“I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22)
I once read about a high powered headhunter – not the guy in the jungle, but a corporate recruiter – a man who helps business executives find placement in companies. This fellow said that as part of his interviewing process — he would sit the interviewees down and begin to get to know them. He would intentionally seek to put them at ease. He would talk about anything that would relax them – baseball, the weather, trips they’d been on, family. Then about the time that they would lean back and make themselves comfortable he would quickly ask them, “What is your purpose in life?”
“You’d be amazed,” he said, “at how few of these high powered professional people could answer the question.” Some would speak of retiring early and others about obtaining power or financial success. “But most,” he said, “Would simply fumble and stammer and be totally unclear.”
Well, one day, as he was going through the interviewing routine with a man in his office – talking about football — he noticed the man begin to relax. So, he hit him with the question, “What is your purpose in life?”
And without blinking an eye, the interviewee replied, “To go to heaven and to take as many people with me as I can.”
The interviewer was blown away.
You see that’s a purpose. It’s a bigger story with focused intention. It has eternal perspective and eternal significance. It has goals built into it. And it goes way beyond the little soap operas that most people spend their lives living. It doesn’t neglect the temporal things (the things of this world), but it doesn’t make them the primary motivator nor the chief place of investment.
Let me ask you, “Do you know your purpose in life?”
If it’s to retire early – or to enjoy retirement – it’s not big enough. If it’s to live in a big house in the suburbs or on one of the islands – it’s not big enough. Is your purpose merely about yourself and accumulating the things and the esteem of this world – or is your purpose grounded upon God Almighty and his intentions and pleasure?
The apostle Paul said, “I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22). His life was focused on bringing people to the saving knowledge of Christ. He knew that not everyone would be saved, but he made it his purpose to do all that was in his power to reach as many people as he possibly could. This included giving up his rights: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them, (v 19). Likewise he willingly sacrificed and disciplined himself because he knew that his efforts in serving Christ would be met with eternal reward: “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like a man shadow boxing. No, I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified from the prize,” (vv. 26-27).
So what’s your purpose in life? If you don’t know, may I suggest you spend some time seeking God’s heart on the matter through prayer and the scriptures? Be assured, God has made you for an eternal purpose and he desires that you know what that purpose is.
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