For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Discontent  seems to be the prevailing emotional tenor of our day.  A great many people (at least on television and in the social media) seem angry all the time.  They feel as if life has treated them badly. They feel as if they have been cheated and are looking for someone to blame. Something is missing that they can’t quite put their finger on but it leaves them restless and unfulfilled.

Back in the “80’s and 90’s , a major theme of psychology and counseling was the idea of self-actualization.  Broadly, that term referred to a process in which men and women would discover who they were and what life was about for them.  Their goal was to become all that they could be and, in doing so, to find fulfillment in life. Predictably, since this was a concept derived from the world, it was very self-focused and placed personal happiness as the highest priority in the life of any person.  Even if that self-actualization meant the abandonment of marriage and family and other commitments, that could be justified if those responsibilities were getting in the way of the individual’s pursuit of fulfillment.

God is not opposed to us becoming all that we can be.  He is not opposed to us feeling fulfilled in life.  He is not opposed to us seeking excellence or finding great contentment in what we do. The difference is that God is wise enough to know that true fulfillment is never found in a self-focused pursuit of happiness that rejects our responsibilities towards others.  Remember that the two greatest commandments are love God and love others. It was not love yourself above all.

I think Paul’s words in Ephesians gives us some insight into the reality of fulfillment. He begins by saying that we are God’s workmanship.  The word translated as workmanship carry’s with it the idea that you are God’s creative work.  He had a direct hand in determining who you are, how you are wired, and what talents and gifts you possess.  He even had a direct hand in determining your destiny. That thought echoes Psalm 139 where David declared that we are fearfully and wonderfully madebecause God created our inmost being and knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. Knitting suggests design and purpose. I have a daughter who knits. She never just starts knitting yarn randomly without any thought to form or function.  She always has the end in mind at the beginning.  That is how you are made – with God’s purposes for you in mind.

Paul goes on to say that we are created in Christ Jesus.  The purposes God has for every individual will never be fully realized outside of Christ. God’s intent was for every man and every woman to be redeemed through his Son.  The potential for God’s purposes lies dormant within every human until sparked by the Holy Spirit.  Because man is made in God’s image, humans can do amazing things in their own strength and intellect.  But the truth is, they could be even more amazing in Christ where the Holy Spirit takes the natural and upgrades it to supernatural.

In addition, God designed us to do good workswhich he has prepared in advance for us to do.  Good works are any endeavor that reflects the goodness of God, the intellect of God, the redemptive purposes of God, and that draws men closer to their creator.  Those things include achievements in science, the arts, education, business, agriculture, and government, as well as in building great churches and evangelistic ministries. We too often think of the Kingdom of Heaven as something that is expressed on earth only within the confines of church buildings.  But God wants us to disciple nations.  To do so, the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit must be expressed in every part of society.

Who knows better how to heal the body than the one who created it.  Who better to reveal scientific breakthroughs to eliminate cancer and a thousand other things that kill people prematurely every day. God loves to do miracles but he also loves to work through his people to bring breakthroughs in the natural realm for feeding the hungry, eliminating war, educating the impoverished, providing energy to third world nations, and so forth.  God has created us in Christ with those things in mind.  Our prayer is that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no sickness in heaven, no hunger, no war, no orphans, no dirty water, and so forth. That is God’s will and he wants his people to produce that environment of earth.  Of course, it will never be fully that way until Jesus returns, but we can make deep inroads in correcting the damage that sin and Satan have done on this earth before then.Those things, those opportunities, those good works have been prepared in advance for God’s people to engage in and discover.  They are all potentials waiting for us to embrace and produce by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  God has placed within his people the answers the world is crying out for.

And here is the kicker.  Men and women will never be all they can be until they find God’s purposes for them. Self-actualization only occurs through God-actualization.  Real fulfillment only comes when we run tin he lane God has assigned us.  We are each uniquely designed for his purposes and there will always be something missing until we are in concert with our design.

One of my favorite moves of all time is Chariots of Fire, which was the true story of two English Olympians of the 1920’s.  One was a Presbyterian minister who competed to bring glory to God.  The other was a man looking for self-actualization – fame, money, accomplishment.  The sister of the minister thought his track career was a distraction from his ministry and a total waste of time.  Finally, in frustration, she asked him why he ran. He said something like, “I run because God made me fast.  And when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”  That is self-actualization.  That is fulfillment. That is knowing your purpose for that particular season of your life.

When we find God’s design for our lives, we are running in our lane and will feel the pleasure of God.  The world is in desperate search of that feeling. Countless men and women have given up on finding that place and now use all kinds of things to medicate the emptiness.  Solomon said that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men.  He has placed heaven there and it is a longing for such a place that drives men.  What they don’t know, is that there is only one door to heaven and that is Jesus. Purpose, belonging, fulfillment, and feeling the pleasure of a Father is on the other side of that door.

Unfortunately, many believers do not yet know that truth either.  They are in Christ but still think their fulfillment is to be found in the things of the world rather than in the full embrace of God’s purposes for their lives. They are still trying to run in the lanes assigned to others rather than the one assigned to them before the foundation of the world. As the old T.V. sitcom says, “Father Knows Best.” When the world and the church discover that truth, whole nations will become disciples.