We explore the “spiritual/personal faith” side of purpose in this section.
Not everyone has an interest in "faith" - or even and how it relates to work. But actually, most things we do have an element of faith attached to them.
At the very extreme - for example doing a bungee jump or leaping out of an aircraft - (if you are mad enough or unfortunate enough to have to do so) - you will experience the heights of faith, hope and courage!
And so it will be with all the big career and life decisions you will face.
Perhaps you wonder if your life has some "higher purpose" - or even "divine purpose". That you are here in this life to fulfil something significant?
We will explore this faith/work relationship in 7 sections:
Our universe is believed to have started with an event - the "Big Bang" - when something grew out of nothing 14,000 million years ago.
Can any of us really get our heads around that?
If we could see a person standing on the moon flashing a bright light - it would take less than 2 seconds to reach our eyes - therefore light travels at approximately 250,000 miles or 400,000 km in under 2 seconds.
And if we were in a space craft right at the very edge of our galaxy (The Milky Way) it would take 100,000 years - travelling at the speed of light - to reach the other side!
Can any of us really get our heads around that?
There are 100,000 million stars in our galaxy and there are also 100,000 million galaxies in our universe...
Can any of us really get our heads around that?
And finally - the universe itself is expanding at over 3 million light years per second (the galaxies flying away from each other).
Can any of us really get our heads around that?
YES, IT'S BIG - VERY BIG - BIGGER THAN BIG!
In Psalm 8 - the famous King David of Old Testament times pondered the "Bigger picture"...
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is humankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
We have all done it - looked up at an amazing star filled sky and felt exceedingly small and just said "Wow!"
A helpful explanation of this phenomenon was explained by King Solomon (known for his wisdom), who said:
He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Despite our aches and pains, we are living, breathing, walking, talking wonders!
One author explains:
"Most of us take our eyesight for granted, but even the simplest of processes is divinely complex.
The retina, for example, conducts close to ten billion calculations every second, and that is before an image even travels through the optic nerve to the visual cortex.
The human nose can detect one-millionth of one milligram of garlic floating in the air and distinguish among ten thousand distinct odours.
The hairs blanketing your body magnify the sensation of touch so that you can discern a thousandth of an ounce of pressure on the tip of a half-inch hair.
Amazing, isn’t it?’
Trillions of chemical reactions are taking place in every cell of your body every second.
You are inhaling oxygen, metabolising energy, digesting food, maintaining equilibrium, purifying toxins, producing hormones, exhaling carbon dioxide, repairing tissues, and circulating blood.
As you read this, millions of electrical impulses are firing across billions of synaptic pathways, and you do not even think about it.
(We acknowledging / reference HERE - for this insight (archive 23 Nov 2023)
"Could there be some sort of "Intelligent Design" in all of this? Some sort of "God"?
There are many faiths**, all of which have at their heart to "treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself - i.e. respect other people".
This section considers specifically the Christian faith which has the person of Jesus Christ at its centre:
** For a summary of the five major world religions see https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/world-religions-beliefs
Albert Einstein, when asked his thoughts on God replied:
"A child walks into a library and sees all the books in order. They don't know how they got there, but they do know someone put them there. How could I possible say 'there is no God'."
St Augustine wrote:
"God does not expect us to submit our faith to him without reason, but the very limits of our reason make faith a necessity."
Napoleon Bonaparte said:
"I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions would die for him."
So, the big question is: was Jesus mad, bad or the Son of God? This is the faith question.
If you choose to explore a personal faith and link that to your search for purpose and meaning, big things can happen.
But where to start?
There is a big difference between having a personal faith and being religious.
It is very clear in the book of Micah (Bible - Old Testament) that “God hates fake religion”.
Faith is different. It’s a personal sense of the reality of Jesus actually listening to you when you pray or talk to him. A sense that His Spirit is living in you and gently guiding you when you ask.
There are many ways this often gradual realisation can happen. In many of the stories below it came about by asking questions, receiving answers and acting on them. It really was as simple as that.
