And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28)
Everyone and everything in life has a purpose (Eccl. 3:1). According to Romans 8:28, your purpose constantly calls out to you. You are not an accident in life. Your date of birth, where you were born, conditions into which you were born, your race, the color of your skin, who your parents are, whether they are rich or poor, educated or illiterate; whether you realize it or not, all these things come into play and influence your purpose in life.
US News & World Report has an annual list of “Americas Best Leaders” honoring personalities ranging from business entrepreneurs, to politicians, and directors of nonprofit organizations. These people are selected by an independent committee of judges assembled by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In last year’s October 2005 issue, US News profiled 21 leaders that included Bill and Melinda Gates, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and Steve Jobs. Most of them have had very challenging starts in life. And yet, God used even their failures and defeats for the fulfillment of their purpose.
One of the 21 leaders who made the list was Oprah Winfrey. Oprah had a difficult upbringing. The product of a fling between her mother and a passing serviceman, she was raised by her grandmother on a pig farm with no running water. When she moved to Milwaukee, she was sexually abused repeatedly by family friends and relatives. By the time Oprah was 14 years old, she was a rebellious juvenile delinquent who became pregnant. Her baby boy died one week after delivery.
Oprah left school at 19. Because of her good speaking skills, she landed a job reporting news for a television station in Baltimore. But she kept forgetting her lines at news reporting and often interviewed as if she were a talk-show host, crying with the interviewees on TV. Oprah’s station management became very unhappy with her conduct on air. They also felt that she did not look glamorous enough; hair too thick, nose too wide, eyes too far apart. To glamorize her image, the station sent her to a New York salon for hair treatment. It turned out that the treatment failed and Oprah’s hair fell out. She became bald. Everything was so disastrous that within a year, her TV station told her that she was unfit for prime time news. They then demoted her to a housewives’ daytime talk-show.
Just when her career seemed to be heading south, her daytime talk-show became a hit and there was no turning back for her. By 1985, Oprah’s program had become the number one talk-show in the world, and she held on to that spot for the next 20 years. Today, Oprah Winfrey is the first American-African woman billionaire in the world. In a recent interview, Oprah said, “Failure is really God’s way of saying, ‘Excuse me, you’re moving in the wrong direction.'” Just change the track you are walking on!
God wastes nothing in your life. Every disappointment can be a new appointment. Every stumbling block can be a new starting block. Every tombstone can be a new stepping stone. When you are walking in your purpose, even when bad things happen, they will all work together for your good (Rom. 8:28).
God has made everything beautiful in its time; He has also planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose, working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God, can satisfy] … (Eccl. 3:11, Amplified).
DISCOVER GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOU!
It is your responsibility to discover that seed of eternity God has planted in your heart and mind because it represents your destiny and your contribution to human society. You have a responsibility to discover that preordained God-given purpose for your life. And where can we find the purpose of God for our lives? Your purpose is in the mind of God.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you … thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).
The more you renew your mind by the Word of God, the more you will discover His purpose for your life. But when and where does God reveal to you His mind? If you know the answer to this, you would be particularly sensitive spiritually when the hand of God is at work, when He is taking you into His purpose.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2).
Romans 12 speaks of transformation. Does transformation take place only when we are at church services on weekends? Or does it take place as we live our daily lives from Monday to Friday out there in the “secular”? We need to know because we want to be on the lookout for God’s hand whenever He is more prone to move in our lives. Does transformation take place mostly in exciting, dynamic, spectacular weekend church services? Or does it take place in the mundane, humdrum routine of living life out there in a humanistic, secular world?
One of the maxims of the late Edwin Louis Cole is this: “if you only look for the supernatural in the spectacular, you will miss God—everytime!” As I study the Bible, I have come to realize that Dr. Cole w as right. More often than not, it is in the secular world, outside the four walls of the church, that we discover God’s purpose for our lives.
