What is your why?

What is your why? I believe that this question is at the heart of the individual who seeks to live with true and meaningful purpose in their life. There are those who seem to find their why earlier on in their life than others, who seem to “have it all together.” Meanwhile, it seems, as though the majority of those who live in this world feel like outcasts, never seeming to “arrive” anywhere in their lives.

 

While I have been here at YWAM Kona Ships, I have been experiencing a particularly full season of life-there are so many emotions that my heart is feeling. My season has been full of joy, nostalgia, sadness, breakthrough, the Word of God, and self-reflection (amongst so much more). As I was looking back on my camera roll to search for photos to share with you all, an obvious thought crossed my mind. I realized that nearly all the photos I had taken in this season was with people-people whom I dearly loved. These are people that have loved me, cared for me, encouraged me, provided for me, and walked with me in this season. And in similar fashion, I have fed these people, prayed for these people, encouraged these people, and joyfully lived in community with these people.

 

I bring up this observation because it wasn’t until this season that I realized my true why for ministry and life. Simply put, my why is love.

“Simply put, my why is love.”

Forgetful creatures

As human beings, we are often forgetful creatures. As we live our lives everyday in the present, it can be hard for us to remember all the goodness and faithfulness that we have experienced in the past. We tend to experience and process our lives through the perspectives and filters we put on each day, and that perspective has the tendency to be negative. We seek and find negativity and loss in our lives because that is what our minds are trained to focus upon.

 

According to the National Science Foundation, 80% of our thoughts are negative and 95% of our thoughts are repetitive. Wow!! I don’t know about you, but when I first read that statistic I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time it made total sense to me. If the thoughts that I am normally thinking are negative and they are continually being cycled through my mind, what a vicious cycle that must be! I believe that is why Paul in the book of Romans had this encouragement for us:

“I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

-Romans 12:1-2

More often than not, we are forgetful about the wrong thoughts. We ought to forget the thoughts of Satan rather than the thoughts of God. The thoughts of God, that the Psalmist declares as “precious,” (Ps. 139:17) and “vast,” are the ones we tend to forget first. We spend too many hours of our day dwelling upon our evil rather than beholding God’s goodness. However, it is the awareness of the precious thoughts of God that set apart David from the rest of his contemporaries at the time of his Kingdom. It wasn’t that David was the only one God was thinking of in this special manner, but that David was thinking upon and dwelling upon thoughts of God’s goodness rather than the suffering all around him. David was so immersed in the thoughts of God, that he declared, “I awake, and I am still with you” (Ps. 139:18).

“More often than not, we are forgetful about the wrongs thoughts. We ought to forget the thoughts of Satan rather than the thoughts of God.”

If only we could take the advice of both David and Paul and somehow merge them all together, I wonder if we could become truly whole beings-beings who are “transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). If the thought patterns and cycles of our mind were focused on what God thought of us, rather than what we think ourselves, I believe that we would see a drastic change in the overall quality of our thoughts lives, resulting in outward lives that reflect the purity of our inward being.

The purpose of life

How great a mystery it is that the purpose of life is simple for one who fears the LORD! Rather than searching for the ultimate meaning and purpose in life, it is the simple faith of the believer that rests assured in what the Savior has to say. It is the granted and great privilege of believers to simply hear, receive, and obey the words that come from the mouth of God. So, what does Scripture have to say about the purpose of our lives? It would be wise to heed the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things… So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

-1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13

Paul here is writing to believers that are divided over their own desires, temptations, and in their understanding of the simple Gospel. However, chapter 13 of Corinthians here is the double-edged sword, so to speak, that divides the truth from the lies that have been embedded in their hearts and minds as a church. Paul prescribes the antidote of love as the ultimate countermeasure against anything that would seek to divide those who are restless in their hearts and minds, to those who have forgotten their true love and purpose for life. Essentially, Paul is pointing the Corinthians to see love as the why of their whole existence.

 

Though they have, as a church, forgotten why they seek to operate in the power of the Spirit, Paul points to love as the compass that will guide them to their true North. If God is the embodiment of the fulness of perfect love, Paul is directing them to let that love that saved them now guide their lives. It is only in this way that they will ever seek to become a living sacrifice, when their minds and hearts are focused upon the perfections of Christ in His love. In other words, it is through abiding in Christ’s love that we find our purpose-to love like Christ loved.

In other words, it is through abiding in Christ’s love that we find our purpose in life-to love as Christ loved.

My why

So what is my why? This is what I was able to come up with as I was abiding in Christ’s love:

My why is Christ
My why is love
For Christ is the embodiment of perfect love

He condescended to us
He became as we are
Flesh and blood

He took our portion
He took our cup
For reconciliation he declared
It is done

Why should I care
Why should I love
If not for my Savior’s love?

My why is to love as Christ loved
To love like the way he healed the leper
To love like the way he forgave a sinner
To love like the way he cleansed the temple

–My Why by Dong Gun Kim