You can try it yourself and hopefully discover what St Paul found to be true:
'For God is the one - who for his good pleasure - energizes you, giving you both the desire and the power to act’. Philippians 2:13
There are recurring themes that run through these stories:
STORY 1: AN AMAZING ANSWER TO PRAYER
It has just a conversation over lunch between two people who had just met. There was no discussion of faith or religion or anything like that. In fact, they were discussing healthcare...
"Healthcare in Hungary used to be terrible. I was diagnosed with kidney disease. I was about to have an operation the next day. I was terrified.
I am not a religious person, but that night I knelt at my hospital bed and prayed in my fear.
The next day the surgeon assessed me before the operation. ‘You have no abnormalities any more. We do not understand why, but you no longer need an operation. You are free to go'”.
This really happened - unbelievable - yet true - a miraculous healing.
STORY 2: ASKING THE BIG QUESTION
"Jesus, if you are real, please let me know".
Immediately there was a sense of being "heard" - and not "talking to thin air".
But confirmation needed:
"If you are really there – may the next song on the radio, be...”
And it was!
(this is not so crazy - check out Gideon and Hezekiah asking for "signs" in the Bible)Was this just a coincidence?
A year or so later...
Hitch-hiking to the South of France and a lift from some Belgian holiday makers in a VW camper van.
"Would you like a sandwich?"
"What is it?"
"Horse"
"Yikes!" I thought - but then "What the heck!" - it was the best sandwich ever!
"We can leave you here at the junction or you can come with us?"
It was getting late in the day, so it made sense to continue with them to somewhere safe to spend the night.
The destiny was Taizé - the famous Christian retreat deep in the French countryside.
What a coincidence for a young person beginning to explore “faith”!
University then came and a couple of years later, after a very tough second year (which had to be repeated), the daily walk to and from college went past a life-sized figure of Christ, hanging from a cross outside a church.
Twice a day the same silent prayer was “Help!” (the degree was getting harder and harder!)
Every day, the confirmation was the same: "You're going to get this”.
Was I just talking to myself?
And so, by nothing short of a miracle, a good degree was gained, which was truly incredible, (given I was studying Biochemistry - without an A-level in Chemistry!)
STORY 3: THE REPAIRER OF BROKEN WALLS (STEPPING OUT IN FAITH)
Dudley told his story as we sat drinking tea in his home in rural France..."We were just married with our new baby. I was working in London after leaving the RAF. We had passed through here on holiday. This house was a bombed-out wreck from World War II back then.
After our holiday, one evening back in London I was reading Isaiah 58 and the words really burned into me:
'You will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings'.
I told my wife that I felt this was a real calling from the Lord to buy the ruins and restore them. I had no building experience and we had just had our first child. At first - understandably - my wife thought the idea crazy. But the overpowering sense would not go away. And so, we moved here, bought the ruins and set to work.
One of the remarkable things I remember from the early days, was fitting the new water pipes.
I repeatedly sensed 'Put an extra spur here' or 'make a junction there'. These were always in places that seemed very strange, because at that time, there was nowhere for the pipes to continue!
It was only some years later, when we had the money to build extensions onto the original property, that I discovered that all those seemingly illogical spurs and junctions - were in exactly the right place to be able to continue water supply into the new rooms - some were upstairs as well which had not existed earlier!"
STORY 4: CHANGING DIRECTION
I was working in Portugal with a young family. The phone rang:
“We're not coming back”.
After a week in turmoil there seemed only one place to go to try to find an answer to the awful dilemma.
The Cristo Rei monument stands 108 meters high on a hill overlooking Lisbon.
On that Saturday morning, gazing up at the figure of Christ towering above, the question was again simple:
"Help! - what on earth should I do?".
The answer came as a most beautiful feeling of peace that flowed exquisitely from head to foot over a period of perhaps a minute of time.
'You will have to be in charge of my career from now on if I do this (leave an amazing job earing great money with a top global company)'
But I needed one more confirmation and so reached for my Bible - opened it at random - and the first words that came into focus were...
"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or COUNTRIES, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first". Mathew 19 29-30
What happened a few days later was another amazing coincidence - one of my best mates who had emigrated to Australia five years earlier phoned me.
'Hey, mate, long time! I'm in Portugal - can I come and see you?'
What are the chances of that? He lifted my spirits beyond words".
