DO YOU KNOW YOUR WHAT IN LIFE?
In part 3 of our “Why We Exist” series we talk about knowing your WHAT. Join us as we examine the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness in understanding our why, finding our who, and knowing our what.
We’ll explore practical steps and thought-provoking exercises that can guide us on this path of self-discovery, helping us uncover our passions, talents, and values that shape our existence.
By gaining clarity on our what, we can live with intention, align our actions with our core values, and experience a greater sense of fulfillment.
Ways to work with Daron:
⚡️FREE: Jumpstart to Purpose
⚡️BOOK: The Death of a Dream
⚡️COACHING: Register Here
⚡️SPEAKING INQUIRIES: Click Here
Connect with Daron on Social Media:
Episode Player
Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Libsyn
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
FULL TRANSCRIPT
What do I do? Here we go. Here’s the answer to this one. Okay. What you do, what am I on earth to do? You’re on earth to serve, to create a,nd to love,
Tagline: Create on purpose and for purpose.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine Podcast. I’m your host, Daron Earlewine. So stoked to be back with you this week. Can’t say thanks enough for downloading this episode. I know I say it all of the time but if we were just doing this podcast for me to talk it wouldn’t have much of an impact. So the fact that you downloaded that you’re learning, that you’re growing along with us means so much to me and to our team here at Blackbird Mission. And so thank you so much for taking the time and I pray, and our, our plan, our prayer is that each and every episode that you listen to, that you download that you share with a friend that it helps you take just that next step to become who you were born to be.
And so we’re talking about that this episode in this series we’re in. We’re in a three-part series here called Why We Exist, and we’re asking three enormous questions, right? Why do I exist? Who am I and what do I do? These three questions, if you do not have correct answers for continue on a path to live a life so much below God’s design and intention for your life, and this these three episodes we’re gonna just ask these three questions, but a quick kind of just encouragement to you. We have a free resource called The Five Day Jumpstart to Purpose. You’ve heard about it in this series, you’re gonna hear about it later, but we actually ask, answer two more big time questions that I want you to be able to answer. And it’s a free resource. All you need to do to get the five-day jump start to purpose is go to daronearlewine.com/jumpstart and you can sign up there and we’ll make sure you get that free resource.
But I wanna do a quick review so we’re ready to answer this question. What do I do? So we first, we started off with who, no, I’m sorry. Why we exist. And the why you exist, right? Is to love to be loved and to love. You exist because God loves you and God created you in his image. So you exist to be loved. That is the essence of your existence with just once again, take a minute and let that soak in. I want you to just think about the, the last time you really felt loved by someone and how good that felt. The reason that felt so good is because you were stepping into a moment that, that that actually epitomized, that the reason your exist, your soul was, was coming alive in that moment. Cuz that’s what you were experience, you were created to experience.
And, and that was probably from on the receiving end of a human being, but which is an imperfect understanding of love, right? We’re always imperfect in our love for one another, but you were created to be loved perfectly, unconditionally by God. That’s why you exist. Then the, the, the flip side of that coin is, is then to love God and to love others. That is why you exist. So then who are you? Who are you? We’ve spent a whole week talking about life. If you haven’t listened to this episode, go back and download the episode to answer this question. We’re dealing with the understanding of identity here, right? And understanding that our source of identity is God. God our father. And he declares who we are. And he says that we are as dearly loved children. We’re saved or redeemed, we’re chosen, we’re blessed, right?
We’re his ambassadors with the salt and light of the earth. All these things, God declaring who we are, not based on what we do, not based on our accolades, not based on our successes, not based on our failures, not based on TikTok or social media, based on who the God who created you on purpose and for a purpose declares that you are, we made the point in that episode, right? That he who creates, gets to actually identify right? And God created you. Therefore, he gets to tell you who you are. It’s not the other way around. And you don’t let get any created person like your neighbor, your ex-boyfriend, whoever tell you who you are, God tells you who you are. And he says, you are my dearly loved child. So this is a pretty secure place to start if we’re honest, right? You think about all the things that, that go haywire in our life, they usually come from a misunderstanding and, and, and a mis definition of those two first questions, like, why do I exist?
