Now Walk It Out
I know the soundtrack is playing in your head right now, but pull yourself together! We’ve really got to get the moves right first. I’ve seen some of us on the dance floor when this song comes on and, honestly, I think we can do better 😬.
You’ve got to know that “Walk it out” is a very sophisticated and intricate choreography. At full speed, this 2007 dance hit may appear too complicated to comprehend. But when each step is revealed in detail, it’s much more applicable than you think.
Kind of like walking out purpose (ha! See what I did there?). When you first see someone walking fully in their purpose, it can look so effortless that it's intimidating. But in actuality, it’s a sequence of certain steps taken that, when combined, paint the picture of his/her purpose. A couple of months ago we talked about what purpose is not. (And if question marks are all over your face right now, let me invite you to click here to catch up!) Now, we’re going to answer what purpose IS and 3 ways we can walk it out step by step. (You may not have known you dropped into a dance class but we’re going to learn today!)
STEP 1 - RECOGNIZE WE'RE ALL PART OF ONE PERFORMANCE
When I was on the Poms team in high school (poms, not cheerleading! Don’t get it twisted), we’d have dancers from all kinds of backgrounds and practices. Hip Hop, Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet. But when it came to the choreography at hand, dance was dance. Every single one of us had to do the same moves, to the same song, and at the same tempo. We were all one performance and it was the synchronization that made the performance spectacular.
In the same manner, we all have one main purpose. How do I know? Because God shares in His word His purpose and intention for creating us. He tells us that we are His spokesmen to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5), appointed rulers over Earth (Genesis 1:26), caretakers of His people (John 21:15-17), and my favorite of all, His light on the earth (Mark 5:13-16).
Pastor Stephen puts it like this- We are “to be a light to Jesus and build a life that will cause people to ask about and know Jesus.” We are purposed to love God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). And by displaying this love, we share the love of God with others. It’s all part of God’s plan of reconciliation with His beloved- us. That is the one purpose we all share.
What’s beautiful is that, although we all share this one purpose, God made us all uniquely different and has buried in us gifts and talents that will carry out His sole purpose in various ways. When our Poms team performed, we all did the same choreography but each of us did it in our own way. The hip-hop girls would have some sass in their moves, and the contemporary girls had delicacy in theirs. Our distinct experiences and individualities gave each of us our own unique flare.
In fact, Romans 12:4-5 tells us that “ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
I think this is where most of us get lost. Because we mistake the unique way of how we are to carry out purpose to be our only purpose.
Imagine you’re the foot in the body of Christ, but you’ve mistaken your individual purpose of being the foot (which is to be flexible) as your sole purpose in life. So you spent years mastering your flexibility. Now, you’re the most flexible foot there ever lived! Great! Then, what?
But if you were a foot fulfilling its individual purpose of flexibility within the grander purpose and function of the entire body, then you’re aiding the body to jump, walk, and run. Your individual purpose is expansive when in God’s grand purpose. It can do more, be more, and influence more!
Therefore, finding purpose is less a question of what (because God already tells us that in His word) but more a question of how. “How is God’s purpose going to be carried out in my life?” And that’s the part that gets us because our “how” is not as easily found in God’s word but rather in walking out our relationship with Him.
STEP 2- STOP MAKING UP YOUR OWN MOVES
Speaking of “walk it out”, ya’ll know there’s only one dance to this song right? Yet and still, there’s been some very fascinating interpretations of it. Some do the funky chicken. Some turn it into the twist. And some…well… some just go with the flow. But you can’t just make up your own moves, and say you’re doing the dance. There’s a certain way to do it and do it right.
Know that you also won’t find your God-given purpose making up your own moves either. It’s God-given so that means it’s also God-instructed. The best part is that God’s already taken out much of the guesswork for us and has outlined the way we can step into purpose throughout His word. From Genesis to Revelations, “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
So are we stopping to learn the steps and actually follow them or are we aimlessly wobbling our legs hoping that it looks like we’re walking something out?
I remember my 6 years in New York and the 3 things the city taught me: 1) Hustle, 2) Get it by any means necessary, and 3) Sleep when you’re dead. At the time, that’s how I absorbed finding purpose- by striving for it. It wasn’t until God pulled me out of there and decluttered my mind that I understood it’s actually in rest that I find purpose. It was when I rested in Him (when I took a break and when I honored the Sabbath) that new vision, new ideas, and new clarity to my purpose came.
Resting is a God move. Striving is our move. Generosity is a God move. Self-preservation is our move. Tithing is a God move. Hoarding is our move. Dependency is a God move. Self-sufficiency is our move.
The sooner we stop making up our own moves and step into obedience to God’s instruction, the closer we get to discovering our purpose.
Every step I’ve taken in obedience to God’s word has revealed something about the way I am designed which led me to discover my purpose. To show you, I even made this little chart of what exactly I’ve discovered so far-
We’ve got to ask ourselves, how are we carrying out the steps that God has already laid out for us? Because it’s the steps of a good man that are ordered by the Lord, and God delights in his ways (Psalms 37:23). Your level of obedience to His ways is the key to uncovering your purpose.
STEP 3- LEAN INTO IT! ROCK INTO IT!
There’s so much of my current circumstance I used to resent. I resented having to start all over again, I resented moving back into my family home, and even resented being the oldest child! Because there’s so much pressure and responsibility put on the oldest, especially if you're the oldest daughter and especially if you’re the oldest daughter in an immigrant household. Everything my siblings did or did not do automatically fell on me and I hated having to be the second mom when all I wanted to do was get my career together so I could go’head, move on out, and live my life. I loathed the responsibility that I had as the oldest, and honestly, I think fighting it made me even bitter.
I’ve never surfed a day in my life but I heard that the best piece of advice you could give to a surfer coming up against strong waves, is not to fight the waves. Fighting it will only make their life harder. Instead, learn to ride it.
It wasn’t until I stopped fighting my circumstances and started embracing them, that I overcame them. I embraced the truth that there was a reason God created me as the firstborn, and why He placed all of the rest of my siblings under my care. He trusted me with caring for them, and once I perceived His trust in me as more of a blessing and less of a burden, even the role of being a sister became an experience that revealed purpose within me.
I leaned into it and I mean to the extent of creating Gantt charts of our daily chores in Asana (and with notifications too!). And when I chose to then lean into the other wavy areas of my life, I discovered parts of my purpose within that too. Like how living at home as a result of countless dead-end interviews led me to discover my path and purpose as an entrepreneur. But I also found that it’s not just embracing your current season that reveals purpose, but how you choose to steward it. Colossians 3:24-25 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Leaning into it (whatever the “it” is for you) means not half a##ing it. Do it with excellence! Do it proudly! Knowing and trusting that God has plans to prosper you so if He has you there and now, then how about making the best of it. Because “whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10)
Hate your job? Do it in excellence and watch how new opportunities open for you. Can’t stand your rinky-dink apartment? Pull out those DIY skills and make it the best rinky dink apartment ever! Stop fighting where you are in life. Rock widdit. And I promise you this because I’ve seen it happen in my life- when you do you’ll discover skills, passions, visions, ideas, and gifts you never knew you had.
You will uncover purpose.
Shout out to DJ Unk for making one of the best hits of the 2000's. "Now gon' and walk it out."
