Joel Young Blog.com

Today, as I sit working in a local coffee shot I have done a good bit of self examination. It seems to be a fitting time of the year to do such a profound thing, but regardless of what the calendar says, God has been calling me to take a good look at what I’ve been doing for the past 24 years. As I did this I thought to myself, “how many people really ever evaluate the entire parameters of their life?”

We’re all used to short-term evaluations. Students are evaluated through tests, employees through yearly performance reviews, and the list goes on and on. But all of those things are based on recent actions and knowledge. When and where is there is the place for us to evaluate a decade of our lives, and is this type of information even going to be beneficial to us?

Well, allow me to share my feelings after my short period of self-examination.

I believe that there is something that God has prepared for each person to do in their lifetime, and I also believer that in every person’s life there is a certain point where they finally become ready to do that thing. For this purpose I’ll call it the “essential task”. For many people that point may come much earlier than others, but when it arrives you realize that everything up to that point has merely been education for the task. The experiences and adventures that lead to that point were all shaping and preparing you to carry out this one “essential task”.

I think the problem that most of us have, myself included, is that we try to answer this question too broadly; pinpointing our “essential task” as a general body of work or career of choice. But, did you ever think that God intended for us to go deeper with this thought? God has the ability to do grand things through our relatively short lives, and I believe that when we look at our “essential task” too broadly we are stunting the true potential God has placed inside of us. We need to be thinking of specific tasks in specific places that God has undoubtedly equipped and called us to do, and without hesitation START DOING THEM!

I think this is all easier said than done, but I want to challenge you to do is examine the last 5, 10, 15, or ever 20 years of your life and see whether or not you have passed that point of being ready to fulfill your “essential task”. Maybe this year will bring that moment, maybe it will bring the realization that you pasted that point and you need to get to work, or maybe it will allow you to gain more education for the task God is calling you to. Either way, just know that God has to take priority in our lives in order for his plan to become clear to us.

I know this thought was a little longer than normal for me, but I hope it will help you to do something greater for the kingdom that you ever though possible.