The Why You Don’t Have to Find
John 18:37a - Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.”
In September 2009, a man named Simon Sinek gave a talk to about fifty people in a small room in Seattle. It was called How Great Leaders Inspire Action, and it has since become one of the most-watched tTED Talks ever posted. The book came out that same year, called Start With Why. Eight years later he and two colleagues put out a practical companion to it, and the title tells you something about the moment we live in. Find Your Why.
And we’ve been looking ever since. The personality tests. The strengths assessments. The Enneagram number. The retreat. The coaching. The journal prompt that asks what you would do if money were no object. None of that is silly. People genuinely want to know why they are here. But a lot of people are quietly afraid the answer might be nothing in particular.
Now put a man in chains in front of a governor who can have Him killed before the day is out, and listen to what comes out of His mouth: “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.” He knows His why. Bound, accused, abandoned, no sleep, no allies, no way out, and He can say in one sentence what He’s on earth for.
And He’s not talking about a career. Look at the two phrases, because they overlap. “For this purpose I was born.” That’s Bethlehem. A real birth, through a real mother, in a real town, the same way you got here. And then: “For this purpose I have come into the world.” Earlier that same night, in the upper room, He already explained what He meant by that. He said He came from the Father and had come into the world. Meaning, He didn’t begin at Bethlehem. He came to Bethlehem. So this is Someone who was there before there was a here, who chose to enter the world He made, and who is now telling a Roman official why.
And notice where the purpose came from. All through John He says the same thing. He came to do the will of the Father who sent Him, to finish the work the Father gave Him. He said it plainly about His own life: no one takes it from me, I lay it down of my own accord. The Father gave it and the Son wanted it. There’s no gap between them anywhere in this. And that’s the very thing no assessment can do for us. Those tools can tell you your patterns and your strengths, which is useful. But a description of your personality is still not a reason to exist. A mirror can tell you what you look like, but it can’t tell you what you’re on earth for.
Then look at what His purpose cost Him. Jesus came to tell the truth, and telling it in that room had Him dead by three in the afternoon. Hebrews says He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, and then names where He ended up: seated at the right hand of God. Hebrews also says He was bringing many sons to glory.
Jesus knew why He came, and He finished it, and that’s the only reason anybody reading this has a future. Which brings us to ours. Paul says it about as plainly as it can be said. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. This is where a believer becomes a Surrendered Servant, continuously available to Jesus, receiving His life instead of mining our own for a reason to get up.
And most of us are waiting on something dramatic when the assignments are already here, wearing ordinary clothes. A person to love. A responsibility nobody else is carrying. A truth somebody needs told. A good work already sitting in front of you this morning. You were never asked to invent a reason to be here. You were asked to hand over the life you already have to the One who knew exactly what He came for, and He will spend it on things that last.
Head: My purpose is handed to me, not dug out of me.
Heart: Ask God to trade the pressure of finding one perfect calling for the peace of belonging to Christ.
Hands: Name two assignments already in front of you, a person and a responsibility, and thank God out loud for both.
Prayer: “Father, thank You that Your Son knew exactly why He came and finished every bit of it. Thank You that I don’t have to invent a reason to exist. Make me faithful with what You’ve already put in front of me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
-PK