POST 45: God’s Purpose for You Is Up to God
POST 45
God’s Purpose for You Is Up to God
I have a career in mind that I want to do, but I don’t know if that’s what God wants for me. What if I pursue it and it ends up not being God’s best for me? I will have spent four years studying something only to scrap it and start all over. I keep changing my mind about what I want to be. I’m wondering how many times it will change before I finally land on what God wants me to do.
Lilly
Lilly nervously admitted her anxiety about the future. As a person who wants to follow Jesus and live out God’s purpose in her life, she wants to figure out “God’s best” and “what God wants.”
Do you ever worry about the future like Lilly? Like somehow God has a plan, but you have to figure it out, solve the mystery, put all the puzzle pieces together, or whatever metaphor you’ve heard about how this seems to work for other people?
That can be exhausting. I (Brad) remember feeling this exhaustion. I’m pretty sure I was asked at least once about my post–high school plans every single day of my senior year.
Maybe, like Lilly, you’ve had well-intentioned people in your life who teach about God’s plan in a way that ends up stressing you out. Lilly shared that her middle school pastor “really emphasized knowing God’s vision for us. Ever since then, I’ve been tripped up about different paths I’m interested in, wondering which is God’s vision for me. I have always been told that our purpose as humans is to advance God’s kingdom, and I want to do that. But I’m stressed because I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that.”
Many of the teenagers we interviewed for our research felt the same pressure to have a clear sense about their future. One senior said he “feels like a failure” because “it feels like everyone else knows exactly what they’re going to do. Not knowing makes you feel out of it and different.”
God Has a Plan for That
If this post is raising your anxiety just by reading it, keep reading; we hope to take it down a notch or two. The thing is, God’s plan isn’t a game. And God’s desire isn’t to trick you or lead you the wrong way or shame you for choosing badly.
God’s plan, purpose, vision, and future for you will unfold. You will be there, and God will be there. With you.
And maybe that’s the most you need to know about God’s plan. But here’s something more from Scripture: all things are held together in Jesus.
This is an incredible plan! You aren’t in charge here. You didn’t exist before all things, you didn’t create all things, and you don’t hold all things together. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been at work since before time, and we can rest knowing Jesus holds everything together—so that job isn’t up to us!
If God is holding all things together through Christ, that includes your future. It includes all the things you might be wondering about, like what to do after high school, what to do after that, whom you’ll spend your life with, and where you’ll go.
God’s plan is to be with you, and Jesus will be holding all things together the entire way.
The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the one who is first over all creation,
Because all things were created by him:
both in the heavens and on the earth,
the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
Whether they are thrones or powers,
or rulers or authorities,
all things were created through him and for him.
He existed before all things,
and all things are held together in him. (Colossians 1:15–17)
REFLECT AND RESPOND
Journaling Questions
When you think about the future, what makes you most uneasy? What makes you most excited?
What are some of the ideas and phrases you’ve heard about God’s plan or purpose for you? What’s helpful or unhelpful about these messages?
How does it feel to know that Christ is at the center of all things, holding everything together—even your future?
God, sometimes I worry that I might miss your plans for me or make a wrong decision that disappoints you. When I feel this way, remind me that you are always with me, and you are holding my life together, and let that be enough. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SOMETHING TO TRY
Find a small paper bag somewhere around your home—one you can write on. Get a pen or marker and write out the words of Colossians 1:17 somewhere on the bag (or all over it!). On small pieces of scrap paper or Post-it notes, write some of the questions, fears, and hopes you have about your future, then fold each one and put it in the bag. As you drop each note in the bag, repeat Colossians 1:17 out loud.
Over the next week or so, add more until you feel as if you’ve captured enough. Then close the bag with tape or staples and either throw it out, tuck it away for later, or leave it where you can see it as a reminder that Jesus—not you—is holding it all together.
THE TAKEAWAY
God’s not worried that you’re going to mess up your future or somehow miss your purpose. Jesus will be with you, holding all things together the entire way.