Why I exist to do stuff and to accomplish things and be significant, to make money, whatever, no, like, that doesn’t work. Like, who am I? I’m this, I’m that, I’m whatever. If it’s not who God says that you are and why you exist, you’ll find yourself off course and unable to become a, you were born to be a lot of dysfunctions, a lot of pain, a lot of things come out of that because the foundations aren’t right. Okay? But now we’re at a great place. Now we know. I know why I exist. I know who I am. So now I wanna get down to business. All right? I’ve got a good foundation there. Now I wanna start actually accomplishing some things. What do I do? Here we go. Here’s the answer to this one. Okay? What you do, what am I on earth to do? You’re on earth to serve, to create and to love.
What you do is serve like, wait, wait a second, Baron, wait a second. Full stop. Like I’m on earth. The what I do is to serve other people. Like, like, listen, I’m looking for a life of significance. I’m looking to really do some big things in my life. Like servanthood sounds like the most lame, like dumb thing I’ve ever heard. There’s no way that I’m put on earth to serve serve. Like, that’s just, it’s not sexy, it’s not fun. That doesn’t sound adventurous. Serve. That’s it. That’s, I’m not listening to your podcast. Again, that’s the most biggest buzz kill in the world, right? But it’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not. Because here’s the deal, right? We have to understand this because God is our source. And the greatest image, the greatest understanding, the greatest embodiment of servanthood we’ve ever seen is Jesus. And we, and we’re created to become in the process of becoming like him. And here’s what I want you to know. Here’s what I want you to know. I, I know that servanthood doesn’t sound sexy. I know even myself when I’m writing this and saying that, I’m like, I think that’s the right answer, but like, I don’t even like it that much. Here’s, here’s what I want you to hit you with. This, this tough truth is this is you cannot be the source or focus of your own life.
If you wanna live a life of passion, of purpose, of peace, if you wanna live a life that makes a difference, if you wanna live a life that you lay your head down at night and you feel great about yourself, if you wanna live a life full, right? Of all of the best things in life, I want you to know this. You cannot be the source or focus of your life. You can’t be the source. We talked about that in episode one. God is the, the, the point of origin for us. He determines, but you also can’t be the focus of your life. And this is countercultural. This is not what, what our world and culture tells us. They would say, you, you need to be the focus on your life, right? Because no one else is focusing on you better go get it, right?
You better show up, you better get after it. You better take what’s yours. You better create what you need. You better put your fir yourself first because you know, this is a dog-eat-dog world. And if you’re waiting for someone else to take care of you, then you’re gonna be in last place. This is not the way it’s gonna work. So just, if you gotta step on a couple people to get to where you need to be, that’s where you need to be. Take care of yourself first. And that, that would be worldly wisdom. That’s not the wisdom of God. Now, if you don’t exist to love, and you get to decide who you are and create your own sense of identity, then I guess have at it, right? Have at it be selfish. Put yourself first and see where that ends up. But I can tell you where that ends up.
Just start like, I don’t know, like watch the news for 10 seconds, right? Like every time you see something that just kind of makes your stomach turn, like why would someone do that to someone else? Like, how could somebody be that greedy? How could somebody be that hateful? How could someone be that lustful? How could somebody be whatever that the, the, the whatever the, the, you know, the description there? How could someone be like that? Because they forgot what they were put on earth to do, which was actually to serve and to create and to lead.
You see, when when, when you become the source and focus of your life, you become a narcissist and eventually you destroy everything around you. You say, now that’s a little bit heavy. It is. But, but the reality is, is when you become the focus of your own life, not only you betray what God created you, your own created design, but your life just becomes a massive black hole. Because what happens in that is the focus of your life becomes consumption instead of creativity. And if, if the focus of your life, what do I do? I make myself happy. I take care of myself. I consume what’s gonna happen is that you’re gonna realize, right? That actually that’s driven by lust, not by love, and lust is never actually satisfied. So you’ll become a black hole of money, right? I I, how much money do I need?
