On-purpose Living

On-purpose Living

By Phil Gunther, SKMB Director of Ministry

Let’s not run life aimlessly.

“So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. Don’t act thoughtlessly but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to.” - Ephesians 5:15-17 TLB

“Our lives are the sum of our choices.” - Albert Camus

Maybe it’s because I’m in the home stretch of life, well past the halfway point to one hundred. Maybe it’s because my ailments are increasing. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost five of my immediate family members to cancer in the last twelve years.  Maybe, just maybe, it’s all of them together. I am pondering more and more what on-purpose living means in this season of my life.

Questions around what God would have me do in the final chapter of my vocation have become far more pressing.  What does ending well look like? Succession planning is top of mind. What is the health of my financial portfolio? Are there personal passions that are yet to be pursued? My brother David died the year he was to retire. My brother Peter died very shortly after he retired. What is the lesson I need to glean here?

The bottom line is that I want to live my life on-purpose. I take the testimony of the Apostle Paul seriously: “In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So, run your race to win. To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step” (1 Corinthians 9:24-26a TLB). For Paul, the goal was the proclamation of the gospel, and he was pursuing that goal aimlessly, but with determination and clarity of purpose.

With Paul’s testimony in mind, here are some questions I feel an urgency to address:

• What do I sense God counseling me about the conclusion of my current vocational work?
• Are there currently some significant matters in my personal or vocational life that need to be started or concluded?
• Are there any new opportunities ahead for which God has specifically gifted me, and should I genuinely consider them?
• Do I have a passion for something that, for whatever reason, I have not yet pursued?
• Do I see any health issues for myself or my spouse that may limit future activities?
• What is my financial picture?
• What spiritual, mental, and emotional capacity do I have to start a new venture?
• What is the counsel of my family, friends and faith community about ending or beginning something?
• What have others in a similar season done with their lives?
• Have I sincerely committed this matter of discernment to prayer?

Friends, as you engage with these or similar questions, be honest about your circumstances and realistic about the opportunities. Seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit at every turn. Take sufficient time to clarify what living on-purpose means for you. The books The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and Joyce Meyer’s Seize The Day – Living On Purpose have proven insightful to me. In addition, list the things that are keeping you from on-purpose living and take deliberate and measured steps to remove them as barriers.

When my father retired, he told me he was now going to fish full-time.  This confused me because I had never seen a dad fish, and he never took me fishing.  He then shared with me that his retirement would involve serving Jesus as a gospel ambassador and a person of encouragement.  This was what dad meant by fishing.  Dad lived on-purpose until the Lord called him home.

“What we do in life echoes to eternity.” - Maximus