You Were Created on Purpose for a Purpose.
Illustration
Scripture
Ephesians 2:10·WEB Translation
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
Devotional
The Purpose Nobody Sees
The word "ministry" carries more weight than it probably should.
When most of us hear it, we picture something large. A stage. A sermon series. A missions trip. Something you could put a name to and build a website around. Ministry, in the way we tend to use the word, implies scale.
But I'm not sure that's how God defines it.
I think about a reader who wrote to me recently. She has a number of chronic illnesses and getting out of the house is difficult most days. She can't attend church. By any outward measure, she has very little capacity for ministry.
And yet every other month, she sits down with sixty greeting cards and writes to 60 people in a similar place to herself with a personal note in each one, and is actively praying for all of them. Sixty people who open their mailbox and find something that says someone has been talking to God about them.
What an amazing ministry.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)
Good works. Plural. Prepared in advance. Not one calling on a stage, but a whole life full of specific, particular things God has lined up for each of us to walk in. Most of them are going to be quiet. Most of them are never going to be announced.
It might be buying the same homeless person a warm coffee every morning on your way to work through winter. It might be going with a friend to every single one of their chemo treatments. It might be delivering meals to families who've just had a baby, or being the person who always has a kind word for the people around you.
None of that would make a ministry website. But all of it counts.
So it's worth asking: what is your ministry? Not the one you think you're supposed to have, or the one that would sound impressive if someone asked. The actual thing, in your actual life, that God has prepared for you to walk in during this season.
You were created on purpose for a purpose. And the purpose is probably closer and quieter than you think.
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Prayer
Lord, I was created on purpose for a purpose, intentionally made by You with specific design, brought into existence for reasons that matter, not random or accidental.
On purpose means deliberate, planned, wanted, that my existence wasn't a cosmic accident or biological chance but Your intentional choice to create me exactly as I am.
Teach me that being created on purpose gives my life inherent meaning, that I don't have to search for significance because I was made significant, designed with intention from the start.
For a purpose means my life has direction, that You created me with specific work in mind, prepared good works for me to walk in, gave me gifts and passions that align with Your purposes.
Help me discover the purpose You created me for, to live aligned with Your design instead of chasing purposes that were meant for someone else, to fulfill what You made me to do.
Remind me that purpose isn't always grand or public, that being created for a purpose might mean loving my family well, serving in small ways, being faithful in ordinary moments.
Give me confidence that comes from purposeful creation, freedom from comparing my purpose to others, peace in knowing I'm exactly who You intended me to be, doing what You made me for.
Let me live today embracing that I was created on purpose for a purpose, intentionally made, specifically designed, brought into existence to fulfill purposes only I can fulfill.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Journaling Prompts
- Q.What is one thing you do regularly that you've never thought of as ministry?
- Q.Is there someone in your life God might be calling you to show up for more faithfully?
- Q.What does "created on purpose" mean to you personally?
- Q.Have you ever dismissed a season as purposeless? What did it look like?
- Q.What is one good work you could walk in this week that only you could do?
Art Print
If this devotional has spoken to you, the full 8 × 10″ art print is available to bring into your home. It's printed on quality art paper, unframed and ready to place wherever you need a quiet reminder that God has a purpose for your life. You can find it in my shop, with free shipping included.
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