What? Just a little bit more, right? How many things do I need? How many cars do I need? H how, how many girlfriends do I need? Boyfriends? Do I need, how many experiences do I need? How many, whatever it is, it, it’s, it’s there, there will be no satisfaction in that. So your life becomes a massive black hole and you eventually absorb or consume everyone in your life. And, and if you break down really right, what your life is, we, I say this quote all the time, right? So the Gary Smiley quote, you guys can probably quote it with me. If you’re a podcast faithful, right? Life is, say it with me. Relationships, everything else is just the details. Why is life relationships? Well, cuz you were created. You, why do you exist? Love. What’s the essence of love and the context of love and how it gets shaped out. Relationships. So life is relationships. Everything else is just the details. And if the most important relationship you have on earth is your relationship with yourself, because you are your own focus, you will destroy all your relationships eventually.
That’s why it’s so key, right? When it talks about that, that Jesus who, who’s now been elevated to, to have the name above all names, right? The name of Jesus, all these, you know, will, will bend, you know, all will bow and, and like, how did he get there? Well, he didn’t see equality with God as something to be grasped, but he made himself a servant. The greatest servant of all. You see, if you’re created for and by love, and if you’re, if your identity is a dearly loved child of God and, and the design is that you would actually represent him cuz you’re created in his image, then your life is going to be a life of servanthood. And the reality about that is that does not remove the opportunity for significance. It guarantees it. Hear that again, A life of servanthood. That’s what I do. I serve other people my life, what I do is a servant, a life of servanthood does not remove the opportunity for significance. It guarantees it.
I want you to think about that for a minute and we’ll be right back.
Is it time for you to take your next step towards discovering your purpose, but you’re not sure what to do? Maybe jumping into the entire Spiritual DNA course seems just like a little too much for you right now. No problem at all. That’s why I want you to know about the five-day Jumpstart to purpose. It’s totally free and it’s a five day audio course you’re gonna listen to just, it’s really short, like I know five, six minutes a day. But it’s gonna help you just, let’s call it an appetizer, right? To help you jumpstart this process towards purpose. It’s free. All you gotta do do is go to daronearlewine.com/jumpstart. It’s looks like this right behind me on the screen. You’re gonna go there and we’re gonna send you the course for free and I’ll help you take your next step cuz hey, we say it every week.
I don’t want you to forget about it, right? God’s created you on purpose and for purpose. Let’s jumpstart that purpose. Now, let’s get back to the podcast.
Hey, we’re back here on the podcast. And I hit you with that quote right before we took a little commercial break there, okay? But I want you to think about that the li the reality that a life of servanthood does not remove the opportunity for significance. It guarantees it. And maybe this is just my own soapbox, okay? So step on my soapbox with me. But this was a big hurdle for me, you know, because I grew up and, and you know, you hear, you know, chase your dreams and do this. And if you’re a person that, that, maybe you’re an achiever, you know, maybe that’s one of your strengths. You know, maybe you’re, you’re, you’re a type three in the Enneagram and for me, I’m a type seven.
Like you, you’re more than that aggressive stance. You’re type one, maybe you’re type eight and you’re like, man, I want to make a difference in the world. I wanna be significant. I wanna make, you know, an impact. I have all these abilities and, and, and dreams. And, and during, when I hear you say that what I do is serve others, I feel like I’m, I’m basically saying, Hey, let me just take the backseat in life. You know what I mean? Remember, right? You, you have your, you have kids right Now, the big thing, my boys, right? Two of ’em drive now. So it’s not that big of a deal, but like years ago, right? The big thing was who would call shotgun? You remember that, you know what I mean? You get in the car, I got shotgun, which means you get to get in the front seat. We would have absolute massive wrestling matches in the garage or in the driveway, right? About who called shotgun and who wasn’t. And, and, and that’s just a little like dumb kid example of like, that’s how I feel like we are in life. And you’re like saying if, if, if you’re saying like how I live the life of significance, how I become who I was created to be was, was basic my whole life. Just being willing to get in the backseat first. Like, gosh, that sounds so freaking lame, Daron. Like, I’ll take the backseat.
