If you would prefer to read this message, I have provided the words below:
Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why am I doing this?!” It’s important to know why we’re doing what we’re doing. What is your ‘why’? Why do you do what you do? Every hero and superhero has a reason as to why they do what they do.
“We knew our enemies’ intent was to intimidate us into stopping our work. They reasoned, “These Jews will stop rebuilding out of fear and discouragement. Progress will grind to a halt.” Instead I renewed my dedication, strengthened my hands.”
(Nehemiah 6:9) -Voice
Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and his enemies were trying to stop him from completing his work. However, Nehemiah pressed on and finished his goal. Why?
What is your ultimate goal in life? What is your purpose? If you don’t have one, you need one. Without a purpose, a person will walk about aimlessly and that person might as well be a zombie. If you are currently striving to achieve your ultimate goal in life, you are currently fulfilling what you believe to be your purpose.
With every goal, there are three essential parts you need to know:
- You need to know what you’re doing.
- You need to know how you’re doing it.
- You need to know why you’re doing it.
Many people know what they are doing and even how they are doing what they are doing, but they don’t fully comprehend why they do what they do. Do you know why you do what you do? You need to know the ‘why’ if you are to stay your way. If you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you won’t be easily persuaded not to do it because you’ll know why it is important to keep doing it.
If you are striving to achieve a goal, you will ultimately be battling against opposition in order to achieve your goal. You will not simply achieve your goal by declaring that you desire to achieve your goal. Can a person win a race without putting forth the effort to achieve the goal? Can a person build a wall without putting forth the effort to achieve the goal?
In the Bible, Nehemiah decided to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. What did he do? He was rebuilding the walls. How was he doing it? He was using materials and resources in order to rebuild the walls. But why was he rebuilding the walls? Nehemiah decided to rebuild the walls because they had been destroyed for about 70 years. He decided to rebuild the walls because the walls represented power and protection to the city of Jerusalem. The walls were needed in order to protect the city from attack and to ensure the continuity of worship. Nehemiah had left a responsible position in the Persian government in order to fulfill his calling. He did what he did because he knew why he needed to do it. Furthermore, people tried to prevent the work from being completed by insulting him, ridiculing him, threatening him, and even sabotaging his work. However, Nehemiah persisted and prevailed. Why? Because he knew why he was doing what he was doing!
Who or what are you battling against and why are you in that battle? What oppositions are you facing and why?
“Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.”
(Isaiah 64:8); (Jeremiah 18:6) -NLT
We are the clay. Ponder on that for a moment. Clay must go through a lot in order to become the full potential of pottery. In the process of formation, clay might feel like it is being drowned due to all the water that is used to shape it. On the spinning wheel where it is being shaped, the clay probably feels dizzy or disoriented and unsure of its direction and purpose. It may feel like a lump of purposeless clay just going ‘round and ‘round. Clay also shrinks in both the drying and the firing processes. It is important for clay to dry slowly so that the sculpted piece can dry evenly so as to avoid cracking or being warped. The clay only becomes hardened and increases strength after intense heat for a certain amount of time. If you were the clay, you might believe that all the formation, time spent alone while drying, and the intense heat were punishments or that it was all abuse. However, with a mere change in perspective, it is easy to see that it was all necessary in order for the clay to become the strong, sculpted, beautiful and useful piece of pottery. The entire process was done out of love in order to make the clay into something better than it had been originally.
“For you, the righteous God, look deep within the hearts of men and examine all their motives and their thoughts.”
(Psalm 7:9) -TLB
“You get us ready for life: you probe for our soft spots, you knock off our rough edges.”
(Psalm 7:9) -MSG
Why would GOD probe for our soft spots? Because the soft spots are our weaknesses. GOD wants us to be aware of our weaknesses so that we can work on those areas and strengthen them.
When you want to grow muscle (grow being the word of focus), you must first tear the muscle you desire to grow, and then it will grow back thicker and stronger. Each time you tear your muscles, they grow back stronger than they were before. The same goes for our spiritual muscles — the more hardships we endure and overcome, the stronger we become in our walk with GOD.
[If you find yourself asking why GOD would allow pain and suffering, see my other article: Why Does GOD Allow Pain And Suffering? ]
GOD examines our hearts and our minds. The Message states, “You get us ready for life.”
Life here on Earth is merely training for the real life that is ahead of us on the New Earth under the new heavens. Training in the army is tough, right? But do the soldiers complain and cry to the drill sergeant, “Why?! Take it easy on me!”?
No! The soldiers are tough, they endure, and they don’t ask why they go through training. Why don’t they ask why? Because they already know why — they understand what it is they are fighting for! The soldiers do what they do to ensure a better life for all of us; the soldiers fight for freedom. Should a solider commit to a battle without first knowing why the battle must be won? Why would anyone fight in a war if he/she doesn’t know why he/she is fighting in that war?
When we comprehend why we do what we do, we obtain the confidence necessary to continue on even through the most difficult of times. We [Christians] need to be tough and endure in life and understand what/who it is we are fighting for. We are fighting for souls to be saved! We are fighting for the freedom of others! We do what we do in hopes of leading the lost back Home. We make the sacrifices that we make in hopes of creating joy. Why do we do what we do? We do what we do in order to make life better and to give hope to the hopeless. We are to encourage those without dreams to dream again. We are to combat sadness with joy. We are to help the lost to find their way and get saved. We are to expose the lies and reveal Truth.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
(Romans 12:21) -NKJV
“You were chosen to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to live under the power of sin. Instead, serve one another in love.”
