Finding Purpose by Serving Others: In my last post I took a look at our identity and purpose. I said that our purpose in life goes beyond a career or ministry. Our purpose is to align our behavior to our identity as God’s child and follower of Jesus.

Part of that purpose is an inward journey. It’s about character, reflected in our heart attitudes.

Another part of that journey of purpose is outward. It has to do with aligning our behavior with God’s passion for justice and serving others.

Our Purpose in Serving Others

In the Bible, the prophet Isaiah showed God’s purpose for us when he said…

Free the people you have put in prison unfairly and undo their chains. Free those to whom you are unfair and stop their hard labor. Share your food with the hungry and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes. When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours, and don’t refuse to help your own relatives. Isaiah 58:6,7

I love the promise that God gives to those who seek justice:

If you stop making trouble for others, if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others, if you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled, then
your light will shine in the darkness, and
you will be bright like sunshine at noon.
The Lord will always lead you.
He will satisfy your needs in dry lands and
give strength to your bones.
You will be like a garden that has much water, like a spring that never runs dry. Isaiah 58:9-11

God’s calling on us is pretty clear. He wants us to look for opportunities to serve others. And he will reward us when we align our purpose with his purpose.

Quotes on Purpose and Serving Others

I did a search for quotes about finding your purpose and it was interesting to see the commonality of what people said, both Christian and non-Christians. They all spoke about serving.

Mahatma Gandhi said,

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

Robert Kennedy said,

"The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better."

And my favorite quote comes from Pope Francis:

“Rivers do not drink their own water. Trees do not eat their own fruit. The sun does not shine on itself. And flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is… life is good when you are happy, but much better when others are happy because of you.”

Find A Place To Serve Others

So, put simply, if you want to know your purpose, look for a place to serve others. You might be lucky enough to find a career that’s involved in serving others. But your service might be something separate from your job. It might be volunteering for a non-profit, or at a church, or maybe simply serving people in need within your own family or set of friends.

Scott Harrison and Charity: Water

A perfect example of this is in a man by the name of Scott Harrison.

Scott grew up in a Christian home, but like so many young people, he let his faith slide in college. He dove head first into every vice you can imagine. Then he got involved in owning a nightclub and promoting events. He was living the life, or so he thought, but he was out of control. And then he had a spiritual awakening.

Reclaiming his faith.

He realized that his life was going nowhere. Actually, it was going somewhere very dark. So he decided to return to his faith and align his behavior with his identity as God’s child, discarding his identity as a wild party man. Then he looked for places to serve and he ended up going to Africa where he worked on a Mercy hospital ship, that’s where he saw all kinds of suffering that he didn’t even know existed.

It dawned on him that a lot of the problems that he saw on the ship were related to people not having clean water. So he went home and reached out to all of his nightclub friends and asked them for money to help bring clean water to people, and they responded.

Finding New purpose

As a result, Scott started the non-profit, Charity: Water. His new identity caused him to change his behavior and find a way to serve others. These things gave his life purpose. You can go to their website to watch a video with Scott’s story.

Finding Your Place to Serve Others

Now, Scott’s story is dramatic. But God’s not looking for drama. You don’t have to start an international non-profit organization to find your purpose in life. God’s just looking for us to seek his face and allow him to redirect our lives to a way that reveals his goodness to the world.

Where might God be calling you to serve?

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Read Also:

Identity & Purpose: aligning your behavior to your identity in Christ
Why Did Jesus Set You Free?

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