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CHAPTER TWO

Purpose

‘‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’’

—C. 4:16

‘‘I consider my life worth nothing to me... if only I may finish the race

and complete the task.. .’’

—TP,A20:22

ll of us need a purpose. Work without purpose (even if it
takes great skill) can become mindless, heartless drudgery.
Add purpose, even to so-called grunt work, and our work
lives take on an expanded, even inspired dimension.
Noah, a novice shipbuilder if ever there was one, was spurred on by
an ennobling purpose—the knowledge that he was going to save
enough of the sinful world so that it could continue to survive after the
most catastrophic natural disaster it had ever experienced.
Abraham’s purpose was to establish and spread the radical belief that
there was one God whose spirit permeated and unified the entire uni-
verse. Until his time, the universe was thought to be split into many
compartments, each of which had its own reigning force or ‘‘god.’’
Moses’ great goal was to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery to
the edge of the Promised Land. Joshua’s goal was to lead them in. Solo-

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