How often we hear from people concerning their struggle with finding their purpose in life. Mothers feel incomplete, graduates vacillate over what career path they should take, corporate employees feel empty about their role, retirees want something more. In fact, most of us question our purpose from time to time throughout our lives—some are perpetually seeking.

But there is good news. For everyone who is seeking, there is someone who knows exactly what that purpose is (Jeremiah 29:11) and He is willing to reveal it to us. All we have to do is ask—but He wants us first to make the effort to find it on our own.

Discovering life’s purpose is a major issue for us, because until we find out what ours is, the emptiness cannot be sated. It goes without saying, the first step is our accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but that is only the beginning.

After salvation, we are to do the good works God prepared in advance for us to do—that’s what the Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:10—so that is what we must do. And that means we have to determine what the good works are that God has in mind for us to do.

When you were a new believer, you may have been fortunate to have resources in your home church that helped you explore the role God planned for you. You may have discovered what Spiritual gifts He had given you. Even then, you may still be unable to determine the area in which He wants you to serve.

What can a person do, then, to discover his or her purpose and live the abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10?

If you know your Spiritual gifts, that’s a great place to start. If you don’t, then simply ask a Christian friend, pastor or mentor what gifts they observe in you. What others see is usually more accurate than any test or Spiritual gifts inventory we could take.

God chose you and gave you gifts so you could serve in the capacity He planned in advance for you. So once you identify your gifts, take a good hard look at scripture and determine the jobs God had back then for people with the same gifts as you. Add to that the tasks you see today that require the specific gifts you have. Consider what you are naturally good at doing, and pray diligently for the Father to reveal His plans for you. Then the most important step of all: listen. Be still. And listen!

Our responsibility as believers is to persevere in our search until we discover God’s plan for our life. He has given us what we need. Now we must stay in the Word and develop a close relationship with Him in order to find out what it is.

We must never give up looking.