DEAR BOUNDLESS ANSWERS
How do I find out what God wants me to do with my
life?
REPLY
As I said in my first entry, there are three parts to answering
your question, and you might visualize them as three levels of a
triangle. At the bottom, the foundation is this: generally, what
does God want from every person? Moving up one level, and
more specifically, what does God uniquely want from males (at
least in your case)? And at the top, and very specifically, what
does God want from you as an individual? This top level is like
your fingerprint, something specific to you as an individual, a
person uniquely crafted and gifted by God to perform
meaningful tasks of service to Him and to others.
In my first
entry I addressed the foundation, God's call for all people;
in my second
entry I discussed a few basics on what God wants from
males, and now in my third and final entry let's explore a few
tips for discovering your unique giftings as an individual.
I have to be cautious when talking about a person's
God-given, unique design, especially in this era of
specialization. The purpose is not to paint you into a corner or
give you reasons for why you can't or shouldn't do a certain job
or task. The purpose is to help you become a better servant
— of Christ and others. In other words, don't use this to
say, "Well, God hasn't gifted me to take out the trash!"
When Jesus' disciples became indignant because they
thought Jesus had favored two brothers for "promotion," He
clarified the underlying principle for greatness in the Kingdom of
God: "... whoever wants to be great, must become a
servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must
be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He
came to serve, not be served" (Matt.
20:26-28, paraphrased in The Message). Yes, you are
unique in your design, but your design is for service, so first and
foremost your attitude must be that of service, no matter what
the task.
With service as your foundation, you can begin to explore
your God-given gift of unique talents and abilities. You didn't
earn nor do you deserve these talents. God has endowed you
with them. Some of these "grace gifts" are crafted by God at
conception (natural abilities) — you're born with them (Psalm
139:13-16) — while others are given by God at your
conversion (spiritual gifts) when you become a believer in Christ
(1 Cor.
12:4-11; Eph. 2:10, 4:11-12).
The spiritual gifts enrich and empower the natural gifts that God
has given you.
Discovering these gifts can be a bit of an art form. Of
course, experience is one of the best indicators. As you look
back over your life, what are the things that have energized you,
tasks or activities that make you "come alive"? Alternatively,
what are the things that have drained the life out of you? Are
there any underlying themes that rise to the surface? The key is
finding out what is it about you, and what is it about those tasks
and activities, that make for the connection or disconnection.
Your answers to those questions will help you begin to
recognize some general ideas about your design.
Besides evaluating your own experiences, another way to
get an indication of your unique design is by interviewing people
who know you best — your family and friends and people
you've worked alongside. Ask them what they think your
strengths are and what gifts they observe in your life. Many
times people see us differently than we see ourselves, and you
might be surprised by what you find out.
Finally, there are a number of tools and personality profiles
available that apply more of a science to discovering your gifts.
These usually have you respond to a list of questions and
different scenarios in an effort to narrow down your strengths.
One I've recently used and can recommend is the Servants by Design profile. It's
Christian-based and available on-line for a fee. It lists five
personality categories that people generally fall into, and helps
you measure which combination of those five make up your
unique design. Another widely used tool is DISC, which is not
Christian-based but very thorough in its analysis. If you use a
tool like these, I encourage you to make sure you have someone
who is trained to help explain and walk you through the process
of that specific tool. (These are given as examples and in no way
are an endorsement from Boundless or Focus on the
Family).
Remember, discovering your unique design is a lifelong
process. The more you do, the more experiences you have, the
more you know what energizes and de-energizes you. Don't let
any of this put you into a box. Things change. You grow and
mature. God equips you for a certain task, and that task is
completed, and you move on to another one.
Now, let me balance all of this advice with one more
thought. Scripture is full of stories of people called by God for
certain tasks; people who, to those looking on from the outside,
had little talent or skill for what they were being asked to do.
Consider Moses, who was called to lead the nation of Israel but
was such a poor communicator he needed Aaron as a
spokesperson. Consider the apostles, who were called to
evangelize the world but whose only apparent skill was fishing.
The Bible recounts story after story of personal triumph in view
of what appeared to be ill-equipped servants.
The key to each fulfillment of calling was a willingness to
say "yes," and a trust in Him who calls. Maybe people recognize
your skills, and maybe they don't. The most important thing is
that God knows what you are capable of, and will equip you for
the task. All you have to do is take that first step of faith. Stay
open to His direction and re-direction, and He will take you on
an adventure that satisfies your unique design and surpasses
your wildest dreams.
Blessings,
JOHN THOMAS
* * *
If you have a question you'd like John to consider for
this column, please send it to editor@boundless.org. Please note that all
questions selected for "Boundless Answers" may be edited for
clarity and privacy and become the property of Focus on the
Family.
