The Right Purpose in His Presence: None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions (Luke 14:33).

Are you living for the right purpose? If you experience an emptiness that never goes away, or an aimless thought pattern that dominates your life, these are indicators that you are not on task in pursuing God’s purpose for your life.

The question for all of us is this, “What is getting in the way of pursuing God’s purpose for you?” The question is asked because Satan fakes us out with the wrong purpose, distracting from the real purpose by influencing us to chase meaningless pursuits.

The apostle Paul said: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). God saved Paul for a reason, and Paul’s goal is to live out that reason.

This is true of all believers—we are saved for a reason. Satan doesn’t want you to know that, so he uses distractions to keep us focused on our own pursuits. What are the main distractions that keep us from realizing and experiencing God’s purpose for our lives?

One distraction is materialism, or being consumed by our possessions. Another distraction is the opinion of others. Jesus made very clear that if we are to follow Him, we must give up our possessions. We can have a house, a car, or whatever, but we shouldn’t make things of the physical world more important than things of the spiritual world.

We should not hold our value in the opinions of others. It’s not what they say about you that matters. It is what God says about you that matters. In other words, on this Fantastic Faithful Friday, we shouldn’t let the opinion of others become more important than the God who gave the gifts. Your ability to do the opposite of your enemies is what gives you the elevation. Elevate and walk in purpose.