Understanding Your Unique Design: God Has a Purpose for You!

Sep 13, 20247 min read

Updated: Sep 17, 2024

Unlike evolution, which we know is true, macro evolution says that all life came from common ancestry, and it kept mutating into all that we see today. The thing that breaks my heart about macro evolution is that it teaches people they are random mutated animals. They may not use that exact language, but it is how it sums up and it is depressing. Without a Designer, we have no purpose, and if all humans died tomorrow, no one would care and nothing we ever did would have ever mattered. Life is pointless.

Fortunately, that is not true, and macro evolution is absurdly bad science. You are unique and you are made in the image of God. Absolutely nothing about you is random.

When you become a Christian, you are filled by the Holy Spirit and given certain gifts that will help you have your own ministry. Part of that ministry is building up a local church. The church is the Body of Christ, and it is meant to continue the work Christ started when He was here. The church needs many people doing various jobs to be healthy. If you are not currently a member of a church, there is one out there waiting for you specifically.

It is often interesting when someone leaves a church position and, with God’s help, it is filled again. The last person may have been excellent, but you see in the new person the reason God switched them out.

People gifted with preaching will not fit every church that has an opening, even if all the beliefs are the same. God will match a unique pastor with a unique church that needs them. When they connect, the pastor may stay there until they retire or until God needs to do a shuffle again. The same is true of every member of the church.

Your uniqueness as a flavor.

For an illustration, I am going to use coffee. There are many things that impact the bean’s final flavor while it is growing, such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil drainage, soil composition, and altitude. There are things that affect the bean after it is harvested, like harvest times, drying, transportation, storage, roasting, and grinding. So, you can run the same water through coffee that was raised during different growing seasons, or raised at a different location, or processed differently, and the flavor of the coffee changes. People that drink their coffee black (aka the correct way) can taste a wide range of flavors in coffee.

So, if we call the water a gift of the Holy Spirit, what changes the final flavor in us?

Talents

Definition: Talents are innate abilities or skills that can produce better results. Many people can learn and play a fundamentally good position in a game of baseball, but a person with athletic talent will naturally play at a higher level.
Examples: A person with natural musical intelligence might sing or play an instrument better and learn it faster than someone who does not. Some other examples: athletics, art, public speaking, and leadership.
Biblical Example: David was a skilled musician and songwriter.

Aptitudes

Definition: Aptitudes are closely related to talents and there may be overlaps. It is a natural ability to gain certain types of knowledge easier.
Examples: A person might have an aptitude for automotive repair. If it is a very high aptitude, they will learn very fast, and it may appear instinctive. Some other examples: Engineering, spatial reasoning, linguistics, problem solving, and academics.
Biblical Example: Lydia, in Acts 16, had an aptitude for business.

Psalm 139: 13-14 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well

Personality

Definition: Personality encompasses the unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It can have influence over how a person acts and interacts.
Examples: A person who likes to make a plan, someone who prefers to be spontaneous, a person who like a routine and familiarity, a person who enjoys new things and experiences, a person who is more of an introvert, or someone who is extroverted.
Biblical Example: In Ruth we see a loyalty, humility, and courage.
Warning: Do not allow your personality to govern. God is going to call you to uncomfortable things so that you rely on Him so do not assume because you are an introvert that He won’t expect you in social situations.

Passions

Definition: In this context, passions direct you to care more about certain issues. This helps you focus and keep from being overwhelmed. You cannot, for instance, volunteer for every charity.
Examples: Feeding the poor, feeding children, homelessness, substance abuse, spouse abuse, child abuse, clean water, environmental issues, political issues, and equality issues.
Warning: Being passionate about at-risk teenagers does not mean you can ignore a homeless person in your path.
Biblical Example: Paul’s passion for the churches he help plant is obvious in his letters.

