“This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.” (Ephesians 3:7-8 MSG)
St. Paul, who penned the letter to the Ephesians, was a tentmaker by trade. During the early part of his life, he was known as Saul of Tarsus--a well-educated, Jewish zealot who persecuted Christians. Years after his conversion and subsequent experience of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul finally understood his true mission in life. It had nothing to do with his trade, livelihood, natural abilities, background, qualifications, or prior reputation. He was surprised that his lifework--God assigned purpose--was not what he thought it would be.
What is your lifework?
At first we imagine that the work we get paid to do or the tasks which garner attention and validation or the projects we have invested in thus far must be our lifework. We take stock of our qualifications, natural abilities, experience, and personal agenda. Then we create our own plans apart from God. However, we eventually realize that whatever we accomplish this way fails to bring fulfillment. The timing and response to this awareness is key. Hopefully, we come to our senses while we still have time left and are willing to relinquish our agenda for God’s purpose. Then, like St. Paul, we shall be able to find joy in the lifework that God has expressly assigned to each of us.
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