Life Compass. Dr. Chilungamo Khuwi
of your effectiveness at a workplace, whether you are paid or fired it all depends on
it. Your spouse commends you depending on whether you are fulfilling your roles and responsibility or not as a husband or wife. The same way God rewards our conscience with fulfilment, joy and peace when we fulfil that purpose we were created to accomplish.
Your purpose should determine decisions in every area of your life. What you do in every area should be a means or a tool to advance your purpose. Before you apply for a job or school, get into a relationship, a tool to advance your purpose. Before you apply for a job or school, get into a relationship, business, church, etc. you must first define why. Why that job, why that school, why that lady, why that man and how do they fit in long term, in your purpose? How do they add value to your life? Do they make you better for your purpose or how exactly do they advance your purpose?
Look for a lady who is going in the same direction or would love to and if you are a lady ask the man where he is headed before you say yes. It’s never about how rich or poor they are. It’s about the direction they are taking and hence the value they will add to your life. Look for friends that are going in the same direction or may add value one way or another. Look for a church and job that will push you in the direction of your purpose. Look for school or a career path that will equip you with knowledge and skills that will advance your purpose. Life is not just about money making and survival. Yes, it’s an important bit but not all there is.
So, before you continue, if you don’t know what you are here for, sit down and search through your life what you think you can do to add value to those around you which defines you. The rest of the book will be building on that. It will be more meaningful and helpful if you take your time, search and write it down. Most of the time, it gets crystal clear with time, so you will refine it along the way; for now, just have somewhere to start from.
There are two topics in this book that will help you with ideas on how you can figure out what your purpose is and why it is vital for your discovery.
⸙ IDENTITY
Chapter Five
“For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined...” Romans 8:29
Identity is who you are or how you look at yourself as. Every one of us behaves and carries him- or herself according to who we think we are. It’s good to search within ourselves who we are because it's until we discover this when we can start to pursue something.
So, your identity is not just about your genetic makeup but more so the tool you should become or the end picture of the person (vehicle) you should develop into that will take you to your destination. Something that people will identify or characterize you by.
If you don’t know your purpose in life you can discover it through your identity, and if you don’t know your identity you can have an idea if you know what your purpose is. You are a tool to achieve something and what that tool is, is your identity.
The struggle of identity crisis is real and if you didn’t struggle with it already, I wouldn’t want you to. I faced this problem when I was in my second and third
year of college and I kept on changing my names to fit the purpose I was feeling deep inside. Since it wasn’t clear on what I was supposed to do, every time I got a clearer picture, I changed my name to fit that picture until I finally got the name that best described what my purpose was and hence describes who I am.
It wasn’t really about finding the perfect name but rather figuring out who I should be. I was an unstable person till I figured out who I was supposed to be. That’s when I surely started building forward.
The piece of the scripture on the previous page is one of my favourites and talks about foreknowing and predestination. Foreknowing is about who you should be - your identity whilst predestination is about what you should do or accomplish – your purpose. If you want to treat the sick, then be a doctor first. If you are to lead, then develop into a leader first. If you are to deal with injustice in the world, then be a tool that naturally not only hates but can also readily deal with the injustice in the world, e.g., a lawyer or a judge but it’s not limited to professional qualification.
For the same reason, it took Joseph 13 years from the time he dreamt of leading to the time he led in Egypt. All that time, God made sure he was developed into a leader to meet the challenge. The same way with Jesus, even though He was the Saviour, He still had to develop into the saviour He needed to be to execute the role orderly and to the letter.
Let me also take this opportunity to tell you that there is power in names. Names are not just there for the sake of calling each other but rather they give us identities. They are not only used to identify us but also give us an identity. I used to wonder why I hate injustice till I connected it to my name “Chilungamo” (Justice). This is the reason why Jesus had almost a name for every role He had to play. This is the reason God is so specific with names with the people He worked with because He knows the power of names. Abraham, Sarah, Israel, Jesus among others, carried names that signified their purposes.
In the garden of Eden, Adam didn’t just give names to the animals but the characters or behaviours per the meaning of their names. It was more of giving them their identities. Every time people call you by your name, they establish the meaning or character of that name upon you, and you know that words create. That’s why the people who are named after certain people end up behaving similar to their namesakes. You keep on calling a child stupid and that is what they end up becoming, stupid! Who you are determines what you do.
You may divert into becoming and behaving in a way you weren’t meant to just because your parents gave you a certain name that’s holding you back. It is primarily your responsibility to discover who you should be and what you should accomplish in this life and go for it, regardless of the name that your parents gave you. If the name that you have is limiting you, please do change just as a lot of people have. As said earlier, God changed a lot of names of people He worked with for the same reason of marrying the names to their purposes or destinies.
Why Is It Necessary to Figure Out Who You Are Or Should Be?
As earlier said, figuring out your identity is about figuring who you are or should be; the person that you should develop into. Like seeing the “In-shape” you and start hitting the gym to bring that person out.
Figuring out the tool you are or should develop into gives you stability and focus. You know exactly the kind of person you should be developing into and you pursue that. You are not intimidated by what others are developing into because you know they are not you and they aren’t taking anything away from who you should be.
Knowing who you should be and developing into that person will get you closer to becoming the tool or the person who is supposed to carry out your purpose. If you want to save people from something you first need to develop into that saviour from deep within your soul. The way you think, behave, speak and act, everything has to ooze the saviour in you. That way it comes out naturally from you to do the saving that’s needed to be done.
When you know who you are or should be, you know exactly what you are supposed to do. If you see yourself as a leader you know you should be leading in something or certain people somewhere. If you see yourself as a teacher, you know you should be teaching someone something somewhere.
It also helps you to realize the kind of exposure or education you need. What a freedom fighter needs to learn is different from what a teacher needs to learn about their purposes; they need different knowledge and skills though some things may be common.
How Do You Know Who You Are or Should Be?
Let your purpose guide you into a person you should be because it takes a person of a certain calibre to achieve something naturally. If you were meant to teach people through books then be an author or blogger from inside out, and writing will become you and you will do so naturally. Discover what you should accomplish, and you will know who you should be.
Your natural desires and natural talents also give you an idea of who you are because this also directs you to what your purpose is. Who-you-should-be