What does Jesus mean to me?

I struggle at times finding purpose in my life.  I have a great family with an awesome wife and 4 great children, and I feel that I’ve had a great purpose in raising them up and supporting my family. I’m involved in a lot of different areas in my local community, mostly revolving around the youth and sports and that keeps me very busy outside of work.   But there are days when I feel something missing, as if I’m missing some calling that God has given me, but I’ve not responded.  This week has been one of those weeks, where I’ve questioned what I’m doing as it seems I’ve just been going through the motions of life.

Early this morning I woke up with this heavy on my mind and the question came to me, What does Jesus mean to me?   I mean, what does he REALLY mean to me?  Is he more than just a figurehead, someone I can relate to when people ask about my beliefs?  Or is he really someone who I identify with and whom I have daily interaction with?  I think if I can figure out the answer to that question, I can find what I need to fill that void I feel at times.

So what is my plan?

First I’m on a mission to discover what Jesus really means to me and how I fit into his plan.  If I don’t learn what Jesus means to me and what I mean to him, I fear that the following steps may be in vain.

Secondly, I intend to find (or draw closer to) my purpose here.  This I think will be done largely in parallel with step 1.  I may discover that I’m already living his plan for me and I need to just embrace it or I may find that he is calling me to something quite different.  I’m not sure how I’m to do this, but I suspect as I learn some revelations in my first step, I may soon discover that step two becomes much easier.  I’ve read Rick Warren’s – The Purpose Driven Life in the past, but it’s been many years.  I’ve pulled it off the shelf and plan on working my way through that as well.

Finally, I plan on living out my purpose.  I plan on living my life with abandon, in pursuit of what God has put me here for.   I talked about this a lot at the end of last year, and while I had some plans and great motivations, I’ve stumbled in truly living this out as I hadn’t gone through step 1 and 2 yet.

So why am I telling you this?

Why indeed.  Well for a few reasons.

1. Encouragement – I hope to encourage others that may be going through the same trials and thoughts as I am.  Perhaps seeing what I’m doing and discovering about my own life’s journey, will help others in pursuit of theirs.  So please, let me know if something I’ve discovered has made a difference to you.  This leads right into #2.
2. Encouragement – Yes this is here twice.  I’m hoping to be encouraged to continue on.  I know that I’ll struggle through this in the long term.  I know that if I begin to be impactful in my life or in others, the enemy will mount an attack, to discourage me.  I hope to strike up some friendships through this process. so please feel free to reach out to me.
3. Accountability – Along with encouragement, I need some accountability in this.  Not only do I want to be accountable to continue the process and to follow up when I reach step 3, but I want to be sure that what I’m sharing is building and encouraging others.  “For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am here among them.” – Matthew 19:20
4. Validation – There is a point where the things I’ve discovered need to be validated against scripture and against other righteous people.  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” – James 5:16

So join me in this journey to discover what Jesus means to me and in my quest to discover my life’s purpose.  Maybe I’ll discover that I’m right where I’m meant to be, but regardless I plan on learning so much during this journey, I can’t wait to get started.