Defining Your Lifetime Purpose, Calling, Goals & Values
On Wednesday I shared what my lifetime Purpose, Calling, Goals & Values were. Together, they help me make decisions every day about how I spend my time and resources, what’s important, and what I need to say “no” to. Here I want to share, briefly, how to develop these in your own life.
First, realize that, if you haven’t even thought about it, it’s not going to happen overnight. The steps are fairly simple, but the results are significant (or should be) and can’t be accomplished effectively without some serious thought, prayer, and scripture searching. So plan on taking some time for this process (I took 6 months to finalize my purpose, calling & goals, and later spent another few weeks articulating my values).
Second, don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Take your time, but understand that God made you uniquely you, called you to a specific role, and most likely (if you’ve been walking with Him) it will soon be pretty apparent where He’s leading you to spend your life.
Finally, and this might seem a little contradictory, hold onto your conclusions lightly. God works in mysterious ways. I believe with all my heart that He has called me with the lifetime purpose that I’ve defined. But I am human, and He is God, meaning He could redirect me at any time and I must be OK with that!
OK, so how do you do this? I’ll take it step by step and simply provide a brief outline of what to do. Be flexible with this and make it your own, filling in the gaps as you think through this personally. I’m going to include the whole process in this one post so it’s all together for you, but that means it’s going to be pretty long!
Defining your Lifetime Purpose
This is actually the easiest one, I believe. As a Christian, I believe that Romans 8:28-29 tell us exactly what our overall purpose is to be…to be just like Jesus! Verse 28 is well-known:
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God & are called according to His purpose for them.
We usually stop there, thinking this is a free pass for believers – “oh, everything will turn out OK because God causes all things to work for my good.” Nope, not what it’s saying. The “good” that is spoken of is the purpose of our lives…in other words, God causes everything to work in order to accomplish His purpose in our life. And what is that purpose? Look at verse 29:
For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Everything in our lives, as believers walking with God, works together for good, and that “good” is the transformation to be like Jesus. When we do this, we are free to serve, to glorify, to honor, to worship, to give…all the things that He wants us to “do” can be accomplished when we “be” who we were meant to be – men & women who are “just like Jesus”.
You might define this a little differently, with different words, but essentially scripture makes it clear that we are here to honor & glorify God by daily, moment by moment, becoming more like His Son, Jesus.
Defining Your Lifetime Calling
Once you know what your purpose is, then you can begin defining what you are uniquely called to do. To do this, take a few moments to write down the answers to these questions:
- What are my gifts, talents & abilities? Start without any help, just listing things you know you’ve done well in the past. This might be public speaking, working with kids, fixing or building things…it could mean all kinds of things. Write them all down. (If you want help in defining these, you might want to take some of the tests available. Do a Goodle search for spiritual gifts tests to find one you are comfortable taking. Strengthsfinders is a terrific secular tool to help define core strengths. And there are many other tools available as well, far too many to list here.)
- What are your passions? What is it that really gets to you? What do you find yourself continually drawn to? If you could spend your time in one particular area, what would it be (the specific “tasks” don’t have to be well defined, just a general area)? Write these things down.
- What have others said they’ve observed about you? Often others will comment about what you do or how well you do something. Write these down. You might also want to actually ask those closest to you what they have observed you being good at, or what they might see you investing your life in.
- What is important to you? Paul said in Acts 20:24 that what was important to him was sharing the Gospel. For me, it’s all about reaching kids by equipping others. A good way of answering this question is to ask another one: what do you want to be remembered for? Write the answers down on a sheet of paper.
- Bring it all together. Based on all the answers above, what is it you can see God calling you to do with your life? What are the common threads? Write it down. Take time – days, weeks, even months, to pray and think and refine what you’ve written down. Answer and add to your answers. Write and re-write. Talk to those closest to you. Seek counsel from your spiritual advisors. And if you are like me, when it finally all comes together, you will know it as a God-given calling on your life.
Defining Your Lifetime Goals
Once you have defined your calling, think about what specific things you might see yourself accomplishing within your calling. You might consider making these goals SMART – that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timebound (but think big…there’s nothing wrong with an audacious goal…you cannot outsize God!). One of my goals is to make disciples of one million children. That is not truly measurable, but I made it a goal in order that I might never fully achieve it, so that I would continually pursue what I believed God called me to do. I will find out if I achieved it one day when I stand before God Himself.
Make as many goals as you want, but I would consider limiting it to 3 to 5 in order to maintain a adequate focus.
Defining Your Core Values
Core values are at the heart of who you are, what you want to be. They are the most imortant essence of your life, what you live by and want to invest your heart and soul into. They are those things which should never be violated but always maintained as the most important aspects. They are what you say yes to and clarifies what you say no to. And they are what reins you in from getting overzealous in your pursuit of your calling…indeed, they go hand in hand to allow you to fulfill your purpose and calling and goals.
Start by listing the 8 or 10 things that are the most important to you and always will be. For me, it was just 5: God, Michele, Taylor & Garret, my calling and my gifts & abilities.
As you study these things or areas of your life, consider their importance and prioritize them. Consider what scripture has to say about the things you’ve listed. As you go through this process you may eliminate some as really not being things that are forever, non-negatiable priorities.
Finalize your list, in priority, and think and pray through each one. Consider, since that item is a core value to you, what that means in your everyday behavior. How should that value be reflected in your everyday life, in how you act, what you do. Write these things down and refine them to be as concise as you are comforable with. For me, each of the 5 values was defined by 3 imperatives – action items to do in order to maintain and keep these values on a daily basis.
Rick Warren once said, “If you’re alive, there’s a purpose for your life” and he is right (of course, what would you expect the man who’s sold millions of “Purpose Driven” books to say!). I believe there’s a definite purpose to my life, something that God has prepared only me to accomplish. Psalm 139:16 says this:
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
That sounds pretty purposeful to me!
I hope and pray that you know what your purpose is, and that with that you’ve defined your calling, clarified your goals, and articulated the core values that are non-negotiable in your life. If you haven’t, I would encourage you to spend some time doing so. At the end of your life, I believe you will be glad you did!
