Your Purpose Explained

Let me front-load this and give you the conclusion upfront:

Your purpose is to collaborate with God to make the world flourish.

Done.

Shortest article ever, right?

Well since you’re already here, why don’t we go a bit further and add some meat to that bone.

Let’s go way back to the beginning of time.

The beginning of creation itself.

Day 6: Humans.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”

Genesis 1:26

Side note: The ‘us’ here is referring to the Trinity: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

They themselves collaborated within the process of creation.

First they created the right environment, then specifically gave humans the authority over that environment.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Genesis 2:15

So there we have it.

God’s original plan for us.

We’re working together with God to make His creation and environment flourish.

But… [Dramatic pause]

The serpent, the devil, had a different idea.

Rooted in jealousy, he wanted to break apart this newly formed collaboration and put a stop to any flourishing.

Through what is commonly known as The Fall, the devil manipulates Adam and Eve, the first humans, into disobeying God.

This act of disobedience broke the connection between us and God.

Without that relationship, flourishing becomes impossible.

But thankfully it doesn’t end there.

The Bible documents God’s desire to restore this relationship, our relationship with Him.

He continuously pursues us and graciously provides Jesus, His own son, as a sacrifice to take our place in punishment for sin, the bad stuff we as humanity do.

In believing in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, our connection with God can be restored and that collaborative invitation to flourishing can be restored to its full potential.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

So if our purpose is to collaborate with God, or specifically the Trinity, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then first we need to be in connection with Him.

From here we have our first point.

Step 1: Reconnect

But how?

Where do I start?

Just think about any relational dynamic you currently have. They’re built on interactions.

Increase your interactions with God.

Speak to Him.

“God, what do you think of me?”

“God, who in my life needs encouragement today?”

“God, what should I look out for today?”

Then just wait.

Listen.

That word, sentence, image or thought that follows, and importantly keeps repeating itself, that’s God answering you through the Holy Spirit.

In my experience, these replies come with gentleness and compassion, which matches exactly how Jesus spoke to the woman by the well in John 4.

Once you’ve started to increase these types of interactions you can then look at your environment.

Your household, extended family, work, church, town, country or continent.

From God’s initial design, you can probably agree many areas have gone from order to chaos.

You’re here to change that.

And no, I don’t mean ‘A type’ order: a scheduled list of timely actions.

This order is fruitful. It grows and multiplies good things.

Order is to flourish.

Bring order to your environments.

And here’s a simple question:

Are you a gear, or are you a brake?

A gear helps things move forward.

A brake slows things down.

In your home, your work, your church, your community, are you helping things flourish, or quietly holding them back?

Now, keeping with the Trinity lens, let’s look at Jesus.

If we’re collaborating with God, we are to bring order to chaos inspired and challenged by Jesus’ example.

Become Jesus’ apprentice.

Step 2: Be Shaped

Having reconnected with God, thanks to Jesus, we can now look internally to be refined.

One day I was thinking about how Jesus operated and something interesting started to emerge.

He multiplied provision, removed sickness and cast out evil.

A mathematical pattern started to appear.

I began wondering whether the Kingdom of God might follow a kind of Kingdom Math.

Four simple operations: subtract, add, divide and multiply.

Could this Kingdom Math be a pattern for how we live and act in this world today?

He subtracts, we remove.

In Mark 1, Jesus heals a man with leprosy, where sickness is taken away and life is restored.

In Matthew 9, Jesus forgives and heals a paralysed man, showing that sin no longer needs to be counted against us.

And throughout the Gospels, Jesus casts out demons and repeatedly tells people “Do not be afraid”, removing evil and fear from their lives.

Jesus didn’t just add good things. He removed the things that stood in the way of life.

The pattern is simple: Jesus removes what destroys and we follow His example by removing what harms.

For us today, this means removing injustice where we see it, clearing barriers that hold others back and dealing honestly with the patterns and behaviours in our lives that harm ourselves or others.

God, show me what needs to be cleared away in my life, and help me remove anything that harms me, harms others, or holds people back.

He adds, we restore.

In Luke 8, Jesus heals a woman who had suffered for twelve years and then calls her “Daughter,” restoring both her dignity and her place in the community.

In John 4, Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well, welcoming someone society had excluded and giving her a new sense of purpose.

And in Matthew 16, Jesus gives Simon a new identity, saying, “You are Peter,” calling him into the purpose of helping lead and strengthen the community that would follow Jesus.

He didn’t only remove what was wrong. He added what had been lost: dignity, belonging, identity and purpose.

The pattern is simple: Jesus restores what the world has diminished and we follow His example by restoring others.

For us today, this means speaking life into people, restoring dignity where shame has taken root, encouraging those who feel overlooked and helping people step into the purpose they were made for.

God, help me see the worth in others and use my words and actions to restore dignity, belonging and purpose.

He divides, we share.

In Luke 22, Jesus breaks bread at the Last Supper and shares it with His disciples, showing how one loaf can be shared among many.

