What are you passionate about? Does your life have purpose? These two questions are more important than most understand.

We live in a time when many people fail to grasp the value of enthusiastically pursuing goals, achievements and personal development. Instead, most settle for getting by and drifting through their lives. Perhaps you also have not given much thought to what drives you.

Throughout my career training and motivating others, I have had the opportunity to counsel many people struggling to discover what they want to accomplish. They wonder: “What should I do with my life?” Another way to state this is what is my purpose? These and similar questions are at the core of human existence.

Regardless of the level of education or income, social status or age, a common denominator in life is finding that burning internal fire—the zeal that motivates us to get out of bed every morning!

With the right goals and the drive to achieve them, there is very little we cannot accomplish. The problem is that people either lack a definite purpose in life or they lack the zeal to push through the obstacles to reach it. Some people manage to fall short in both areas!

Proverbs 29:18 in part states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This is similar to the old adage: “If you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there!”

Of course, the Kingdom of God is our ultimate goal. But what do we do in the meantime? Christ commanded His servants to “occupy [meaning to busy oneself] till I come” (Luke 19:13). How do we “occupy” until the Return of Christ? God wants us to be productive!

Shining a light on these two most important principles are an effective way to motivate—even inspire—us to live a life bursting with joy, purpose and fulfillment. May this article help you find your purposes in life and tackle each day with gusto!

Where Do I Begin?

Let’s start with an obvious conclusion: We all can do more to develop our skills and talents. Yet this is difficult in today’s lackadaisical society where many can confuse mediocrity with excellence. Even we can subconsciously conflate the two.

The pursuit of excellence requires us to find our purpose and heat up the zeal to fulfill it. To do this effectively, begin where you are. Start today! This means taking a deeper look at your life—and doing so on a daily basis. Taking the time and effort to ensure tasks are completed to the highest quality possible should be our standard. Constantly ask yourself: Is this the best I can do? Do not give yourself license to just “slide by.”

This “no excuses” standard should be applied to all areas of your life—both big and small. It can lead to the discovery of hidden interests and talents along with a better vision to stay motivated. Ultimately, we should be building and stoking our zeal to keep our fire burning hot.

Ask yourself: What inspires you? What are you passionate about? It may be learning a new hobby or developing a new skill. It may be to obtain the “perfect” job.

Everyone knows someone who is passionate. Think about the most passionate people you know. Nothing seems to stand in their way of accomplishing what they want in life.

Now, as you read, picture yourself as one of those people!

Why Purpose and Passion?

Do you know the connection between these two crucial human qualities? One can ask, with time so short in this age, does this even matter?

Knowing our purposes plus pursuing them with passion is fulfilling, and ultimately helps us to better use and increase our talents. Our goal as Christians is to be profitable servants. Doing so will enable us to come boldly before Christ’s judgment seat knowing we did the best we could with the time and talents we were given (II Cor. 5:10).

Before exploring these points further, an important caveat is warranted. We do not advocate attempting to achieve the worldly success of famous people. These individuals often accomplished what they did through a lack of balance or the pursuit of goals without God.

However, what can be imitated from some of the more well-known examples of success in the world is the undeniable drive they exhibit to achieve and maintain what they have.

Getting what they did required a clear goal and a burning desire.

This combination is even more important when we consider the imminence of God’s Kingdom. We cannot simply wait for Christ to come out of the clouds and not be actively engaged in this life. Doing so would cause us to become lukewarm, when Christ said He would rather us be hot or cold (Rev. 3:16)!

Do not understate the importance of deeply caring about issues and interests. It is the heat that leads to spiritual zeal. Conversely, lacking this “heat” or energy to get what we want can lead to a lukewarm, uninspired life.

What Is Purpose and Passion?

How does purpose pertain or connect to passion? While the two are related, they are still different.

This can be readily seen with this distinction: Purpose relates to the mind, and passion relates to the heart. The Forbes article “The Power of Purpose Driven” explains: “Passion is about finding yourself. It is about following our interests…doing what we love for work, and it can lead to very successful careers.”

