Purpose seems to be largely made up of two questions: Why I exist (noun)? and What is my objective (verb)? Success is determined by whether or not I accomplish these things.
If success is determined by whether or not purpose is accomplished, then purpose drives success. And therefore, being Biblically successful means determining a Biblical purpose and executing on it.
In examining my existence, I ask, why am I here? Romans 8:28-30 tells us a bit about God’s purpose, His purpose for us, and why we exist. While the emphasis in these verses has nothing to do with anything we do, the elect are on some level Biblically successful in that they exist for His purposes. We are called, foreknown, predestined, conformed, called, justified, and glorified. This is all certainly part of our purpose; because of what He has done we can exist with a very Biblical purpose; for Him and His purposes. This is why we exist.
Being Biblically successful also means accomplishing our aim or purpose, and that the objective of that purpose was Biblical. Therefore, in addition to existing for Him, I must also determine for myself Biblical intentions and objectives.
These intentions and objectives are revealed in Scripture. He enables us to understand this revelation, to get to know Him, and frame up what He wants from us. There are many ways to say this, and many synonyms for the following words, but the Bible seems to indicate our intentions and objectives ought to focus on: holiness, ministry, and profit.
- We ought to be determined to conduct ourselves in holiness (2Corinthians 1:12), ‘put on’ holiness (Ephesians 4:24), and be ‘perfecting’ holiness (2Corinthians 7:1).
- We must proclaim Christ, lead, and serve. We may want to emulate Paul (Acts 20:24) and ‘discern our course and the ministry received from the Lord.’ Or as he writes in (2Corinthians 5:18) consider what ‘the ministry of reconciliation’ may entail, and strive to make this part of our purpose.
- We must be seeking advantage, profit, utility; into eternal life. We can best do so by seeking for the profit of others (Philippians 4:17), loving for profit (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) and storing our treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). Until we embrace the motive for profit of these sacrificial acts, we will never make them part of our purpose.
Keep in mind, we can experience plenty of success by accomplishing many aims or purposes, but not be Biblically successful. That is, we achieve objectives that are not rooted in Scripture, or we simply fail to be successful within a Biblical aim or purpose.
And lastly, any effort to accomplish a Biblical aim or purpose is more valuable than any level of success in regard to a non-Biblical objective. We are better off seeking to accomplish Biblical objectives and falling short than we are accomplishing any number of worldly aims.
We are given an amazing opportunity in this life to exist for His purposes and to understand the aims and objectives He has for us. He even gives us the help we need to accomplish them!
Let us truly give our lives to determining our purpose to align with His and give everything we have to accomplishing it.
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