But what that says to me and what I know, what I was experiencing and the reason I felt that way is this is I didn’t trust the heart of God. You see, what, what I don’t realize I is when I was not willing to be a servant first is the actual core belief I had was that God doesn’t have my best interest at heart. That God doesn’t know the plans, he’s prepared for me in advance, that I know better than God. How to use my God-given abilities. And that I guess I’m my source and I guess I should be my focus and I guess I’ll do my life the way that I see fit. And that usually means putting myself before other people. But what am I betraying? I’m betraying my what? I’m betraying my who and I’m betraying my why that doesn’t end well and it didn’t for me.
And right now it might not be ending well for you. We have to get to the place where we say, okay, if why I exist is cuz God loves me. That’s why I exist. So if he is perfect, unconditional love, then I probably should assume he has my best interest at heart. Maybe that’s why on the podcast, I say every single week, God is for you. He’s not against you. And if you’re saying that God has actually created me on purpose and for a purpose, then maybe the wisest thing I could do is to just live in love and lead and create like he does and let him take care of the outcomes. And at the end of that, maybe I’ll discover peace and a lack of anxiety and depression and angst. Because I’m not trying to create or make myself, but I am trusting the plans and the heart and the mind, the providence of God.
Maybe my relationships are blessed because when I’m in them, I’m actually becoming what I was created to exist. I’m, I’m patient and kind and all the things we talked about in this first episode of the, the, this, this my ethos right from first Corinthians 13 is that of love. So what happens when I show up in every relational context of my life, I show up to serve and to love others because that’s why I was created and that’s who I am and that’s what I do. What happens is, everywhere I am, in every relationship that I’m a part of, they’re blessed. They’re working, they’re full of love. I want you think about this, right? A life of servanthood does not remove the opportunity for significance. It it, it guarantees it. Cuz I want you to stop right now and think about the people who have had the most significant impact on your life. You would say, man, I’m at my life would not have been the same without that third grade teacher, that seventh grade teacher, that football coach, that dance instructor, that B band. But what, who, you know, that pastor, that youth pastor, whatever it is, this person made the most significant impact on my life. I would be willing to take a bullet for this woman. She is everything to me. Tell me right now, look me straight in the eye, okay? If you’re watching on you, tell me this.
Were they a servant or were they selfish in your life? You say, wow, dude, I never really thought about it, but the person who has had the most significant impact on my life, if I had to, to just kind of boil it down to what they did, is they were a servant. They put me first and they listened and they loved and they forgave and they were patient and they were wise and they, they had my best interest at heart at all times. Yeah. What you do is you serve others and it leads to the life of significance. Check this out, that God created you already to, to do Ephesians 2:10, right? It says that you are the workmanship of Christ Jesus created in him to do good works, which he’s already prepared in advance for you to do it. It’s waiting for you.
But how do you get on the road and stay on the road to what you were created to do? Every step of the way is paved with bricks of surfer hunt. You serve. What happens when you do that? You begin to create when your life is not, when you are not the focus of your life. And your life is not about consumption, but it’s about creativity. It’s about actually creating, you become generative in your life. You fulfill what another one of my favorite Erwin McManus quotes, right? That says this, that creativity is the natural result of spirituality. The more you grow in understanding your why, the more you understand who, and you step into this, what what happens is you’re a servant and you begin to create the future. It’s what the word of God says we’re gonna do. That doesn’t mean you become artistic saying what?
Don’t need to really grow my understanding of, of who I am and who God is and this whole thing. So I can paint pictures. No, unless that’s your jam. Unless that’s what gifts and abilities god’s given you to do. But your creativity will come out in a lot of different ways. For one, you’ll be creative, not consumptive. The other piece of it, you’ll be generative on what you’re doing. And that creativity could look in a lot of different places. It could be through spreadsheets or scripts or, or, or, or, or amazingly creative syllabuses that help people understand and learn. It could be meal plans, it could be recipes, pieces of music, screenplays. Who knows what it is. The reality of though, is when you’re connected to God and you’re living your life to serve others, creativity will begin to flow out of you. And as you create, you will begin to lead.
