Discover Your Purpose

Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God.
—-2 Corinthians 5:5

Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, was once asked about the secret of his airline’s phenomenal success. “I can teach you the secret to running this airline in thirty seconds,” he told the reporter. “This is it: Southwest is the low-fare airline. Not a low-fare airline. We are the low-fare airline. Once you understand that fact, you can make any decision about this company’s future as well as I can.”

The reporter asked Kelleher to elaborate on his statement. So, in keeping with his colorful and memorable personality, Kelleher responded with a story.

“Here’s an example,” he said. “You are the CEO of Southwest. Tracy from marketing comes into your office. She says her surveys indicate that passengers might enjoy a light entrée on the flight from Houston to Las Vegas. All we offer is peanuts, and she thinks a nice chicken Caesar salad would be popular. What do you say?”

The interviewer hesitated, so Kelleher answered his own question. “You say, ‘Tracy, will adding chicken Caesar salad make us the low-fare airline from Houston to Las Vegas? Because if it doesn’t help us become the unchallenged low-fare airline, then we’re not serving any … chicken salad!”

Herb Kelleher may have used questionable language, but there was no question about his singular purpose for Southwest Airlines. And now, years after his retirement, this clearly defined purpose has maintained Southwest’s unparalleled success as America’s largest domestic airline.

Understanding your unique purpose is not only integral to success in the business world, but it is also foundational to success in the spiritual world. A clearly defined life purpose is like a beacon in the darkness that provides direction when we face crucial choices and gives meaning to our lives.

Do you want to live a meaningful, victorious life? Do you want to find true fulfillment in life and live out your unique destiny? Do you want to know how to have joy no matter what circumstances you are facing? If so, you must experience the power of a positive purpose. As we will learn this week, the Bible gives us several observations that will help you discover and live out the positive purpose that God has designed for you.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Power of a Positive Purpose” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2016.

Quote from James Carville and Paul Begala, “Buck Up, Suck Up–and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Secrets from the War Room” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), 88.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.