Purpose vs Passions: How Knowing the Difference Can Change your Life
Do you really know?
Misconceptions can keep you back.
The worst ones are the ones that everybody just seems to accept as truth. You grow up hearing it your whole life and no one ever says anything different, so it must be true. Right?
Not quite.
As it relates to purpose and passions, many Christians struggle to figure out why they’re here and what they are called to do.
We get stuck wondering things like, Am I really doing what God wants? or Is there more to life that I’m missing?
When you’re unsure about what to do, it’s hard to move forward, isn’t it?
The good news is, you can easily bring order to the chaos by nailing down the differences between purpose and passions.
In this post, I’ll define both purpose and passions and explain 3 key differences between the two terms.
I hope that this will give you a roadmap so you can get started with walking in your true calling and fulfilling God’s will for your life.
Definition of terms
Purpose refers to why you do something or why something exists. That sounds really simple but yet we get it wrong all the time. That’s because we interchange purpose with passions and this confuses everything.
Your passions are the things that excite and interest you. These are the things that you enjoy doing and would love to do all day every day if you had a choice.
Here’s something to consider:
You can have a purpose that you don’t enjoy having (more on this later) and chase after passions that have nothing to do with why you exist. Right away that’s how we know that your purpose and your passions are different.
Let’s go a bit deeper and pull out some key differences to help you make a clear distinction between these two important but different terms.
[Difference #1 - God determines your purpose but you determine your passions]
In the Word
This is a crucial point because confusion about these two sources can leave you distracted, unfulfilled in life and overwhelmed with all of life’s decisions.
God is the one who has defined your purpose. In Mark 12:30-31 Jesus tells us what we should be doing everyday. This is the purpose of every single follower of Jesus Christ:
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
Love your neighbour as yourself
This directive comes from God and God alone.
But your passions are defined by you and what you like. They are based on your interests, experiences and moods towards different things that you experience in life.
Many people who are new to Christianity start out on the right track on fire for God and want to tell everybody how much Jesus loves them.
But then they get stuck because they don’t see enough real life examples of people showing that they love God and love people on a consistent basis.
What they see instead, is people focusing on talents and gifts that they claim they are using for God. But does the love for God and others always show through?
The key to finding peace and fulfillment is in being clear on why you are here. And that can only be done by knowing what God has said, understanding He’s the only One that set purpose and accepting you have interests in life but they aren’t the same things as your ‘why’ for existing.
[Difference #2 - Passions change but purpose is fixed]
All about love
If you’ve spent years chasing after the things that please you but something still feels off – like you’re not getting joy, peace and fulfillment, this is likely the piece that’s missing.
Without this, you can be successful doing what you love and still not find joy in living everyday.
This is because your passions change at the drop of a hat. You may want to be a Writer today and a Social Media Marketer next week.
Perhaps you’re into knitting this month. But then you get bored and want to try candle making next month.
Your interests change because you have emotions that waver. So your passions will waver too. If we use these things as the standard for peace, freedom and fulfillment we will miss the mark every time.
But I’ve got great news!
God doesn’t change. Not His character, Word or promises. So His purpose for your life doesn't change either.
If you think about it, that should make life really simple: love God and love people.
Remember I mentioned earlier we’ll talk about having a purpose you don’t enjoy?
Here it is 👇🏾!
Sometimes we get frustrated by people around us and think they don’t deserve love because of what they do. That’s why it can feel impossible to love like Jesus.
But think about it.
Someone else may feel the same way about you. That you've done something that makes you unworthy of love too.
That’s why what we feel should never be the standard we use. Too many variables and emotions at play.
It should only be God’s love and instructions that direct our daily living and not our fleeting passions.
Once you can determine that your purpose is fixed and will never change, you’ll be well on your way to finding peace and fulfillment in your decision making every day.
Make the distinction
[Difference #3 - Passions focus on you but purpose focuses on others]
Here’s where you’ll really start to bring it all together. Passions are all about you. What you like. What you want. What excites you.
Generally, people aren’t interested in how what they do affects other people. Left unchecked, passions lead can lead to selfish attitudes and behaviours.
But purpose?
That has nothing to do with you at all. You’re focused on God and others around you. The epitome of being selfless.
It’s based on the love that God has which isn’t respective of persons or situations.
And He’s teaching us to do the same. So loving God is about His love. And loving others as yourself is about Jesus’ love for you.
Your passions can be selfish. But your purpose is pure.
Of course, this will take some time to put into practise especially if you’ve never thought of these things before.
The world teaches us about self-care and focusing on yourself first. And while it’s important to take care of yourself you have to be careful with buzzwords and really examine how they line up with God's Word.
Wrapping it up
There you have it! The 3 differences between purpose and passions.
It may sound like a lot, but like most things practice makes habit.
Just focus on knowing what God says about how we should show love. This will help you to focus on your purpose and start living a life that feels fulfilled.
Related: If you want to know how you can focus on loving people more, here's a great post for you about The Best Way To Invest In Yourself.