PURPOSE CORNER: YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN TISSUE PAPER

You wake up one morning with a serious urge to use the toilet. You rush to the toilet, do the needful, reach out to take the tissue paper after your business and realise you’ve run out. Tell me, how will you feel?

That little inconvenience is able to change your mood. It is in that moment that you'll realise how important tissue paper is. 

If cheap lifeless tissue paper has a purpose, how much more you- a living breathing image of the one true God?

Hi there, we're gonna talk about the “P” word. Not pain, not pressure, but purpose. To be honest, this is not something I like to talk about. I feel like purpose, especially in Christian circles, was at a point exaggerated that it felt more like a self help/ personal development module with “God” plastered here and there. A quest for significance using God as an excuse.

Regardless of the excesses, purpose is still a very important subject. When I took up this topic, I realized that many of our questions are purpose questions packaged in more accepting christianese for those of us that shudder at the word “purpose”. Like…

“What is the will of God for my life?”

“What is the will of God in this situation?”

“What should I do?”

“When should I do it?”

“How should I do it?”

“Where do I go from here?”

The list goes on and on.

My job today is to make a point for purpose - something I once side-eyed. To drive the motion into your mind, dear reader, that your purpose is the licence for your existence.

So what is purpose?

Purpose is the original intent reason of a thing. 

To know the purpose of humanity, we have to go back to the very beginning, when God created us. God created us 

• In His image and likeness 

• to “subdue and dominate the earth”. 

 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”- Genesis 1:26 ESV

After creating everything we see, He found the concept of humanity useful in His grand scheme. 

We are the product

He is the manufacturer 

Back to the tissue paper, it's use has not ceased, we need it. Best believe that if we invent a much better and cheaper alternative, its usage will drop. Same with us, humanity hasn't gone extinct because God still has use for us - each and every one of us. Our manufacturer still finds us useful chess pieces in His game.

If a toilet paper manufacturer knew to give it a purpose, how much more the Creator of the universe His most prized creation.

The creator of the product has a superior understanding of the unique capabilities and weakness of his product and is the only one qualified to tell us what the product is intended for. It is impossible to know the purpose of a thing without consulting the maker.

A refrigerator doesn't decide to be a kettle today and a phone tomorrow. It's use is inbuilt and predetermined by its maker.

So, a revelation of your purpose on earth is directly related to your knowledge of your Creator.The more you know Christ, the more He reveals to you what He wants you to do with the time on the earth He has gifted you.

A REVELATION OF YOUR PURPOSE IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CREATOR

“So what is my purpose?”

The purpose of every christian is to know Christ and make Him known. Full stop.

A lifetime of intentional pursuit of God and the things He has told us to do collectively and individually. The seal of God's creativity is imprinted deep within our DNA that all creation naturally expects us to live doing His will. 

I understand the headache of trying to figure out your purpose and this is not in any way downplaying the severity of it.

Knowing God and making Him known is not as vague as you might think it is. 

IF CHEAP LIFELESS TISSUE PAPER HAS A PURPOSE, HOW MUCH MORE YOU - A LIVING BREATHING IMAGE OF THE ONE TRUE GOD

Building a relationship with God is a whole curriculum, it is a life-long journey of love, surrender and self-denial. There's just so much to do to keep us occupied forever.

And God did not leave us without help.

He is the manufacturer…"yes"

We are the product…"yes"

And every product comes with a manual right?..."well, the toilet paper doesn't."

At least it has a plastic packaging around it telling you some salient stuff, doesn't it?...."yes"

For us, the Bible is our manual. It contains all that we'll need to live a fulfilling life according to God's standards. And serves as a good place to start from for the person of purpose. So for anyone paralyzed on what to do, living by the Word is where you start. 

The Bible is littered with practical tips for Christian living encompassing diverse sectors like work, family, society etc. The Holy Spirit is ever present to guide us into the truth of the Word as we study it. He has the ability to change us from the inside out to become more like Christ (=better people). While we wait for God to lead us in the specifics of our lives, we can be diligent in what He has already shown us in His Word. 

The Word ultimately becomes standard by which we would weigh every specific instruction we feel we have received from God. Know it and know it well so that you will know that truly, it is the Lord leading you. 

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Yes, purpose is important. But dear christian your purpose is Christ. He is the reason you live, move and have your being. The accolades are great, the ambition is beautiful, but if it is not to Him, from Him, for Him and because of Him, have you truly lived?

BUT IF IT IS NOT TO HIM, FROM HIM, FOR HIM AND BECAUSE OF HIM, HAVE YOU TRULY LIVED?

Serve God with all your heart, be diligent with the work you have been entrusted with. And if He lights a little spark in your heart towards a certain cause pursue it unapologetically. If the Lord has given you a commission, you need no one's permission.

Surely as we follow His leading, we will see our lives begin to take shape, a semblance it did not have before. Until it gets to a point where you stand still, mouth wide open and whisper in surprise, “that was purpose all along”.