Experiences

Definition: Experiences encompass everything a person has lived through, from major life events to everyday interactions
Example: Childhood experiences, travel experiences, career experiences, personal relationships.
Warning: If we are not careful, our experiences will provide the only discipleship we will get. We need the Bible to expose the lies in how we view our past and present.
Biblical Example: Paul’s thorn and being told that God’s grace was sufficient taught him that God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

Discipleship Progress

Definition: All the training, the sanctification, and the endurance of trials will move a willing disciple from immaturity to maturity and grow the amount of responsibility they can handle.
Examples: Reading the Bible, taking your place in church, joining a small group, prayer, worship, praise, spending quality time with God, and serving others.
Biblical example: The disciples that followed Jesus. Jesus spent a lot of time training them because it was necessary for the church to start and grow.

Location(s)

Definition: Where you are born and all the places you have lived and visited also shape you.
Examples: Growing up in a bustling city, living in a rural area, traveling extensively. Being born in a western culture may some negative impacts on your faith. Someone accustomed to traveling may be a valuable resource when going on church mission trips.
Biblical example: Jesus fulfilled prophecies by being born in Bethlehem, traveling to Egypt, and coming back to live in Nazareth.

Timing

Definition: Just like where you were born matters, so does when. We should not say that all millennials are one way, but we can say there is enough to establish a generational culture. Any earthly culture will have pros and cons. The definition of timing also means that a Christ-follower’s life has many appointments and the timing of some will be crucial to you being in the right spot at the right time.
Biblical Example: It was partly because of Joseph being the youngest son (at the time) that his brothers were jealous and sold him into slavery.

Appearance (Physical Attributes)

Definition: A person’s gender, physical build, proportions, and aesthetics will enable a person in one way but restrict a person in another.
Examples: A tall individual might excel at basketball or volleyball, but they are rarely seen as gymnasts or horse racers.
Biblical Example: Esther was chosen for the King because of her beauty and then she became queen.

Esther 4:14 (CSB)If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

Sin

Definition: In this context, it is how sin has altered you from God’s perfect design.
Example: A pregnant mother might have still been engaging in bad habits before she knew she was pregnant or she might not have stopped them at all. There are environmental issues that can affect an unborn baby and illnesses. After you are born, your sin and the sin of others hurt you in many ways.
Biblical Example: Samson lost his God-given strength because he was sleeping with an enemy who used his lust against him.
Good News: As long as you are willing, how sin has affected you will never disqualify you from service to God. He has taken into account all that you have done and what has been done to you and mapped out a life of services and encounters that will bring glory to Him.
Warning: If you live a life that embraces sin, it will take you out of position. Sin bothers all of us, but the right heart attitude is to hate when we do it.

Recently, I sat in a small group with a lady gifted with teaching and she uses it for special education. That is how all of her personal and experiential factors flavored her gift. She is in a needed position, and she is where she should be for now. She faces challenges that another person with a teaching gift can’t even imagine.

You are no different. You are unique. As far as anyone knows, your exact DNA sequence will never be used again. Even if you shared DNA with a sibling, people that really know you know you have differences, and those differences will grow.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Your uniqueness is for a purpose. It makes you the right person for the jobs ahead of you and the people you will encounter. Satan will try to tell you otherwise, but he is a liar. Sometimes, you will be obviously the right person, and in other cases, you will be surprised how God overcomes your weaknesses to achieve His purposes. Take a moment to look back over the list again and notice how things like appearance, which is glorified in our culture, is just one ingredient among many.

Say yes to God and pray for Him to direct you where you need to go and put people in your path. Your life will not always be comfortable or predictable, but it is an amazing life of purpose.

Scripture used or considered in the writing of: "Understanding Your Unique Design: God Has a Purpose for You!"

Genesis 37-50

Judges 13-16

Ruth

1 Samuel 16:22-23

Esther

Proverbs 20:24

Psalm 103:14

Psalm 139:1-16

Matthew 2

Matthew 10:30

Matthew 25:14-30