I had just finished preaching a passionate message to a group of students at a camp this summer when I stepped off the platform exhausted and exhilarated. I made my way to the back of the room and told a lady whom I had met at the camp that I was born to do that. It is my sweet spot. I never feel any more alive than I do when I am standing before a group of people preaching God’s Word. That is what I was born to do.
I stood in the back of that room with perspiration beading up on my forehead and relished in the thought that God had once again allowed me play a part in His redemptive plan. I don’t know of anything more fulfilling than that. Finally I sat down and breathed a sigh of contentment knowing I am fulfilling my God ordained destiny.
You were born to do something as well. If you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ you were born with purpose. [Eph 2:10] declares it so. Before time began you were born with destiny and purpose. I cannot tell you what either of those is but there is something in this life you were meant to do and it is the sweet spot of your life as Max Lucado wrote in his book The Cure for the Uncommon Life.
Everybody has a sweet spot and something they were born to do. Let me ask you, what is it that you do that makes you really feel alive? When are you the most fulfilled in life? If you were to ask me that same question I would answer without hesitation that I feel most alive when I am preaching and writing. It is hard to explain the joy I get from both of those activities. When I am studying for a message and preaching at First Baptist Church or somewhere else like in Saskatchewan or a youth camp I am ALIVE! When I am expounding a text of scripture, pleading with sinners to come to Jesus Christ in repentance for salvation, or passionately proclaiming life changing truth I know I am doing what I was born to do. I have preached in ramshackle buildings in Guiness, Cuba, in living rooms before less than a dozen people, in numerous churches, in Civic Centers before over a thousand, on college campuses, in the mountains, near the ocean, and over and over again I have known I was born to do that. It really doesn’t matter where. The fulfillment is not necessarily related to geography. Some people continually change jobs looking for their sweet spot when what they really need to come to grips with is what were they born to do?
Equally I feel alive when I sitting at my computer hammering out another book or an article for the paper. I get so absorbed in writing sometimes it is like going to another dimension. I call it getting into the zone. It doesn’t matter if I am writing a book, a blog, an article, or material to be used somewhere I will be traveling to preach, I was born to do that. I write because I have to. Ideas and thoughts continually bounce around in my mind and heart and beg to be released to the printed page. I was born to do this.
Like a mechanic who gets satisfaction from diagnosing the problem in a car and repairing it, or a nurse who finds fulfillment in giving care to sick patients, or the teacher who sighs contentedly after teaching a lesson and seeing the light bulbs go off in the minds of students, or a professional athlete who makes a play that changes the outcome of the game, we were born to do something. Some were born to cook, some excel in the business world, others rise to the top working with their hands, while still others can play beautiful music, and we were born to do something.
When you take that fact and accompany it with joining God in His global purpose to redeem mankind, you find your sweet spot in life. That is when life is really worth living. If you have never experienced this it will be hard to explain what I am talking about. Watching someone operate in their sweet spot is a beautiful thing to behold. It can be awe inspiring. Billy Graham preaching in a packed football stadium is a prime example. He was born to preach the gospel to the masses and he has faithfully executed that calling for many decades.
I started writing this early this morning before the sun came up and lost track of time. That is what happens when you were born to do something. You can get so focused on doing what you were created to do that you forget about time, your surroundings, and simply get lost in your work. You were created in Christ to do good works. It is your job to sit before Him and to ask Him what you were born to do. When you find the answer, your life will take on a whole other dimension and you will know the joy of living for a purpose greater than your own gratification. You will discover life in the sweet spot. You will do what you were meant to do and celebrate contentedness like you have never known. When you discover your purpose and join God in it, you too will say one day, “I was born to do this!”
I stood in the back of that room with perspiration beading up on my forehead and relished in the thought that God had once again allowed me play a part in His redemptive plan. I don’t know of anything more fulfilling than that. Finally I sat down and breathed a sigh of contentment knowing I am fulfilling my God ordained destiny.
You were born to do something as well. If you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ you were born with purpose. [Eph 2:10] declares it so. Before time began you were born with destiny and purpose. I cannot tell you what either of those is but there is something in this life you were meant to do and it is the sweet spot of your life as Max Lucado wrote in his book The Cure for the Uncommon Life.
Everybody has a sweet spot and something they were born to do. Let me ask you, what is it that you do that makes you really feel alive? When are you the most fulfilled in life? If you were to ask me that same question I would answer without hesitation that I feel most alive when I am preaching and writing. It is hard to explain the joy I get from both of those activities. When I am studying for a message and preaching at First Baptist Church or somewhere else like in Saskatchewan or a youth camp I am ALIVE! When I am expounding a text of scripture, pleading with sinners to come to Jesus Christ in repentance for salvation, or passionately proclaiming life changing truth I know I am doing what I was born to do. I have preached in ramshackle buildings in Guiness, Cuba, in living rooms before less than a dozen people, in numerous churches, in Civic Centers before over a thousand, on college campuses, in the mountains, near the ocean, and over and over again I have known I was born to do that. It really doesn’t matter where. The fulfillment is not necessarily related to geography. Some people continually change jobs looking for their sweet spot when what they really need to come to grips with is what were they born to do?
Equally I feel alive when I sitting at my computer hammering out another book or an article for the paper. I get so absorbed in writing sometimes it is like going to another dimension. I call it getting into the zone. It doesn’t matter if I am writing a book, a blog, an article, or material to be used somewhere I will be traveling to preach, I was born to do that. I write because I have to. Ideas and thoughts continually bounce around in my mind and heart and beg to be released to the printed page. I was born to do this.
Like a mechanic who gets satisfaction from diagnosing the problem in a car and repairing it, or a nurse who finds fulfillment in giving care to sick patients, or the teacher who sighs contentedly after teaching a lesson and seeing the light bulbs go off in the minds of students, or a professional athlete who makes a play that changes the outcome of the game, we were born to do something. Some were born to cook, some excel in the business world, others rise to the top working with their hands, while still others can play beautiful music, and we were born to do something.
When you take that fact and accompany it with joining God in His global purpose to redeem mankind, you find your sweet spot in life. That is when life is really worth living. If you have never experienced this it will be hard to explain what I am talking about. Watching someone operate in their sweet spot is a beautiful thing to behold. It can be awe inspiring. Billy Graham preaching in a packed football stadium is a prime example. He was born to preach the gospel to the masses and he has faithfully executed that calling for many decades.
I started writing this early this morning before the sun came up and lost track of time. That is what happens when you were born to do something. You can get so focused on doing what you were created to do that you forget about time, your surroundings, and simply get lost in your work. You were created in Christ to do good works. It is your job to sit before Him and to ask Him what you were born to do. When you find the answer, your life will take on a whole other dimension and you will know the joy of living for a purpose greater than your own gratification. You will discover life in the sweet spot. You will do what you were meant to do and celebrate contentedness like you have never known. When you discover your purpose and join God in it, you too will say one day, “I was born to do this!”
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