Just relax! The best answer to the question “what’s my purpose?”

Have you noticed something.   God makes the world, he evaluates it as good, he makes man and woman in his image and commissions them to work. Then he rests. Indeed, the sense when you look at the Law in Exodus 20 is that this isn’t just about God resting, it’s about hi instituting a Sabbath rest.  Adam and Eve are made just in time to rest.

We often talk about the importance of knowing your purpose.  The reformers suggested that our purpose was to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever.   Rest and enjoyment go together and that’s why glory and enjoyment go together.  Rest isn’t about having a nap, it’s about enjoying all of the good things from the week’s work.  However, Adam and Eve hadn’t worked when they enjoyed their first sabbath.  They were getting to enjoy what God had done, his work, his accomplishments.  It’s as though God says “I want you to care for and cultivate my creation… But first let’s just take it all in together.”

Now get this, the reformers were spot on.  Our goal is the enjoyment of rest.  Hebrews points towards the eschatological sabbath to come.  Our purpose is to enjoy, our purpose is to rest and as we enjoy the goodness of God’s creation, as we rest in the joy of salvation, we glorify him.

Which gets me thinking.  How should we respond to the question when people as us “How do I discover my purpose from God?”  We can give lots of answers about how to apply Scripture, listen to advice from others, we can seek out prophetic words and pictures.  I’ve just listened to a talk where the preacher talked about the importance of hearing what God has to say about your church, family, health, work and finances. There are two risks with this.  First, we can see people end up crushed and disillusioned because they don’t ever meet their believed potential.  They don’t discover or achieve their purpose.  Second, churches end up getting split by either seeking to bear the burden of the pastor’s purpose or as people leave, disgruntled because they don’t  get to achieve their goals because the church is unable to fit them in. 

So, here’s another way of answering the question.  “Just relax.”  You should relax for two reasons.  First because it’s probably as you learn to rest and as legalistic expectations are lifted from you that you are going to do better at discerning God’s will for your life.

Secondly and more importantly, relaxing, or better, resting and enjoying is the purpose.  That’s why God places us in his world. That’s why Jesus came to redeem us.