** The study guide will soon be available on the  Whitecaps Media. Until then, contact me for a copy. 

​Ned Erickson

Introduction

You Were Made For This

 Never in history has there ever been a person just like you. After God completed his finishing touches, he threw out the mold. It’s true. No one will ever see the world like you do[i]. No one will hear it like you either.[ii] For better or worse, each one of us will put our own unique fingerprints on this life. Your life. No one can live it for you. Others might try to look like you, act like you and be like you – but no one can replace the original. Like a Picasso, you are one of a kind, made by the master himself.[iii] 

Think about it: God, the Master Artist, made you on purpose. There is a reason you are the way you are, and there is also a reason why you are here. Wouldn’t it be great to know what those reason are? Well, what if I told you it was possible!

I’m not talking about knowing the future. Knowledge like that might sound, at least on the surface, pretty awesome; but what I’m talking about is something even better, like knowing your mission in life, the one only you can complete.

What do you think would happen if you knew right now the reason God placed you on this earth? Would it change the way you live? Would it affect the decisions you make? Would it influence the path you choose? You bet it would. 

Well, that’s what this book is about. You and I are going to find out what we’re made for. Now, to accomplish this task, we will need to go straight to the source, to the Designer Himself. That’s how you find true intention, right? If you want to know what Stonehenge was made for, ask the Druids. If you want to know what Harry Potter is about, ask J.K. Rowling. And if you want to know your purpose, ask Jesus.

Why Jesus? Because he made you. Scripture says, “For by [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him and for him.” You see that? By him and for him. In a sense, it is that simple. We were made for Jesus. And just like any good creator, Jesus made you so that you, to use his words, would live. “I came,” said Jesus, “so that they may have life, and have it to the full.” In other words, Jesus came so you could become the person he created you to be.  To put it another way, Jesus is, as Hebrews describes him, “the author and perfecter of our faith.”[iv] Just like the author J.K. Rowling created Harry Potter, Jesus created you. And like Rowling had a higher purpose for Harry, Jesus has a higher purpose for you. The difference is Harry exists only in our imaginations – you live FOR REAL.

That is Jesus’ purpose for you – to be your true self, and to be part of something huge. That’s real. And remember, there is no one like you. Only you can perform the part he intends you to play. Now can you see why it’s so important to be your true self?

So how do you get there? How do you become the person you were created to be? It’s this: you get to know Jesus. Wait. What? How does getting to know someone else help me become myself? Great question. Here’s the answer. Because he’s the author of your life. Since before you were born, He’s been crafting your story. Not only that, He is with you, right now, in it! Only He knows how your story will end. So knowing Him is key, and what you learn about Him will make all the difference in the world. You see, when you get to know Jesus, the more you’ll fall in love with Him. And the more you fall in love with Him, the more you’ll follow Him. And the more you follow Him, the more you’ll become like Him. And the more you become like Him, the more you become yourself. Pretty straightforward. Not exactly. Because what you discover as you work your way through the above progression is that you will find yourself learning new things about Jesus that will cause you to fall in love with him in deeper ways which will lead you to follow him into wilder places, which will transform you all over again. In other words, you don’t arrive at life’s answers by formula or by going from Point A to Point B. Instead, as the writer Parker Palmer puts it “we circle around and spiral down.”[v] We become as we are becoming. That’s how relationships work. And ultimately that’s what Jesus most wants for you – to have a relationship with Him.

But the truth is Jesus wants so much more for you than that! Jesus wants you to experience wholeness and healing and love and belonging. He wants you to believe that you can make a difference in this world. Maybe you think that’s obvious, but a lot of what people hear about Jesus has to do with the things he doesn’t want. Maybe all you’ve heard is that Jesus wants you to “stop this” or “wait for that” and whatever you do “be really serious.” Well, if that’s true for you, let me be the first to tell you that’s not the Jesus you will find in Scripture. The Jesus you find there is way more interested in setting people free than giving them rules to follow.[vi] That’s the real Jesus. And that’s the truth about what he wants for you. He wants things for you. In the coming pages we will discover some of what those things are. Not all of them. There are too many for one book to cover. But it’s a start.

So what do you say? Are you ready to find out the reason you were made?


[i] It’s true! Your eye is as unique as your fingerprint. So in a very real sense, you see the world from a unique perspective.

[ii] http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/05/ears-the-new-fingerprints/

[iii] The most expensive Picasso (and painting) ever sold was his Nude, Green Leaves and Bust. Auctioned in 2010, the winning bid was $106.5 million. Now, think about God, the artist. He created Pablo Picasso. Just think what his creations (you) are worth.

[iv] Hebrews 12:2

[v] Palmer, Parker. Listen to Your Life. (Jossey Bass. San Francisco, CA, 2000) p.95

[vi] John 8:36