corinthians 12:7, “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.”
What am I here to do? What is my organization here to do?
It’s not an easy answer. It takes time. It takes time away to wrestle with hard questions.
Three questions you might ask to help: 1) What themes have been present in my life? For Moses, for example, it seems that “rescue” was one theme: at his birth, helping to rescue individuals, then a nation. 2) What makes me cry? What are the things that bring you great happiness and sadness? 3) What do others say about me? Who can you ask to highlight your character strengths? It may be that you don’t have the skills yet - but you likely have the character traits to fulfill your purpose.
Time away, good questions, wrestling with answers…it will take this and more to get to a clear Purpose. When it’s clear, it makes it much easier to say “yes” and “no”. When will you invest the time to bring it into focus?