The word “secular” in Latin is also the same word where you get the English word “mundane,” which means the ordinary matters relating to this world. God often moves in the mundane. If you are wise and discerning, you will seek the imprints of a supernatural God among the daily natural processes of life.
Let us look at some Bible heroes who found their purpose as they lived life amidst the secular and mundane.
PURPOSE WAS EMBEDDED IN ADAM’S NATURE
When God gave Adam his life, He also gave him a beautiful home to live in. God then gave Adam a job which was “to tend and keep” the Garden (Gen. 2:15). Adam was to manage the Garden and prevent chaos from entering; to bring about order instead of allowing confusion to breed on the earth.
Out of the ground God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air. He then brought them to Adam to see what he would call them (v. 19). By giving Adam a “problem” to solve, God was signaling that He wanted an intelligent relationship with Adam. The Creator of the whole universe didn’t want to relate to robots. God wants an intelligent relationship with you and me.
It was not such an easy task naming the animals. Adam had to find them, observe and study them, categorize them into their correct species, and then try to tame them. Very often, Adam found himself physically smaller or weaker than the beasts of the field. His only weapon of protection was his mind. He had to out-think and outsmart them. But the more Adam could name the animals, the more he had authority over them.
After a while, he got a hang of things and realized, “Hey, I am pretty good at this!” From naming the twelve species of cattle, Adam went after more than 10,000 different species of birds. And this time, it was even harder. He had to learn how to soar in the sky with them. Once he had mastered the cattle and the birds, he could now go for “every beast of the field,” which bad a staggering total of 2,000,000 species! After that, there were “the fish of the sea.”
As Adam applied his talents and creativity into his work, he found his job scope ever expanding and increasing. Adam soon realized that his one-man operation work style couldn’t handle his workload. He needed a helper. But it couldn’t be just any helper. It had to be someone he could love and live with 24/7. It had to be someone he could start a family with, and together with their children, do even more for the Lord on the earth.
Eventually, what started out as a one- man operation of naming some cattle grew into a vision for a family enterprise. Adam became so good at what he was doing that God gave him a new job description.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:27-28).
Out of being a simple gardener taking care of some flowers and trees, Adam progressed to cattle, birds, beasts and fish. As be faithfully applied himself in his “secular” vocation, he found his purpose in God, which was to increase, multiply and have dominion over the whole planet!
Where did Adam discover his destiny? Not in a prayer chapel. But as he worked in the secular, in the mundane, ordinary, “boring” routine of living in the world that God had created, Adam discovered his calling. Starting out as an entry-level gardener, Adam morphed into being the CEO of the whole world! He was transformed in his mental, emotional and spiritual capacity as he engaged the secular. He found his purpose in life as he applied himself wholeheartedly in his vocation.
ABRAHAM WAS PURPOSED TO BE THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS
Abraham was just one of the three sons of Terah (Gen. 11:26). He had a wife called Sarah but unfortunately, they couldn’t have any children. However, even though Abraham couldn’t experience the joy of parenting, God was at work in his life in that very area.
Abraham had a simple gift and talent: he had a very good understanding of fatherhood. His own father was called “Terah,” which literally means “to wait” in Hebrew. Instead of doing his own thing, Abraham submitted to his dad, serving and waiting on him patiently and faithfully in his family business until Terah died at the age of 20.5.
When his father died, he took over the responsibility of looking after Lot, who had lost his own dad at a voung age. Abraham became a surrogate father to him. He loved Lot so much that when Lot was kidnapped by five kings, Abraham risked his own life to defeat those nations who had taken his nephew away.
In addition to that, Abraham was such a good “father” to all his servants who were horn in his own house that he trained them to become a special fighting force. And they were all willing to die for him in battle.
As Abraham treated his own father with honor and became a loving, responsible “surrogate father” to his nephew and his servants in the ordinary, mundane arena of secular life, God was noticing him. God watched for 25 years and saw how this childless man had transformed and matured into a true father.
When Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to Abraham and gave him the revelation of his life purpose (Gen. 17:1-8). Abraham discovered that his calling was to be “a father of many nations!” Was Abraham greatly surprised? I doubt it. As he served faithfully in his worldly vocation as a “father” to his family and staff, his preordained purpose was becoming more and more evident to him. By-the time God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 17, God was merely confirming what was already obvious. Everybody could tell that lie was gifted in the area of “fatherhood.”
But could a 100-vear-old man and his 90-vear-old barren wife bring forth a son? Once Abraham discovered his God-given purpose, the rest were merely “technical details!” If you can accept and walk in your destiny in the mundane, God will do the impossible for you. A 90-year-old barren wife can still conceive. God will ensure that the impossible becomes possible!
Many of us Christians detest the secular. U need be, we don’t want to engage the world—a place we have long viewed as sinful, evil and demonic. We hold on to both siege and survivalist mentalities, wishing that we could fully withdraw from the world, never to engage it. But as much as the world opposes believers, we are to serve the world. We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. What’s more, it is in the secular and mundane that the purpose of God for your life is revealed.
JOSEPH’S PURPOSE: PRESERVER OF THE MESSIANIC LINEAGE
Consider the man Joseph, who had a hard life. From young, he was rejected by his brothers who had schemed to throw him into a pit to die. When Joseph didn’t die, the brothers sold him to Egypt as a slave. Languishing in Egvpt, Joseph was falsely accused of committing rape and was subsequently condemned to life imprisonment.
All his life, Joseph was entrenched in the secular. And while he was out there in the world living a very hard life. God was quietly at work in him. Joseph was gifted with certain talents and abilities: he could interpret dreams and from those interpretations, be could solve societal problems. God arranged events in such a way that when it seemed like all hope was gone, Joseph was promoted from the prison to the palace, where be started advising the highest authority in the land—Pharaoh himself (Gen. 41:37-43)!
Eventually, Joseph was set over all of Egypt. All through Scriptures, Egypt has been a type of the world, the secular. And it was there we find Joseph engaging the world fully, working very hard, applying himself fullv in the civil service. He became so successful in his secular vocation that he was promoted to be the number two man to Pharaoh.
But your purpose is more than just finding promotion, wealth and success in your job. Joseph’s true purpose in life was only fully revealed in Genesis 45. It was a time of severe famine and Joseph’s estranged brothers had come to Egypt desperately looking for food. Standing before Joseph, they couldn’t recognize him because Joseph had by now been totally “Egyptianized.”
Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it (Gen. 45:1-2).
Contrary to what some mav have thought, Joseph wasn’t getting emotional because he was finally reconciled to his brothers. As wonderful as that might have been, Joseph may well have been weeping aloud because for the first time in his life, he understood God’s purpose for his existence.
And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save vour lives bv a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt, (w. 7-8).
For the first time, the purpose of God had become clear to Joseph: (1) He was to save his country from famine, (2) he was to make his adopted nation great—and Egypt did become the greatest nation on the earth, (3) he was to save and preserve the Israelites so that they would become a mighty people, out of which the Messiah would eventually come 37 generations later.
How did Joseph discover that purpose? Not by waiting around the premises for God’s promises to come to pass. Like Adam and Abraham, his purpose became clear to him as he excelled in the secular, in the mundane routine of engaging the world of his day.
GOD PREPARED MOSES FOR HIS PURPOSE
How did Moses discover his purpose? He grew up as a prince of Egypt educated in all the wisdom and eloquence of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). Even as a royalty in the palace, God had already hardwired certain gifts and inclinations within Moses—he was a man who would defend the helpless. To defend a helpless Hebrew, Moses took the law into his own hands and killed an Egyptian. His motivation was right but his method was immature.
For the next 40 years, Moses was in self-exile at the backside of the desert working the mundane, secular job of a shepherd. There is nothing very spiritual or supernatural about that, is there? But remember what Dr. Cole used to say: If you only look for the supernatural in the spectacular, you will miss God!
