Your Ultimate Purpose is Already Inscribed on Your Heart

Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries

I moved away from home when I was 17, searching for something more than my small town could provide.

I traveled the globe for three years, from the outback of Australia to the mountains of British Columbia, in pursuit of my purpose.

So when I felt a strong call of the Lord to return to my hometown, I quickly turned up the volume of the Van Morrison CD that was playing on loop in my Honda Accord in hopes that it would drown out the voice of the Lord.

It didn’t work.
So home I went.

To say that I had a bad attitude about this move back home would be the understatement of the century.

But I knew that it would have been disobedience for me to disregard the call of the Lord, so I reluctantly submitted.

“It will just be for a few months,” I convinced myself, “God surely has bigger and better things planned for me than this.”

It took a while, but eventually I found everything I was longing for and more.

Right here in my hometown.

While I thought I would find my purpose “somewhere out there”, God gently called me back home —where I discovered that my true purpose was already written upon my heart.

When we accept the free gift of Salvation through the redemptive sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, a beautiful transformation occurs within our hearts.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

This was a promise spoken over Israel if they were to turn from their evil ways and repent, yet it is also a foreshadowing of the atoning work of Jesus Christ completed at the cross, a free gift to all who believe.

When we become Christ followers, our core identity shifts.

Rebel becomes righteous.
Sinner becomes sanctified.
Carnal becomes consecrated.

Our old heart was stony, stubborn, and sinful. But our new heart is tender, teachable, and thankful.

We don’t need to travel the world to find our purpose, because God has written it upon our new hearts!

Hebrews 10:6 says, “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

God’s law is not restrictive, it is restorative.
God’s law is not antiquated, it is innovative.
God’s law is not perplexing, it is straightforward.

It does not matter where you choose to live, who you choose to marry, what you choose to do with your life.

Your purpose will never change.

Jesus Christ summed up all of the law and prophets in Matthew 22:37-40 (TLB):

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them. Keep only these and you will find that you are obeying all the others.”

Love God; love others.
This is our purpose.
Written upon our hearts.

When you are at your “9 to 5” —love God; love others.
When you are nursing a fussy babe —love God; love others.
When you are struggling to find your way —love God; love others.

It’s so tempting to over-complicate our Christian faith, yet that is the very thing Paul warns against in 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB):

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

My purpose is written upon my heart by the very One who created and redeemed me.

Simplicity and purity.
Love God; love others.
Do not be led astray.

I used to think that bigger and better was part of my destiny.

Thankfully, my desire for bigger and better is slowly being replaced with a longing for small and significant.

Small and significant is exactly how Jesus lived, and it’s exactly how He has called us to live.

When we choose to love God and love others with every breath, everything else falls into place.

No matter where you are.
No matter what you are doing.
Love God; love others.
Simplicity and purity.
Do not be led astray.

When we stop searching for our purpose “somewhere out there,” we discover that it is already written on our hearts.

All scriptures are NIV unless otherwise marked.

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