In Luke 10, Jesus sends His followers out two by two, sharing responsibility and authority so the work is carried together.

And in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” reminding us that provision is not meant to be hoarded but shared.

Division here isn’t loss. It’s distribution.

Jesus divided what He had so that everyone could receive.

The pattern is simple: Jesus shares what is given so others can take part, and we follow His example by sharing what we have.

For us today, this means sharing our resources, sharing knowledge and opportunity and creating communities where people can belong and contribute together.

God, help me hold what I have with open hands and teach me to share it in ways that bring others in.

He multiplies, we surrender.

In John 6 we read about Jesus feeding the five thousand, where little becomes more than enough.

Matthew 25 gives us the parable of the talents, where faithfulness with what we’re given leads to overflow.

And in Mark 4, Jesus uses seeds as a picture of the Kingdom of God, something that begins small but grows through God’s power.

The pattern is simple: we bring what we have and God multiplies what we surrender.

God, here’s what I have. Help me work with You to turn it into something that helps others.

Jesus teaches us the math of the Kingdom: subtract what destroys, add what restores, divide so others belong and multiply what is surrendered.

Sometimes being shaped by Jesus requires difficult decisions.

I’ve experienced this personally.

I had played on the worship team at church for years. But over time I felt God nudging me toward something different.

Building a business.

Eventually I stepped down from the team to focus on that direction.

The worship leader told my wife, of course it wasn’t told to me directly, that I was being selfish and the worship team would be better off without me.

Did they really say that?!

Yes.

It hit hard, but deep down I knew.

I wasn’t running away from something. I was stepping toward something.

So I kept going.

Years later that decision became the foundation of a business that has gone on to serve many people and grow far beyond what I expected.

Sometimes being shaped by Jesus means having the courage to follow where God leads, even when others misunderstand it.

Step 3: Empowered

If Step 1 reconnects us to God and Step 2 shapes our character through Jesus’ example, Step 3 is where things begin to move.

Collaboration with God isn’t meant to stay theoretical.

It becomes practical.

Before Jesus left His disciples, He said something remarkable.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…”

John 14:12

And then He promised this:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”

Acts 1:8

The Holy Spirit is God working with us from the inside.

Guiding.

Prompting.

Strengthening us to do things we could never do alone.

This is where purpose becomes real.

Not a title.

Not a job description.

But a direction.

So what is purpose again?

Collaborating with God to help the world flourish.

Sometimes that looks big.

Starting organisations.

Leading movements.

Creating solutions that impact thousands.

But often it looks very small.

Encouraging one person.

Helping someone who is struggling.

Bringing calm to a chaotic situation.

Purpose isn’t about scale.

It’s about alignment.

How do you find it?

Most people think purpose arrives like a lightning bolt.

In reality it usually looks like experimentation.

Like creativity. It’s a muscle. It grows when you use it.

Try things without judging yourself too quickly.

Start something small.

Help someone.

Build something.

Serve somewhere.

Pay attention to what feels right.

The Holy Spirit often guides us through nudges, not blueprints.

I remember one moment when this became very real for me.

I was trying to grow my business and was part of a community of agency owners.

One day I saw a post from someone looking for a designer.

The post was already a few days old, so I assumed they had probably found someone.

But I felt a nudge.

A quiet thought: Email him.

So I did.

He replied politely: “Thanks for reaching out, but we’re fine, we already found someone.”

We don’t need you.

I’ll be honest, I was a little annoyed.

Why did the Holy Spirit prompt me to send that email if it led nowhere?

I guess that’s what obedience looks like sometimes.

A little embarrassment.

The very next day he emailed again.

The designer he had hired had fallen through. Would I be available after all?

That single email turned into a relationship that eventually led to around GBP50,000 of work.

Sometimes purpose doesn’t arrive with fireworks.

Sometimes it looks like sending one small email.

How do you grow it?

Once you begin to notice where something good is happening, you cultivate it.

You keep showing up.

You keep learning.

You keep refining.

It’s not always easy.

Sometimes growth looks messy, incredibly messy.

Take Craig Groeschel, the senior pastor of Life.Church.

Craig has spoken to millions of people at leadership events and conferences all over the world.

When he was starting out, before he preached, he used to vomit in a bucket.

Imagine that.

Thankfully he grew through that, but wouldn’t that be enough to make you say: “this probably isn’t the thing”?

Often it’s when you press through the fear that you discover you’re exactly where God wants you to be.

So keep going. This is exactly where the Kingdom math we talked about earlier begins to play out.

Small seeds.

Shared bread.

Restoring people.

Multiplying good.

God, guide me by Your Spirit and give me the courage to act. Take the small things I bring and grow them into something that helps the world flourish.

Our purpose is simple.

Reconnect with God.

Be shaped by the example of Jesus.

Collaborate with Him to help the world flourish.

Guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Do this by applying Kingdom math:

Subtract what destroys.

Add what restores.

Divide so others belong.

Multiply what is surrendered.

And the real question is this:

Tomorrow morning when you wake up, will you collaborate with God to help the world flourish?