Life is a beautiful, sometimes confusing journey. As Peter Pan said, “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” Do you feel like you’re wandering through your existence? You will never feel truly satisfied in life until you are confident in your identity. “Who Am I?” is a question that you can answer by examining your place, purpose, personality, and passions. Today I hope to help you find your purpose, and to understand how it is closely tied with your place, personality, and passions, too. This article is all about finding your purpose and how it relates to your passions.
Finding My Purpose
Your purpose is the reason you exist – the things you were designed to be and do. You probably already know that, though. You’re looking for a way to find your specific purpose for your life! Let’s first look at who you were designed to be.
Are you willing to interact with me a bit here? If so, take a moment and write down five words that describe you. Then write down five things you care about. Finally, write down the five people you are closest with.
These things may not seem related to your purpose, but I promise they are. The first five words probably relate to your personality. You may have written down things like “quiet,” “adventurous,” or “funny.” These things are part of who you are. They might be qualities that other people can see – external qualities – or they might be internal qualities that only you know about yourself.
What are Your Passions?
The five things you care about – your passions – also make up who you are. But there is a little bit of digging to be done here. Are you passionate about sports? Ask yourself why you’re passionate about sports. See if you can take your tangible passions – things you can see, like sports or travel – and figure out the intangible thing underneath them. This is what you really value. If you care about sports, perhaps you really care about performing well, having fun, or self-improvement. If you have a passion for travel, you might find that what you really value is adventure and new experiences. Read more about finding your purpose and how it relates to your passions.
Finally, the five people closest to you are also a huge part of your identity. If you’re still having trouble answering the question “Who Am I?” then remember this saying: “You are the average of the five people closest to you.” This is simply a common saying, but I think there’s some real truth to it. Consider the people around you; consider their personalities and their values. There is probably some overlap between theirs and yours!
What Is My Purpose In Life?
So why did we do that little exercise just now? I wanted you to reflect on your other qualities to understand how they relate to your purpose. Knowing who you were designed to be is the only way to figure out what to do with your life. Read on for more about finding your purpose and how it relates to your passions.
Have you ever met a person who thought he was a wolf? If you did, something in your gut would tell you that this is wrong. This person is a human, not a wolf. But who decides what is a human and what is a wolf? We can observe that humans and wolves have different characteristics, but in reality there is a designer who gave humans and wolves those characteristics. The designer got to decide that wolves would have four legs, and humans would have two. And wolves have a very different purpose than humans do.
You were designed by someone who gave you the personality, passions, and relationships that you have.
Did you know that all three of these things reflect that designer? You have so much in common with him because he (God) made you that way. Genesis 1:27 says that God made humans in his image. We actually have his very breath in us (Genesis 2:7). There is so much of our identity that reflects him – and trust me, that’s a good thing.
Seeing how so many of my qualities, relationships, and passions reflect my designer makes me feel close to him. We even have a lot of the same thoughts. I don’t have to be confused about my purpose anymore because I can talk to him about it. God wants to be in close relationship with me, with you, and with everyone. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you,” says James 4:8.
My Purpose According to God
There are a few Bible verses (link to What God Says About Your Identity) that give us a broad picture of our purpose as humans. But God also wants to take you on the adventure of learning how that bigger purpose looks in your life specifically. Remember, he gave you your personality, passions, and place in society – he wants your actions to flow from who he made you to be. What you do is intertwined with the specific way you reflect him!
I’ll give you an example of how that looks in my personal life. My personality is observant, loving, and creative. I am passionate about defending people and interacting with God through stories. The five people closest to me are teaching me how to have stronger faith, how to love more freely, how to be a wise young adult, and how to abandon safety in order to chase an adventurous life with God. That’s who I am. Read on for more about finding your purpose and how it relates to your passions.
From scripture, I know that my purpose is to cultivate and subdue the earth, to love God and people, and to walk with God daily and let my praise overflow.
Those are fairly broad instructions. You may be wondering how these things apply to a career and other big life decisions. I have channeled my personal qualities into filmmaking. As a filmmaker, I get to love hurting people in the entertainment industry, create stories that reflect my experiences with God, and grow in bold faith that God will provide for me and direct my steps. Filmmaking is how I cultivate my environment, love God and people, and seek God for something new each day, while praising him the whole time!
How to Find My Purpose
As much as I want to, I cannot write an article that tells you what your unique, specific purpose is within God’s greater design for us. But I can tell you this – it’s really special. Your purpose will deeply fulfill you, but in order to discover it, you need to go on a journey that will be even more fulfilling. Only God can tell you what his intentions for you are, and in order for him to tell you, you must draw close to him in relationship.
You are a part of a whole; without a relationship with God, you will always feel empty. Trying to discover a purpose that incorporates your personality, passions, and relationships but doesn’t involve your Creator will leave you frustrated. Your personality, passions, and relationships all point to him, and he wants to satisfy you by giving you a life that puts these things in the spotlight. After all, he created them! But what he really wants is you. Like Mary and Martha in the Bible, it is closeness to God that will satisfy us far beyond anything we do apart from him.