More than just being a sheepherder, Moses was learning about the art of shepherding as he looked after thousands of sheep, growing in his understanding of the rough terrain of the wilderness. At the same time, he was observing the desert nomads’ practices of worshiping their idols in portable tents that were compartmentalized into holy and most holy rooms. And he did that for 40 long years!
By the time Moses discovered his life purpose to be the deliverer of 3,000,000 Israelites, everything he had learned in the secular, mundane world would come into play He used the public administration skills that he was trained in at Egypt to lead a new nation of ex-slaves, legislating laws and implementing social justices. He used the shepherding skills he had learned in the wilderness to pastor the Israelites and traverse through its rough terrains. He used the contemporary religious methods of his day to lead his people in the worship of Jehovah God—in a portable tent called the tabernacle.
When God officially charged Moses with his mandate at the burning bush, He was not taking “a fish out of the water.” Moses could see the hand of God already at work in his life for the past 80 years. All things had worked together for his purpose as he applied himself in the secular world (Gr. kosmos) of family, religion, business, education, government, arts and media. Nothing in his life experience was wasted.
ESTHER DISCOVERED HER PURPOSE AS A CELEBRITY
Esther was an orphan but she was born a “lovely and beautiful” girl (Esther 2:7). Her real name was “Hadassah” but she had dreamed of being a celebrity. As such, the Persians named her Esther, which means “a star,” after the Babylonian goddess “Ishtar.”
Esther took part in a beauty pageant and won it. She was crowned the most beautiful girl in Persia. She was then taken into the king’s palace for twelve months of personal grooming, daily beautifying herself with oil and perfumes.
All the while inside the palace, “Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it” (Esth. 2:10, 20). There is no need for religious titles in your work as a model, celebrity or a beauty queen. To be the salt and the light in the world, you don’t always need to prefix your name with religious titles like “Reverend,” “Pastor,” “Brother” or “Sister!”
In the Gospel, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their love for titles and public attention:
But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren (Matt. 23:5-8).
The way the world would be impressed by our spirituality is not by our religious prefixes, but by our unconditional love and service. For that reason Jesus advises: “But he who is-greatest among you shall be your servant” (v. 11). Don’t get caught up with religious titles as you interface with the lost in the marketplace. The world will know that you are Christ’s disciples by your love for one another.
Three things then happened for Esther in very quick succession. First, there was an evil plot to destroy the entire Jewish nation, of which Esther was a part of. Second, Queen Vashti lost her throne. Third, now single again, the king fell so in love with Esther that he made her the new queen, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her! Behind the scene, God was setting things up and “working all things” for Esther’s good. His purpose for Esther’s life was that she would deliver the Jews in their hour of destruction.
The book of Esther is a very interesting book. It is the one book in the Bible where the word “God” is not mentioned. (I often wonder how those who insist that a Christian shouldn’t read any book or listen to any song that doesn’t mention “Jesus” or “God” would handle this one!) Yet, no one can deny that God was working powerfully in the background!
For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esth. 4:14).
Mordecai was effectively saying, “Esther, just look at the hand of God in your situation! Can’t you see God’s purpose for your life in all these? You have come to the kingdom for such a time as this!” With that, Esther prayed and fasted. She then went to the king, spoke wisely to him, and courageously delivered the Jews from annihilation.
For thousands of years since that time, Jews would celebrate the Feast of Purim in honor of Esther. Who was she? A scholar? An inventor? A preacher? A mighty prophetess? No, Esther was just a simple girl born with a simple talent— she happened to look gorgeous! She was a model, a celebrity, a beauty queen. And God used her celebrity status for the good of His kingdom!
But where did Esther discover her purpose and destiny? It was out there in the secular when she saw the hand of God at work in her, as she went about her daily, nine-to-five, mundane duties in a very worldly Persian palace. There were no signs and wonders happening there. There were no anointed, thunderous, prophetic utterances all the time. It was a place that was godless and unspiritual. But if you only look for the supernatural in the spectacular, you will miss God— every time!