Returning to the UK, “work” became self-employment in a new career as a "Business Consultant". A desk in a small, rented office, on a nearby trading estate: one phone, one computer and no clients...
By coincidence, hanging on the wall of the office was a poem “Don’t quit”.
The last verse spoke powerful words of encouragement that were incredibly needed at that time.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And when you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst, you must not quit.
Over the coming years my new career in business consultancy led to teaching on MBA programmes, a property business, senior executive recruitment, completing my career in senior roles in the charity sector.
Looking back, it was all about "transferrable skills" and holding on to the sense that I was not alone during the many tough trials along the way. I never once regretted the decision to step out in faith.
STORY 5: FAITH AND ACTION
"For 18 months you've been telling me you feel you need to move to Birmingham - now either do it - or don't it - but please stop coming and telling me about it!"
The Midlands held no logic whatsoever. But the persistent deep prompting would leave no peace. Back at home after the vicar's stinging words was the heartfelt prayer:
“Help! I need to know what on earth to do....”
Reaching for the Bible in desperation the page opened at random, and my eyes came into focus:
"What good is it, if someone says they have faith, but does not actually do anything about it? ...faith without action, is utterly useless!”. James 2: 14-17.
This was surely more than a coincidence? Or was it a direct and specific answer to my prayer?
There was now no question in my mind, and I acted.
I arrived in Birmingham on a freezing cold snow-covered January day - a little money saved - and no idea what was going to happen next".
Over the next ten years, Birmingham proved to be a place of significant personal transformation and many great work-related blessings. It was far from easy, but I never once regretted the decision to step out in faith".
STORY 6: PEACE AND PURPOSE
"The single most impactful experience was to receive a handwritten “thank you” note for helping out on a church event. It started with these words:
“You, Lord, will give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever; he will always protect you and keep you”. Isaiah 26:3-4
This seemed an incredibly important statement, which started a personal transformation process.
The logic was compelling: if we believe in a creator God and are told we are made in the same image, then we are, by definition, creative beings (regardless of how “creative” we think we are).
This means we are capable of bringing new and important things to life. Our work is therefore really important - whatever it is. Whatever we do, great or small, really matters.
My work then becomes my mission, and my way of using and developing my passions, gifts, and talents for something bigger than myself.
As Ken Costa in his book "God at Work" says: "My work station becomes my worship station".
STORY 7: GOD CAN SPEAK TO YOU THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE
"The student rental business was going really well. I had set up the business with a friend and we needed nearly one hundred students each year to rent the houses we had bought.
One day in April someone was helping me stuff flyers through student house letter boxes. We had only weeks left before they all disappeared for the summer and I was nervous about securing all the new tenants for the next academic year. They obviously picked up on my nerves and said the most amazing thing.
"If you can see it in your mind - and believe it in your heart - then you can do it!".
That was the most amazing wisdom I thought. I snapped out of my worries with deep gratitude for these kind words. We filled all the houses in the coming weeks.
On another occasion...
Sometime later, I shared with my email prayer partners that I was feeling there was more that I could be doing with my life than mending broken toilets and the countless other maintenance jobs I was doing each day to serve my students as their landlord.
Don't get me wrong - the business was going really well, but I was allowing my mind to wander too far into the future as I stared down the toilet pan!
We normally didn't reply to each other's emails, but just supported each in prayer. But not this time. My admirable friend Rich, simply pinged:
"Just keep fixing the toilets buddy!"
Once again, I was jolted out of my negativity and felt these words were a simple reminder from the Lord to "Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are right now! And leave the future up to me!".
Thanks Rich!
STORY 8: PRAYER CAN GIVE YOU "SPIRITUAL ARMOUR"
"One Sunday at a large charismatic church I went for healing prayer about a problem with my eye.
The man praying for me said that he had a clear sense not to pray for my eye - but to pray that I receive spiritual sight to be able to see the arrows being fired at my back. ('What arrows'? thought I).
The next day – Monday morning - the Chief Executive called me in to his office. 'Sorry but we are going to have to make you redundant'.
Me? The highest fee earner in the business? What do you mean?
Although I was a Director, I was not a shareholder as the other two directors were. The company was about to be taken over and I was a threat to them.
