Your purpose in life

Andre Pelser

Most motivational courses try to tell you that you have not found your purpose in life yet. They charge a fortune to get you to ‘find’ your purpose so that your purpose can ‘drive’ you for the rest of your life. This is a slave mentality that Jesus never prescribed. Jesus came to set us free!

Let me ask a question: ‘what is the purpose of a chair?’ Most people will answer, ‘to sit on.’ But that is not its purpose. Its purpose is to be a chair. We sit on a chair. So what is the purpose of a microphone? Most people will say, ‘to amplify your voice.’ That is not its purpose. Its purpose is to be a microphone. The function and purpose are normally misconstrued.

Your purpose and function are different.

I once had a dream where the Lord Jesus was sitting at the head of a table and there were many people around the table. Nola and I were sitting to his right. The Lord looked at me and smiled and said, ‘I have prayed for you.’ I know the scripture where Jesus told Peter that he prayed for him that his faith will not fail, but after his faith is tested that he should go and strengthen the faith of his brothers. I thought about what Jesus said and wondered what he prayed for me. Then the Lord turned to me again, smiled again and concluded: ‘I have prayed for you that Andre just be himself.’

This came as a surprise to me. But many years ago Pastor Tienie Cronje had a heart attack and when someone visited him in hospital he told that person: ‘tell Andre Pelser to do what is in his heart.’ That was a message from a man close to death.

As a young man I was trained to be a professional actor. Then the Lord called me into the ministry. When I preached I acted out the sermons of other preachers that I watched on video. I realized I was not being myself. So I prayed and asked the Lord to let me be myself. The next Sunday people laughed so much when I preached that one guy literally fell out of his chair, laughing. But my family was very upset. My father said I disgraced the family for making people laugh in church. In those days church was just a very serious place where you were allowed to cry (because the Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart) but nothing else.

As a professional actor I got raving revues from theatre critics when I played a comedy role. As a school kid I always made the class laugh. So when I became myself in the pulpit it was natural that I made people laugh.

But it took many years before my style of preaching using comedy as a tool to present the truth was acceptable. I had to learn to be myself in church as well and not play another role.

Laughter does you good like medicine.

In our world there is so much stress and hardship that a bit of laughter is actually a relief! It became clear to me that the Lord used me as I am so that people will learn to laugh at their troubles and put their trust in God to solve them.

My purpose in life was to be me. The way God uses me in the ministry is often to make people laugh about their situation and to trust God to solve their problems.

My purpose is not to make people laugh. My purpose is to be me.

Psalm 20:4 talks about fulfilling your purpose. Jesus clearly established why he came to earth, ‘for this purpose came I…’ Paul explains the eternal purpose of God that is revealed through the church in Ephesians 3:11. In I Timothy 1:5 Paul reminds us of the purpose of the commandments of Jesus: love from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.

Your purpose in life is to be you. Your function flows out of your purpose. You do what you were made to do. You were designed in a certain way. God made you that way. He put certain desires in your heart so that you can fulfill your purpose in life. He is the Good Shepherd that leads and guides you towards your final destination. (He is not the Shepherd of the Good Sheep!) Sheep easily go astray. That is why the Lord’s rod and staff comforts us. When we follow him he uses his staff. When we go astray he uses the rod to bring us back! But he will see to it that we reach our goal. He will see to it that we fulfill our purpose.

You were born with a purpose. When God made you he made you with a definite purpose in mind. When you do what you were designed to do you prosper and you are in good health. When you do what others tell you to do all the time and never what you were designed to do, you are miserable and unhappy. Most sickness is caused by unhappiness.

Today I declare to you that God designed you with a purpose and that you are busy fulfilling that purpose just being yourself. That is the good news I bring to you today!

Do what your hand finds to do. Do what is in your heart. Be yourself and you will fulfill your God-given purpose in life!

Amen.