Seeing the Angel in the Marble: Discovering Your God-Created Purpose

Have you ever felt stuck in a rut? Going through the same routines day after day, expecting different results but experiencing the same outcomes? One person described a rut as "a grave with both ends knocked out of it." We wake up, go through our day, come home, sleep, and repeat—wondering if there's any real purpose to our existence.

The truth is, it's not just our personal lives. Many of us have settled into routine church life too. We sit in the same seat every week, sing familiar songs, hear a message, and leave feeling like nothing has really changed. We do the same thing over and over, not sensing any purpose or real meaning for our lives.

God Created Your Purpose Before He Created You
Here's a truth that will change everything: God has a pattern that has been going on since creation. He creates the purpose, then creates the person for that purpose.

In Genesis 1, God created vegetation, animals, and the earth before He created humans. Then in Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Adam was created for a purpose that already existed!

The same is true for you. Before you were ever born, before you were even a sparkle in your mom and dad's eye, God had already created a purpose for you to step into.

Look at what God told Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Here's the challenge: Until you are willing to get planted and die to yourself—die to your own wants, your own ideologies—you will become a person who just chases purpose, doing the same old things over and over, expecting different results.

Vision Gives Pain a Purpose
Finding and fulfilling your purpose isn't always comfortable. It requires sacrifice and sometimes pain. But here's what I've learned: Vision gives pain a purpose.

You can hate addiction, poverty, abortion, or racism—but hating them isn't enough. You have to get a vision of the changes and the purpose God created for you to step into.

Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The Message paraphrases it beautifully: "If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves. But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed."

When you catch the vision, you will sacrifice things you wouldn't normally sacrifice. You'll put up with soreness, discomfort, and pain because you see something bigger than yourself.

From Pounding Rocks to Setting Angels Free
Michelangelo once said about his sculpting process: "I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free."

To observers, he was just pounding rocks. But in reality, he was setting an angel free. That's what many of us spend our lives doing—just pounding rocks, going through monotonous routines.

But when you catch God's vision for your life, you realize you're not just showing up to serve or being obedient in giving. You're chipping away at a rock so someone else can be set free. You're not just pounding rocks—you're setting angels free!

If you can catch the vision, you'll begin to see addicts set free, marriages healed, children feeling loved, youth taking a stand for what's right, and generational curses broken off families.

Your Next Step
Ask God for vision. Pray: "Lord, show me the purpose you created for me before I was born."

Get involved. You'll never see the vision fully until you have skin in the game. Move from the spectator seats to the starting lineup.

Embrace the discomfort. The sacrifice is worth it when you can see what God is doing.

Your purpose was created before you were. Now it's time to step into it, catch the vision, and watch as God uses your life to set others free.