Jesus said that He came that you “…may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). When Jesus walked the earth, He lived a perfectly executed LifePlan. He knew His purpose and executed it perfectly (John 5:19-20, & 18:37).

Jesus is our example to follow.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were created in God’s likeness. It must have been a marvelous thing to behold! However, Adam and Eve sinned, and through them, we all sinned (Romans 3:23, 5:12). You and I had a huge problem. We deserved the punishment and the wrath of God for our sin (Romans 1:18; Ephesians 2:1-3). Yet, God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to take the punishment we deserved (John 3:15-17 & 10:17-18).

If Christ is your friend and you call God your Father, then you should know your purpose. Yes, there is a general purpose, that you be sanctified and glorify God, as well as other things. Yet, maybe you don’t know how that works if you’re a stay at home mom, or if you’re an auto mechanic. How does that glorify God? Are you glorifying God?

Maybe if you could discover your God given, specific purpose, and a process to implement, maintain, and renew it, then you could live the abundant life Jesus talked about. That is what LifePlan helps you do. However, you don’t simply arrive there in two hours. It is two full days. Why is it this long? Because most people never take the time to gain perspective. Jesus did this because He consistently broke away and had times of prayer and replenishment with His Father. He was even transfigured and talked with Moses and Elijah – talk about gaining perspective, I’m sure Jesus was able to gain fantastic perspective (Matthew 17:1-13). This leads to a question many do not know the answer to: what is perspective?

I compare it to driving 75 mph on the highway. Imagine driving 75 mph along the highway. There are trees whizzing by. The landscape is changing. It feels like you’re moving pretty fast. It feels like you’re headed towards your destination at a very quick pace. The beautiful thing about driving is that you can take in a scene as it comes. Maybe you crest over a hill or mountain and can see a beautiful creation on a summer day. The farms have cows grazing lazily on the green hillside. There’s the red barn where hay is stored. There’s the fencing to keep the cows in. Then the next scene comes and it is a housing development. Maybe not as serene as a farm, but you take in the details of all the houses, their configuration to each other, and you wonder, ‘Who lives there? What does their house look like on the inside? What kind of people are they? Etc.’ Before you know it, you’re at your destination with all of these amazing views passing quickly.

Now, imagine you’re in a jet at 15,000 feet in the air watching that little car on the ground traveling at 75 mph. To the people in the car, they are traveling fast in comparison to their surroundings. However, to you in the jet, the car is traveling fairly slow because you have a greater vantage point for comparison. You can see everything at one time. You can see the beginning, the end destination, as well as all the things in between. You see perfectly where they are now, the accident 5 miles ahead, and all of the squiggly turns they went through to get up the side of the mountain 10 miles ago.

That is the understanding of what perspective is. Most people are moving in life and their only frame of reference is their ground level surroundings, 75 mph, reference point. They do not know how they have gotten to where they are, nor fully understand where they are at the present. Perspective is gained when you take a 15,000 foot view of where you are presently in life, and how you got there.

This is where a lot of truth surfaces about your life in the LifePlan process. You begin to see your decision making process. You begin to see what has shaped you into the person you are and how God has worked in your life to bring you to where you are. You discover things that have held you back in life. You discover positive and negative relationships and influencers in your life. This is very important because in order to live the life God has meant for you to live, you have to be able to recognize the good and avoid the negative things that will trip you up in the future.

Once you have a full grasp of where you stand in life and how you got there, then it’s time to discover and craft your future. That is no easy task, which is another reason why it takes two days, and even then isn’t fully realized because God will continue to reveal more of His truth to you in His timing. Since this is about your purpose for existing and not what you want it to be, God is the only One Who can reveal that. Thus, we pray together and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide and reveal the truth of your life in each module. You craft your purpose statement based on what clues God has put in your life and how He has made you. For some of you, that sounds scary because you feel that you don’t have any clues. That is simply not true (which is another thing you’ll discover with perspective – the lies you’ve believed and the truth to combat them)! How can He who knit you in your mother’s womb not have put clues in your heart and life as to His purpose for you?

If you’re searching for your purpose, or have had a burning desire in your heart to live the life God has for you, I would ask you to seek God and ask Him if LifePlan is what He wants you to go through. He created you to live an abundant life. It’s time for you to start living it! Many of you will feel that you’re not good enough to discover your purpose. Believe me, God WANTS you to discover the purpose for which He created you!

Question: What would an abundant life look or feel like for you? Please leave a comment.