The average Christian spends one percent of the whole week in church. The average City Harvest member spends four percent of the week in the house of God. Where would you find the most divinely inspired transformation in a person’s life? In the meager one to four percent of the week? I doubt it. It will most certainly be in the remaining 96 percent as you spend time in your family, school, workplace, sitting in the train, and going to the mall. God is going to use those mundane daily routines to mold and shape you, and through them show you the destiny you have in your life.
Each day as you go about your secular job, doing the routine and mundane out there in the secular, you need to put up your spiritual antennae to recognize the hand of God transforming you into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. You need’ to let the purpose of God be actualized in you as you live out in your life in the world.
PETER THE APOSTLE FOUND HIS PURPOSE IN THE MARKETPLACE
Consider Simon Peter of the New Testament. He was a man with a fishing business. But Peter had an attitude problem: he was nationalist. It is a good thing for one to be patriotic and loyal, but a nationalist lias an excessive, fanatical devotion to his or her home country. A nationalist often believes that his or her nation or race is superior. to all other nations or races.
Peter was a nationalist and most of the people around him knew that. On one hand, he knew that Jesus died for all people and is the Savior of the whole world. Red, ‘yellow, black and white—all are precious in His sight! Yet on the other hand, Peter struggled in mixing with anyone who was not of his own Jewish stock. That was why Paul had many sharp arguments and debates with him over the issue of accepting the Gentiles.
Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-13).
On the surface, that may be seen as a small thing: sitting and eating with people of a different race. Isn’t that an ordinary and a mundane thing to do? But behind the scenes, God was moving mightily precisely in the ordinary and mundane. Through the simple issue of eating and fellowshipping with Gentiles, He was working in Peter’s heart over his nationalistic attitude. Because God had called Peter according to a higher purpose—to take the entire Church into world missions!
Where was the hand of God working in Peter’s life breaking down his racism? Within the four walls of a church service? In a revival meeting? No! It was over a simple meal Peter was having, while he was out there in the world among the secular, that God transformed his heart. So much so that by the time Peter went to the house of Cornelius—a Gentile—it was such a major deal it jolted the entire Council in Jerusalem. It sparked such a huge excitement of bringing the gospel to the all people that world missions was born through that one event!
Again, where and when did Simon Peter discover his purpose in life? It was out there in the secular marketplace as he mulled over the mundane tasks of eating and drinking.
HOW DID I DISCOVER MY PURPOSE AND DESTINY?
Although I grew up in a small 60-member Anglican church, I was never the leader or assistant leader of the youth group. But God was setting me up for my life’s purpose. I was good in sports, which made me relatable to youth. I could play the guitar and I love singing worship songs. That helped me to be very effective working with young people in the 1980s because they all loved music.
I was a boy scout and my school, Raffles Institution, had two very prominent scout groups. But through the recommendation of a friend, I joined an open sea scout group instead of the ones in my school. That was rather strange and “outside the box,” which made me quite a maverick among my schoolmates. In retrospect, God was training me to always think “outside the box.”
I majored in computers at the university, which trained me to be logical and think systematically. Upon graduation, as I worked in my first job, I found tremendous pleasure volunteering my spare time to youth and helping them grow in the Lord in a systematic way. And when the young people kept on coming, God said the obvious to me: “Kong, raise me a new generation that will take Asia by storm.”
At the same time, my future wife Sun started serving in the church as a youth worker. But she was never comfortable being a preacher. Asking her to preach behind a pulpit was always torturous for her! She found it particularly hard to be the stereotypical pastor’s wife, forever smiling sweetly on the stage and baking cookies for all church visitors!
As the church grew larger, we both became a little tired of just fellowshipping among the religious fraternity. We could grow a huge church and yet, the whole city would still remain lost. Sun and I often wondered: “What can we do to reach out to more people with Jesus’ love?”
Sun has always felt drawn to the world of arts and entertainment. Maybe because of the Indonesian-Chinese blood in me, I have always been drawn to business and the corporate world. In the last few years, as we engaged our society more as salt and light, we began to discover our purpose: which is not to be a stereotypical religious couple confined within the four walls of a local church, but to take the kingdom of God into the marketplace of society.