The article then described passion’s “twin” in the following way: “Purpose is about losing yourself—in something bigger than you. It is about wanting to make a difference and do for others—to help, to give, to serve. It is the legacy you are going to leave behind.”

Similarly, the website weinspire.com makes this distinction: “Passion and purpose are distinct. Passion is about emotions, the motivation and what makes us feel good, i.e. ‘do what you love.’ Purpose is the reason, or the why behind what we do, primarily for others.”

Said succinctly: Do what contributes!

Passion can be as varied as our emotions. It can be wild and exciting. Purpose is much more focused. “Passions can also come and go, whereas purpose tends to be longer term…passions are inwardly focused whereas purpose is outwardly focused on the greater impact you have on others and on your surroundings” (ibid.).

With this set-up, we will go a bit deeper with some definitions.

Merriam-Webster defines purpose as “something set up as an object or end to be attained.” This is our goal, our objective. It is “why” we do something.

Passion, however, is more complex. It has many meanings—and implications. Webster’s defines passion in diverse ways, from ardent affection to sexuality to emotion. For our purposes, the most applicable definition is an “intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.” This captures the deep desire for some activity, work or belief. German philosopher Hegel famously noted: “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.”

Obviously, passion is a strong emotion—and a word with rich meaning. The word dates back to at least AD 1200, when it referred to the sufferings of Christ on the stake. It originates from the Latin word passionem, meaning suffering or enduring. This is also connected to Latin use of passio to render Greek pathos as “suffering,” but also meaning “feeling” or “emotion.” In the Bible, the word “passion” is used only once, when referring to the passion of Christ (Acts 1:3, with “passions” used in James 5:17 and Acts 14:15). Strong’s defines pathos as “to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful), feel, passion, suffer, vex.” These show that passion can be associated with pain or suffering. Hence, having passion may not come easy.

People who exhibit passion do not sleepwalk through life. Indeed, the nature of passion is that it generates intense feelings and emotions, similar to what one goes through when suffering. The crucial difference with passion toward accomplishing a purpose is that it should involve positive feelings such as drive toward a worthwhile purpose. Sometimes this may involve pain, but pain is not the purpose of passion.

The negative connection of passion and pain is why some warn against the “evils” of passion. For example, the Stoics thought that the passions were a form of suffering. They correctly believed that lust, anger, obsession were traits to avoid. Yet they also thought positive aspects of passion were to be avoided instead of harnessed.

This is the reason purpose is tied to passion. Purpose keeps passion in check. If you have defined your purpose to achieve worthwhile and beneficial goals, then driving to these goals with passion will accelerate the process. Passion ought not to drive purpose. Instead, purpose should drive passion. This is how we should live!

Suggestions to Ignite Your Passion

There are many things we can do to find and ignite our purpose and passion. Here are several suggestions to consider along your journey to achievement…

Priorities: The most obvious place to start is to live with purposeful priorities. We all watchfully await Christ’s Return. We are also instructed to “seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness…” (Matt. 6:33). Salvation is our primary purpose. Yet it is not our exclusive purpose.

We must live with purpose, not just looking toward the finish line. Consider the analogy of a distance runner. Every runner knows the race is completed step by step. The finish line is the primary goal, but the runner will never get there unless he or she continuously puts one foot ahead of the other.

This can be analogous to living “one step at a time.” Each day ask yourself: Why did I get out of bed this morning? What purpose do I have for this day? Tell yourself that each time you accomplish something purposeful in your daily life, it is a step forward.

When you take each step with zeal and enthusiasm, you add passion to your life. Find your purposes and accelerate toward them with passion. Start today!

Status Quo: Often people live dreary, uninspired lives. Why? Humans are “creatures of habit.” This leads to being in a proverbial rut. Yet our ruts can eventually feel very secure, even comfortable.

As a rule of thumb, if your life becomes too easy, it could be a sign that you are not properly developing your talents. Easy is the enemy of growth. Remember, our talents are not grown without struggles. If we do not push ourselves out of our comfort zones, then we are limiting how God can use us!