Without that very powerful time of prayer the day before, I would have been in total shock. Instead, it felt like I was wearing some kind of spiritual armour which gave me a great sense of peace and strength.
After a few weeks of tough negotiations, we reached an agreement that allowed me to leave with a fair package.
Although I went to that church many times afterwards - I never again saw the tall, rugged and powerfully built man who prayed for me. Who was he?”.
STORY 9: HOLD ONTO YOUR INTEGRITY
"The charity with very political and hierarchical. The culture had many great aspects and some not so good such as cliques and indiscrete gossip. People sometimes left the organisation in unhappy circumstances.
Standing up to these kinds of behaviours in can be dangerous. It is safer to join in. I was reminded of Dr Richard Higginson's book "Called to account" where he explored the challenges of standing up for your values in business life.
The bottom line is - if you do, then life may not be enjoyable. I found this out when I confronted these behaviours - and serious stuff started heading my way!
"I told my friend about it over a beer. When I had finished, he looked at me and simply said ‘Just hold onto your integrity’.
I knew him well, and this was the most profound thing he’d ever said to me!
I went home and opened my Bible, hoping to find some encouragement! I was in a bad way. To my total amazement, the first place my eyes came into focus were on the verse:
'In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever'. Psalm 41: 12
This sent an immediate shock wave of power through me - I knew I was not alone in this impending battle. This verse carried me through the next extremely difficult weeks.
STORY 10: DO THE BEST YOU CAN, WHERE YOU ARE, WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT
The consultancy job was to project manage a buildings project. It involved moving 300+ staff around a four-story building while it was being taken apart all around them. Great fun for me if not them!
Ten months later the project was successfully completed, and the contract came to an end. But what next?
"What next" was a burning desire to continue to work for this superb organisation (£80 million+ annual income operating around the world doing fantastic work helping people lift themselves out of poverty).
A wonderful three years followed, supporting the visionary CEO and Strategy Director create a new global business planning and performance monitoring process.
When the project was complete, my parting chat with the CEO included his words ‘we are now light-years ahead of where we were three years ago…’.
This was a wonderful blessing and reward. Throughout the three years, I had experienced joy and peace from the daily feeling that my work - and my sense of purpose in the organisation - were in harmony.
I was doing the best I could, with what I had, and enjoying every moment of it.
I was applying all the transferrable skills I had learned throughout my working life.
It was the daily outworking of that transformational verse from long ago:
“You, Lord, will give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm..."
Bringing the stories to an end , here are some words from the Bible that have brought hope, and encouragement to millions down the ages.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
"For God is the one - who for his good pleasure - energizes you, giving you both the desire and the power to act". Philippians 2:13
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". Romans 8:28
"Greater is He that is in you - than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4Purpose
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11
“Write the vision; make it plain. For the vision awaits its time; If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come”. Habakkuk 2:3-4
In the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon (known for his wisdom) - it is fascinating to read his utter despair at realising that everything he had done, and his many achievements led him to the single conclusion at the beginning of his book:
“Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless!
I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens...
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind". Ecclesiastes 1:3
Fortunately, having reviewed all his life's work over the course of his book - he came to a better conclusion by the end of it (thank goodness!):
"I have seen what is best for people here on earth. They should eat and drink and enjoy their work..."
Jesus explains "worry" in Mathew 6: 25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own".
Humility
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others". Philippians 2: 3-4
Encouragement
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”. Isaiah 43:19
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord”. Isaiah 55:8
Plan as if it’s all up to us – and pray – knowing it’s all up to God”
“A person's heart plans their way, but the Lord directs their steps”. Proverbs 16:9
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”. Proverbs 19:21
“A person’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way”? Proverbs 20:24
And finally... a great little prayer before you start your working day:
Dear Lord,
As I make my way into my work place now - I acknowledge your presence ahead of me.
I acknowledge your power over all that will be thought and said and done at work this day.
I thank You for the gifts you have blessed me with,
And I commit to using them responsibly in Your honour.
May the work that I do, and the way that I do it,
Bring faith, joy and a smile to all who I meet this day.
And when I leave this place, I pray for travelling mercy.
Bless my family, friends and home to be in order as you would have them.
With much love and thanksgiving.
Amen
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