A Purpose
February 23, 2004
In their book, In Search of Excellence, Thomas J.
Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., carried out an extensive
study of America's best-run companies to discover the keys to
their success. The single most important truth they distilled
from those companies was simply to "Figure out your value
system. Decide what your company stands for" (p. 279).
That advice not only applies to businesses, but to
leaders as well. An effective leader is someone who has figured
out what they stand for. They have identified their purpose and
pursue it with a passion.
The Apostle Paul did that. It would have been easy
for Paul to boast about his religious training, heritage, and
practice. He was in every sense a "Hebrew of Hebrews." His
credentials would have impressed the most devoted Jew. Yet Paul
considered all he had attainted through religious effort to be
rubbish when compared with the value of knowing Christ. From his
perspective, he would gladly throw away everything he had
attained in order to know Christ. In Christ he possessed all the
righteousness of God. And because of the infinite worth of
knowing Christ, Paul devoted his life to knowing the Savior.
That was his purpose and his passion. And that purpose shaped
all he did and influenced all he led.
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