Use purpose and passion to avoid being satisfied with the status quo. What areas in life need improvement? All of us can—and should—apply improvements, incremental changes to our lives. Start small. But start! Being passionate about small things can grow into other areas of life.

Hand and Might: Consider Ecclesiastes 9:10, which states, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.” This verse commands us to apply passion to everything we do. It also implies we must do so while we are alive, as God gives us one day at a time to be productive. These include, among others, our work, our interests, our hobbies.

For example, be sure to go the “extra mile” at work. Think about what more ought to be done! For example, you could push yourself to learn to use a new computer application even though computers may not naturally be “your thing.” Find something out of your ordinary daily tasks to tackle. Stretch yourself! Do hard things! Getting out of your comfort zone will help you discover areas of unknown or undeveloped interests or talents.

Do not be afraid to consider activities that sound interesting but seem out of your scope of skillsets. This may include gardening, playing a musical instrument or a different sport. Start in small increments. Immediately taking on five new activities will be overwhelming. Take one or two new passions at a time.

Momentum: As we develop greater purpose and passion, we eventually develop momentum. This momentum allows our lights to shine even brighter.

Passion is contagious. Our excitement or passion for development will inspire others. Talk with others about the things that motivate you—it will help them be excited about their own interests.

You may, for instance, be passionate about taking photographs of nature. Be sure to share them with others. As a result, it may raise the enthusiasm of some to learn photography or something else they are passionate about. In this case, sharing an interest led to helping others grow. Just as important, it can lead to developing stronger relationships and bonding at a deeper level.

Setbacks: Living a purposeful and passionate life is not linear. Sometimes life gives us setbacks. As a result, we may need to take a step back to reorient or to refocus our purpose.

Think of growth as a process. It is a journey. It may—and usually does—require “course corrections” along the way. Use these as opportunities to realign your purpose and focus your passion. This particularly applies to career decisions.

Though setbacks are inevitable, combining purpose with passion will help us overcome them. Having passion can help motivate us to move forward to overcome any barriers. Consider. The purpose we strive for is driven by the passion to get there. Similarly, we can increase our passion by refining and reframing our purpose.

Balance: Life is all about balance. Are you diligently building your skills and talents while patiently awaiting the Return of Jesus Christ to Earth?

Awaiting and watching for the Kingdom of God is crucially important. So is growing as profitable servants. We must balance these two complementary—yet separate—purposes.

The imminence of God’s Kingdom is a unique obstacle to developing ourselves. It is easy to “lie down” given the shortness of time. Yet this can be likened to falling asleep. Neglecting our continued development is simply wrong. That said, so is believing that Christ delays His coming (Matt. 24:48).

Hence, finding the appropriate balance is part of the delicate struggle we all must manage. Always balance these goals! Do not go from ditch to ditch. Instead, make slight course corrections as you manage your dual goals of developing yourself while preparing for the Kingdom.

Inside this balance is another “balance.” It entails understanding that no matter how effective and diligent we are, we cannot do it on our own steam. We need God’s help and guidance! Herbert W. Armstrong’s adage applies: “Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you”! Do not think you can accomplish anything on your own strength. Yet do not underestimate what you can do with the Holy Spirit backing you!

Understanding—and exercising—this physical-spiritual connection is another “twin” just as important as the combination of purpose and passion. Indeed, these are the perfect spiritual and physical counterparts.

Looking to Our Future

Use your unique God-given talents and skills. Put them to use every day to keep your internal fire hot. Actively develop and add to your interests and abilities. This will build your zeal and lead to a purposeful and passionate life. Ultimately, these same principles can and should be applied to your spiritual life.

Whatever setbacks we have—or will have—can be overcome with purposeful and passion-filled lives. Whatever limitations we have can also be mastered or minimized. We have God’s Spirit and understand His Plan. These give us the power and the insight to appropriately frame our purpose—and the spirit to pursue it with passion.

As King Solomon said, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” Go forward with purpose and passion toward the soon-coming Kingdom of God!