(Galatians 5:13) -NIRV
Soldiers fight to ensure freedom. We are soldiers of the heavenly Kingdom! True freedom is having the ability and opportunity to use our free will for ourselves, yet we choose to use our free will in order to help others. That freedom is liberating! The pain we go through in our ‘boot camp training’ is well worth it in the end. No pain? No gain! It is uncomfortable to get our soft spots probed, but we will grow stronger by addressing and overcoming our weaknesses. It hurts to get our rough edges scraped away, but it shapes us and forms us into better people.
The Message says, “you knock off our rough edges.” When we get too bold, too arrogant, GOD takes us down to where we need to be. GOD desires to make us well-rounded people. However, that’s only possible if we allow GOD to work within our lives.
Are you soft or getting soft? Is there any pain you are holding back? Are there any fears that you are refusing to face? Are you holding onto something or someone that is dragging you down? Are you resisting GOD probing your soft spots? Are you struggling to keep those rough edges so that you won’t feel weak? Are you complaining during your time of drying? Are you complaining about your process through the fire? Do you want to grow? Do you want to avoid being cracked and/or warped? Do you want to be stronger? Do you want to be well-rounded?
If you want to grow, I challenge you to welcome the probing of your soft spots. I challenge you to welcome GOD to scrape away your rough edges, to sand you down smoothly. I challenge you to welcome the fire (tests and trials) that will harden and strengthen you. Understand this: GOD loves you the way you are, but GOD loves you too much to let you remain as you are. GOD desires to bring out the amazing potential within you and see you at your best. In order to reach your full potential, you need to grow. In order to be your best, you must endure all the tests. To be able to endure life’s tests and trials, you need to know why you do what you do.
I once read a news article about a man who ran into a burning building in order to save a little girl who was trapped inside. Prior to the man running inside, he heard a bystander shout to him that he should not enter the building because he could lose his own life. It didn’t matter. No — it didn’t matter because the man knew why he had to do what he was doing. The power of his ‘why’ conquered all doubt and fear and enabled him to do what he would not have done otherwise. The man’s ‘why’ was the life of a little girl and the potential of her future. It no longer mattered to the man how he was going to accomplish his task — the man knew what he had to do and why. (Here is a similar news story.)
Your ‘why’ will launch you into your ‘what’ even if you don’t know ‘how’ to accomplish the ‘what.’ That is the power of the ‘why.’ Once you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, nothing will be able to prevent you from doing what you need to do. Do you know your ‘why’? What is your ultimate goal in life? Why? What is your battle? Why must your battle be won?
My ultimate goal in life is to lead as many people as I can to the Lord. Why? Because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and the Light (John 8:12; 14:6). I want everyone to experience life in the light of Truth because that’s where true joy is found. Many people have wondered why I set aside my own desires in order to keep helping people and sharing Jesus with them. I have set aside my pursuit for happiness because I love people and desire to see them pursue purpose. I don’t always know how I’m going to do this; in fact, I frequently launch into my ‘what’ without knowing the ‘how’ simply because I am propelled by my ‘why.’
If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I invite you to accept Him into your life right now. If you want to know my story – why I became a Christian, see my other article, “My Testimony: from Agnosticism, to Atheism, to Christianity“.
Don’t confuse the pursuit of happiness as being your purpose. You were created for a purpose. So, why do you do what you do? May you seek the Lord and discover your ‘why’.
Here’s why I do what I do:
Ministry Stats
(January 2017 — February 2019)
2,397 unique visitors = about 3 people per day
3,415 views = 1,018 extra views from initial contact
58 countries:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Australia
- Ireland
- Finland
- Germany
- Netherlands
- India
- France
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Egypt
- Singapore
- Spain
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Philippines
- Turkey
- Sweden
- Belgium
- Jamaica
- Tanzania
- New Zealand
- Kuwait
- United Arab Emirates
- Greece
- Israel
- Japan
- Poland
- Ghana
- Argentina
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Denmark
- Italy
- Hong Kong SAR China
- Qatar
- Brazil
- Vietnam
- Switzerland
- Bangladesh
- Guam
- Romania
- Taiwan
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Dominican Republic
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Puerto Rico
- Swaziland
- Panama
- Liberia
- Barbados
- Norway
- Uzbekistan
- Uganda
- Slovenia
It absolutely blows my mind to know that I have been able to touch every area colored on the map (58 countries)! Who am I?! I’m just one person. But that’s the point! Every person matters! Even if I only reach one person per day, I could potentially lead thousands of people into the Kingdom! Even one person per day is worth it! May you remember that the next time you encounter a person who is difficult to deal with. GOD loves that person. And who knows who that person can become in Christ and how many people that person will be able to affect. I’m sowing seeds. I may not ever get to see the fruit in this lifetime, but I look forward to the Day when the Lord shows me the fruit I never knew existed. Think: The colored areas on the map is only the areas I know about – there might be more! What if one of those people accepted Jesus and ended up planting a church in one of those areas? Everything we do matters and every single person matters. They are my ‘why.’ You are my ‘why.’
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
(Galatians 6:9) -NLT
Quest For Truth 
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