My Task

The obvious question is, “What is my task?” If my task is going to make me come alive, let’s get to it, right? While the question is obvious, the answer seldom is. There’s a reason for that.

You are not a robot. You are a young man with an individual set of fingerprints. You are uncommon, an original. God never makes a copy. Since He took such care to custom-make you, He wants you to relate with Him in a very personal way. God wants your heart. He’s going to take you on a customized quest to discover your special task.

To that end, He’s going to call you into adventures so you will trust Him and learn that His intentions toward you are always and forever good. He’s going to lead you into battles to strengthen your character and fill you with power. As you are ready, He’ll reveal your task little by little. Discovering your task is a journey of faith as you build trust in Jesus.

But like any journey, it starts with a first step.

What Makes Me Come Alive?

Discover what makes you come alive. Really alive!

What are the things you most enjoy doing? Is it being in the wild, the great outdoors? Hunting? Playing sports? Physical fitness? Do you like building or repairing things? Creating websites, taking photos, building computers? Playing a musical instrument? Singing? Composing music or lyrics? Writing short stories, essays, or poems? Acting? Giving things away? Serving at a local soup kitchen? Do you like peace and quiet? What kind of books do you read? What kind of people do you like to learn about? What are your favorite subjects at school? What are your favorite kinds of movies or television programs?

The list of possible questions is nearly endless. So the primary question for you is, “What makes me come alive?”

Your interests are not random. God put them there. The wholesome activities you most enjoy are clues to your special task, so enjoy them and explore interests, activities, or hobbies that you think might be fun. If you get into them and decide they aren’t for you, fulfill your commitment and move on to something new. After a while you’ll start locking in on those activities you most enjoy.

In and of themselves, these interests are not usually sufficient to determine your task. For example, just because you absolutely love everything about white water rafting doesn’t necessarily mean your task is to become a full-time guide. When you combine your interests with the adventure God has for you, they reveal a lot. American theologian and civil rights activist, Howard Thurman said it best, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

When you do wholesome things that move or inspire you, listen in those moments for the voice of God because He’s there. That emotion signals His presence. He wants to connect with you in that very instant and let you know you are the apple of His eye. When your favorite team wins the championship game and you jump and shout excitedly, turn that into a prayer of thanks because God is calling out the winner in you. In those moments of pure adrenaline, listen for the voice of God. He’s impressed with the music you compose, impressed that you reached that mountain peak and are surveying the beauty below, impressed that you won the crosscountry meet. So in those moments when you swell with pride, let God know how much you love Him and then listen. You’ll hear Him say, “Well done. Well done, My son!”

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

—Zephaniah 3:17

While your interests may not be sufficient to define your special task, God will most certainly use them to relate with you personally. He’ll use your interests to lead you on adventures and to win battles. He will use your interests to make you come alive to Him. That is exactly what the world needs!

Aren’t you glad God has no intention of giving you a boring task? He wants to give you a task that you’ll spring from bed each morning to live out, that makes you come alive!

What Am I Good At?

King David of Israel wrote a poem that included this refrain: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).

God has intricately pieced together everything that makes you unique. As you discover the exceptional qualities that God has built into you, you’ll gain clues about your task. You have strengths, personality traits, and spiritual gifts that are uniquely you.

Discover your strengths

God has given you a series of personal abilities that are directly related to the task He has for you. As you focus your time and energy on developing your strengths, your life will become more meaningful and fulfilling. Generally speaking, the earlier in life you learn what these strengths are the better.

The more you can focus your time and energy on developing your strengths instead of your limitations, the greater your personal fulfilment will be.

A good way to discover your areas of strength is to talk with adults who know you well and care about you. Ask them these head, heart, and hands questions:

  Head: In what areas am I mentally sharp? Is it math? Words to write or speak? Problem solving? Planning and organizing? Designing? Creative thinking? Philosophy?

  Heart: When am I at my most passionate and vibrant? Is it when I play music? When I help others? When I’m socializing? When I’m studying or reading?

  Hands: What physical activities do I excel at? Sports? Crafts? Mechanics? Using tools? Music? Art? Building things? Website design? Photography?

You have strengths in each of these areas—head, heart, and hands. Exploring these will help you connect your desires with your strengths.

Discover your personality traits

You are unique! But we know your personality will have themes in common with others. For instance, you might be the in-charge, detailed, outgoing, or laid back guy. Everyone has one of these traits as their primary and another as their secondary.

Paul was the in-charge guy. Moses was detailed. Peter was outgoing. Abraham was laid back. God made every one of them different, but each fulfilled His special task. It’s easy to look at others and wish you were more like them and less like you. But it is best to live with a thankful heart that God made you as He did. Determine to be the best version of you possible; don’t copy others.

The best way to discover your personality traits is to, once again, discuss them with an adult who knows you well. Look to your parents, but also look to church leaders, pastors, or teachers who have taken time to invest in you. They will all likely have a different perspective, and you can piece their thoughts together with what God has revealed to you about yourself. In doing this, the puzzle of your personality becomes complete.

Note that this process can be intimidating, and sometimes it can overwhelm you. The key is not to focus too much on negative or positive traits. Instead, ask yourself these questions:

  Am I more comfortable being the leader of a group or being a follower of a good leader?

  Am I more of a “big picture” person, or are the little things really important to me?

  Do I enjoy new situations and people, or does it take me a while to find my comfort zone?

  Am I usually intensely focused and driven, or am I a person who takes things as they come?

Your personality is complex, unique, and evolving. While you may have some of the same personality traits all your life, others may grow and change as you grow into the man God envisions you to be. Don’t be afraid to explore the unique gifts God has given you.

