Catalyst Track: Know Your Why // Day Two

This week’s track comes from Ken Costa’s book, Know Your Why.

Why am I here? It’s a question I’ve asked myself a thousand times in a thousand different ways.

It’s a question I’ve been asking and continue to ask of God. You see, at the heart of the Christian faith is a big, fat why. And that why takes the shape of a calling. A calling for us to be here, in this place and at this time. A calling for us to live out our faith and values in the rough-and- tumble of our everyday existence. A calling to engage with the world around us in the power and the light of Christ.

The difficulty is working out how to follow that call. This common calling that applies to every Christian in every age and in every walk of life—to make known the good news of Christ to every generation— is unchanged by circumstance or culture.

So what does that look like practically, for each of us as individuals, in our own unique situations? What does the Great Commission have to say specifically to you and me at seven forty-five on a Monday morning, in a traffic jam or crammed into a commuter train, on the way back to work?

One of the great struggles of modern faith, I believe, is trying to work out what our common calling looks like in the here and now.

In this 4-day track, Ken Costa both encourages and challenges leaders in one of the most fundamental questions we can ask: why?

It can be a daunting question, and perhaps even elusive at times.  But it’s also one that both leaders and those they lead ask of themselves on a regular basis and the answers discovered can have profound impact not only in the lives of individuals, but on whole organizations as well. 

Take the next few days to not only explore your passions, gifts and skills that shape your why, but get back to the very root of it all – the gospel.

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Day 2 – Making Sense of Purpose

Mark’s gospel recorded another instance, when blind Bartimaeus called out to Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:48). And again, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (v. 51). Jesus knew exactly what this blind man wanted, but he asked the question so that Bartimaeus himself would articulate directly to Jesus exactly what he was longing for: “Rabbi, I want to see” (v. 51). It matters to Jesus what the desires of our hearts are.

And that is why Jesus’ question is so powerful. It forces us to search deeply into our motives for what really drives us to live every day with purpose.

The disciples were not dissimilar from us: they were seekers, trying to make sense of their purposes. And that first encounter with Jesus, recorded in John’s gospel, is riveting. Here were two disciples who had been in the desert with John the Baptist, who was preaching a gospel of repentance in expectation

of the Messiah. His message was one of self-help and self-improvement— a message of repentance from sin that could not yet rely on the power of the Spirit to be sustained. People wanted answers about how to live with a real and defined purpose.  But there was something unfulfilled in their lives that could not be satisfied by John’s teaching, radical and appealing as it was.

Nobody realized better than John that self-help could only go so far. “Then the disciples saw Jesus: When [John] saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” (John 1:36–38)

The action started with Jesus. He broke into their world as he passed by them. It was not they who had to seek him out. All they had to do was be ready and waiting when he came—ready to take the risk and follow where he led. The disciples knew something was missing, and they saw in this encounter with Jesus something of what they had hoped for. The rest was up to Jesus. And he did not disappoint—as he never disappoints those who genuinely want to hear his call. 

REFLECT:

What questions are you asking God right now about your life and calling? Maybe it’s for revelation about the specific ways He has gifted you, or how you can live out your calling where you are. Or maybe it’s a prayer for courage to follow where you feel He is leading you.