You look at the greatest leaders, they’re servants that create, and that’s what you were created to do. Listen guys, I wanna hit you with one last scripture in this, in this, this series will be done. And I wanna read you guys the, the, the passage of scripture that inspired me to create Spiritual DNA, right? The online course we have in live workshop you can attend that helps you answer these questions but then come out with actual specific personal results to know exactly who, why, how God created you to step into the purpose from which he put for, for why he put you on earth. If you haven’t gone through Spiritual DNA don’t waste another, go another day, okay? Don’t waste another day. Go to daronearlewine.com. There’s information on the website for you to purchase the course. Start today. Don’t waste another day of your life because there’s a future waiting to be created.
And you need to know why, who, and what God’s created you to do to step into it. Passage scripture, I’m gonna leave you with this, that, that came alive to me first Peter, I’m sorry, second Peter, the scripture here, right? Second Peter one, three through five says it this way, in the new century version, Jesus has the power of God, by which he has given us everything we need to live and to serve God. The reality is, when you enter a relationship with Jesus, you receive his free gift of of forgiveness and begin following him. When he, he, he puts his spirit within you and it begins to guide and direct and teach and correct and empower you in your life, right? As that happens and you come alive spiritually through Jesus, it says you’re given everything you need to live and serve God. So if you’re listening to the podcast and you’re already a follower of Jesus, I want you to know this. You already have everything you need.
You have your why. You know who you are. You know what you do. And within your Spiritual DNA, n right, he brought you to life with this Spiritual DNA. It already has everything you need to live and to serve God. It says, we have these things because we know him. We’re in a relationship with him. We know him. Jesus called us by his glory and goodness. And through these, he has given us very great and precious promises. With these gifts you can share in God’s nature in the world will not ruin you with its evil desires. It’s all there, right? You’ve got everything you need. You know why you exist. You know who you are. You know what you do. And this passage of scripture is letting you know that, that there are specific, unique things that have been placed within you that give you everything you need to accomplish the plan, the mission that God created you specifically for. And I want you to know that. That’s why I want you to go experience Spiritual DNA. Go to the website, check it out: spiritualdna.me is where you can go directly to the course or you can just go to daronearlewine.com. There’s information on my website. Okay? Listen, we’ve answered these questions. I hope you’ve really enjoyed it. There’s two more that we didn’t get to, right? There’s the how and there’s the where, which these are important questions that you need answers to, right? How right do I do this and where do I do it? I, I, if you’re curious on those, the answers to those two questions, I want you to head over to daronearlewine.com/jumpstart and I wanna give you the free, it’s a free short audio course called The Five Day Jumpstart to Purpose.
And in that you’re gonna get a little more information of these first three questions we’ve answered. But you’re gonna also get the answers to the how and the what or the how and the where. And so if that’s curious, if that, that’s spark some curiosity and you wanna know the answers to those two questions, I want you to know ’em. And so I wanna give you the five day jumpstart to purpose for free. Just go to daronearlwine.com/ jumpstart and we’ll send you the free audio course so you can you can have those last two questions answered. Listen, I’ve loved this series. I hope it’s been as inspiring and impactful to you to listen to it as it was for me to, to put it together. Would love to hear from your questions you have things that, that are perplexing or things that that have happened since you’ve listened to this, ways that you’re stepping into these realities.
Love to hear your story. Reach out to me, Daron@blackbirdmission.com. You can also text me 317-550-5070, or you can always hit me up on the socials to search my name online. I’m on all the platforms and would love to get a direct message from you. Listen, love you guys. It’s a joy to be a part of this community with you until we talk again. Remember, God’s for you, not against you. He’s near you, not far away, and he’s created you on purpose and for purpose. Talk to you guys next time right here on the Darren Earlewine Podcast.