Discover your spiritual gifts

The Bible tells us the church is like a body. Each part is vital. You are an important member of the church, and to do your part, God gives you spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are special, specific tools that are given to believers for the building up of the church body (Ephesians 4:11–13).

The Bible lists many spiritual gifts of various kinds. Some are gifts to fulfill a particular ministry such as preaching, teaching, or evangelizing. Others are given to allow God to speak through His people like prophecy, tongues, and interpretation. There are gifts that demonstrate the great power of the Spirit like miracles, powers, and healing. There are gifts of wisdom, knowledge, discernment, leadership, mercy, and encouragement. First Corinthians 12–14, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12 give detailed teaching on the different gifts of the Spirit, their purposes, and how they should be used.

The most essential element of all the gifts is described in 1 Corinthians 13. In the middle of chapters teaching the proper purposes and uses of spiritual gifts, Paul writes, “Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). If you don’t have love for God and for others, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are, how gifted you have become, or how hard you have worked. Love, characterized by sacrificially and selflessly sharing your strength with others, is the ultimate gift of the Holy Spirit.

Who Do I Talk To?

Once you have thought about what makes you come alive and have taken time to discover your strengths, personality traits, and spiritual gifts, share what you have learned and what you are feeling with your parents, pastors, and mentors. The adults in your life have wisdom and experience to help you interpret what you have learned and take the proper steps to use your discoveries to the greatest effect.

Also, learn from people of the past who share your passions. You’ll find stories in the Bible, other books, magazines, and movies. You’ll be introduced to them in history and literature classes, and watching historical features and documentaries is a great way to learn about heroes from the past. Discover their strengths, how they overcame adversity, the source of their courage, and how they responded to failure. Did they finish strong? Why or why not? What can you take away from their experiences? If you learn the good, the bad, and the ugly from others you can lead a better and brighter life. You’ll avoid their mistakes and take advantage of their successes. Discuss what you pick up with your parents, pastors, and mentors.

Above all, talk with God. He’s ready to listen, and as you let Him, He will lead you on adventures and through battles that will shape your understanding of who you are. Even as God is leading you, rely on a spiritually mature adult to mentor and help you, especially if you get stuck or begin to drift.

What’s Next?

As you make these discoveries, look for opportunities to sharpen your strengths, develop your talents, and exercise your gifts. Don’t fall into the trap of spending lots of time on your weaknesses. Yes, file off the rough edges of those weaknesses that hurt you or others, but if you spend all your time on these, you will not live in your strengths. Focus on improving your strengths and chasing those things that make you come alive. In other words, better your strengths by using them to serve others. The talents and the passions God has given you are His gifts to you. Your gift back to Him is what you do with them. Determine to become the best version of you possible. That is God’s heart!

Now let me give a word of warning. These steps of discovery will be a battle of sorts. Satan will want you to think, “Oh, that’s too much work.” If he can discourage you, he can keep you aimless. He’ll try to confuse or frustrate you along the way. Don’t give up! He may try to burden you with worry, “Can I actually get direction from God?” Yes, you can! God has a special task for you, and the journey is important because it will bring you closer to Jesus, which is the last thing the devil wants. If the journey were not important, God would have simply attached a tag on your toe at birth, describing what you were to do. However, that wouldn’t deepen your trust and passion for Christ.

Remember, Jesus wants your heart more than anything, so don’t minimize the importance of this journey and don’t put it off. Your future is expecting you.

In My Experience:

One of the great opportunities of your preteen and teen years is that you get to dream and explore your interests. Take full advantage of this time.

Growing up in Bolivia, I discovered my love of planning, leading, organizing, and public speaking. I learned it on the go. At first the idea scared me. I’ll never forget the feeling of terror that gripped me when I was invited to help a church start a Royal Rangers group to mentor boys. I was just a teen! I translated materials from English to Spanish and prepared the best I could. Several months later, after training the leaders, we launched our first meeting and the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been involved in mentoring future men around the world ever since. Courageously confronting my fears made all the difference.

I also enjoyed representing my class on student council for several years in high school. The role of representative fit me well. I wasn’t sufficiently popular to win election as class president, for example. But since representing my class required actual work, which I love, no one ever challenged me for the job. I discovered how much I enjoyed raising funds, planning events, and relating with my peers and the staff and faculty on special initiatives. This love for servant leadership led me recently to complete a master’s degree in organizational leadership.

Other things that made me come alive as a teen were hiking and camping, playing guitar, and jogging. These are activities I enjoy to this day. But there were other things I tried and later dropped. I became quite skilled at playing piano, but didn’t enjoy it.

Find ways to discover your interests. You are in a season of life where you don’t have to be fully committed to anything yet. So if you try something for a semester and realize it’s not for you, drop it and move on. But when you discover things that make you come alive, set and reach some goals that will challenge you to have fun and learn new things. Above all, don’t do nothing. Keep trying to discover activities and interests that will capture your imagination.

Learning what makes you come alive is like learning to ride a bike. You start with lots of help and encouragement, especially when you scrape a knee or elbow. Relying on training wheels helps, and before you know it you’ve mastered something you love and that will take you places.

So go ahead, explore and take some risks. Believe in yourself the way God does. Ask Him to guide you toward those things that make you come alive.

For further information on discovering your personality, strengths, and spiritual gifts, check out the following websites:

  www.ClasServices.com

Author Florence Littauer has written a fun book on the personalities called Personality Plus which includes a simple personality test. You can obtain a copy of the test from her webstore.

  www.Strengths-Explorer.com

Ideal for boys ages 10–14

  www.StrengthsQuest.com

Ideal for guys ages 15–17

  www.StrengthsFinder.com

Ideal for adults

  www.churchgrowth.org/analysis/intro.php This website offers a free and quick online assessment that will help you discover your spiritual gifts.