Sun got into her singing career and I became a businessman. We became volunteers in the church just like any other lay members. But as we intimately engaged our contemporary culture, we became even more effective as “ambassadors of Christ” out there in the secular. As the founders of the second largest church in Asia, my wife and I could have played it safe and withdrawn from society; but if we had done that, we would never have discovered our destiny.
STOP SEPARATING THE SPIRITUAL FROM THE SECULAR
We have to stop separating the spiritual from the secular. God is not only working within the four walls of the church, He is at work in the whole world. As corrupt and fallen as the world is today, it is not beyond redemption. And God is working 24/7 through you as you live your daily, ordinary, mundane, secular life—out there in the marketplace of society.
This idea of separating the secular from the spiritual was foreign to believers until 200 years ago through what is known as the “Age of Enlightenment.” The philosophies that emerged from the Enlightenment basically proposed that God dwells in heaven and that He is no longer interested in the world—a concept also known as Deism.
Out of the Enlightenment came the idea that “science and religion should never mix,” that ‘Veligion has no place in the modern world,” and “if you want to practice your faith, do it inside your house of worship because faith does not belong to a modern society.”
When we fill up most application forms, we would often find a box that asks for our “vocation.” We tend to understand that word to mean our “job,” our “occupation,” our “profession,” or our “career.” But that word “vocation” is not a secular word. It has its origin from the Bible.
The Webster’s International Dictionary defines “vocation” like this: (a) A divine call to a place of service to others in accordance with a divine plan, (b) The responsibility of an individual or group to serve the divine purposes in every condition, work or relationship of life. It involves the total orientation of a man’s life and work in terms of his ultimate sense of mission.
That means that your vocation goes beyond a job, an occupation, or a career. It is your spiritual calling from God. If you are a businessman, a teacher, a politician, an actor, or a television producer, your position is not just a job. It is your calling from God. The ideas brought forth through the Age of Enlightenment couldn’t be more wrong!
What’s more, the word “vocation” comes from a Latin word vocare, which is where you get the word “vocal” or “to call out.” That means your vocation or purpose is constantly calling out to you, trying to get your attention. You have to listen very carefully.
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling … according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (2 Tim. 1:9).
From the day you were born, your purpose has been calling out to you. It is revealed through your gifts, talents and the desires in your heart, as well as through the circumstances that have trained you to become who you are today. Your purpose becomes evident through the things that are happening around you as you live, work and play in the ordinary occurrences of a secular life.
When you understand that, you will not be looking for the kingdom of God only when you come to church. You will stop detesting the mundane, routine things that you do each week in the marketplace. You will no longer say, “The world is such a natural and secular place, oh how I wish I could be serving God all day in church!”
The truth is: you are serving the Lord 24/7 as salt and light! When you understand that, you will not become fearful of the world or be afraid to engage culture with its technology, business, literature, arts, music, fashion, etc. You will understand that greater is He who is’ in you than he who is in the world! And why is He greater in you? Because you have the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to become a leader in the industries of engineering, technology, business, literature, arts, entertainment, music and fashion!
God does not want us to just tolerate the secular things out there as He is still very much engaged in the natural realm. As much as Satan tries to usurp God’s place in the world, the God of the spiritual is also the same sovereign God working in the secular.
Adam didn’t discover his purpose in a prayer chapel. Joseph didn’t discover his purpose within the four walls of a temple. Abraham, Moses, Daniel and Esther—they all didn’t become full-time preachers or evangelists to live out their God-ordained destinies.
Interestingly, when the hand of God starts moving in your life, know that your life won’t be ordinary or mundane anymore? Conversely, by withdrawing from the secular, you will cut yourself from discovering the purpose of God in your life. Much of God’s working in your life is in the secular and you will find the purpose of God as you faithfully apply yourself in your ordinary
City Harvest Church - Kong Hee 