As we celebrate the life of Ravi Zacharias, I just want to show you from His life, the importance of finding your purpose and how generations can be impacted just from one person’s discovery of his/her purpose in life....
by Joshua Devaratnam
On 19th May 2020, we lost one of the world's greatest communicators, my favorite apologist, an evangelist, a Father and most importantly a disciple of Jesus. As we celebrate His life, I just want to show you from His life, the importance of finding your purpose and how generations can be impacted just from one person’s discovery of his/her purpose in life.
You will make it!
When Ravi Zacharias was a cricket-loving boy on the streets of India, his mother called him in to meet the local saree seller-turned-palm reader. “Looking at your future, Ravi Baba, you will not travel far or very much in your life,” he declared. “That’s what the lines on your hand tell me. There is no future for you abroad.”
By the time a 37-year-old Zacharias preached, at the invitation of Billy Graham to the inaugural International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, he was on his way to becoming one of the foremost defenders of Christianity’s intellectual credibility. A year later, he founded the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), with the mission of “helping the thinker believe and the believer think”.
“Looking at your future, Ravi Baba, you will not travel far or very much in your life,” he declared. “That’s what the lines on your hand tell me. There is no future for you abroad.”
At some point in our lives, we may have an inclination or stirring within that there is something more out there for ALL us! This could range from a pursuit to find out what truth is or an inclination that there is MORE to life than just a 9 to 5 job or a career path that we have been trained to believe is the ONLY path to success.
If Dr Ravi would have believed what the palm reader had told him, he would have never made an impact.
Beware of sceptics and critics who can step in the way of your destiny to make you feel like “you are not good enough” or “you do not have what it takes” to impact generations. Most of the time, these are people projecting their own lack of belief in themselves and insecurities on you!
Sometimes, the number of people sceptical of what you are doing could also be an indication that you are on the right path.
God has a funny way of stepping into our situations and establishing our plans ONLY if we are willing to commit our plans to Him. A gentleman by nature, He never forces anything on us. By saying Yes to what He has destined for each of us, you will be put on a PATH that leads to a life lived with so much purpose and meaning.
"Beware of sceptics and critics who can step in the way of your destiny to make you feel like “you are not good enough” or “you do not have what it takes” to impact generations. Most of the time, these are people projecting their own lack of belief in themselves and insecurities on you!"
Finding your purpose in life is such a powerful force that many people seem to be missing out on. This is sad because a life not lived to its full potential has no real impact. Most of the time, we want to just get by in life, when there is so much to live for, achieve, and so many people to impact.
God used Ravi to impact nations. You my friend, yes, you, reading this article, you are called to impact nations too.
Do you feel a void in your life?
When Ravi was young, he was not academically brilliant. In an interview I watched recently, Ravi said if you were not doing well in your studies, you were destined to go nowhere! Such was the belief in the place he grew up in, Chennai, formerly known as Madras.
The environment was very culture-driven so the pressure to perform well as a student was tremendous on him and from all sides. According to Ravi, the highest rates of suicide in India is after the examination results are posted in the newspapers. That’s crazy pressure on a student! As a result he felt like a total failure!
There were times in my life where I felt like this because I had not found my purpose.
"The highest rates of suicide in India is after the examination results are posted in the newspapers"
Ravi loved cricket instead of his studies, and naturally, this got him into lots of trouble with his dad. Ravi’s brothers and sisters were all doing well except for him and this made him feel like the failure in the family. How well you did in your studies determined how accepted you were in society and how much pride you brought your family.
To top all this, he also felt empty and lonely. The emptiness he felt did not come with any answers and as a result of this he attempted to commit suicide!
Fortunately, his body rejected the poison he drank because it was too salty and he lived! After his attempt on suicide, he felt even more of a failure because even when it came to committing suicide, he had failed! According to him, that instance was his turning point.
More than ever, he was looking for the answers as to why there was a void within him. It must have been a stirring within that there should be a better life than this, as he lay there on his hospital bed. He never did ask anyone for help, or for anyone to come visit him, but one day, a young man visited Ravi in hospital and spoke this verse over his life, the verse read : -
Because I live, you shall live also. - John 14:19
In his search for answers, He told Jesus this… “If you are offering me life like I never had before, I want that life from you”. Adding on, Ravi’s words were, ‘I invited the Author of Life into my life to give me the life He alone could give”.
He accepted Christ into his life and the rest is history. He says, “when you have the map of God in your heart, you walk hand in hand with Him”.
Ravi’s purpose was awakened!
“If you are offering me life like I never had before, I want that life from you”. Adding on, Ravi’s words were, ‘I invited the Author of Life into my life to give me the life He alone could give”
Remember how the palm reader had told him he will not travel far or do very much in his life, and as a teenager he felt like such a failure that resulted in him attempting suicide? What a curve his life took when he found Jesus, and decided to follow Him, how his life changed with his PURPOSE awakened!
For an individual branded as an academic failure, here is a list of his doctorates:
HONORARY DOCTORATES
Doctor of Letters, Patrick Henry College, 2017 (Purcellville, VA)
Doctor of Public Service, Gordon College, 2016 (Wenham, MA)
Doctor Honoris Causa, University of San Marcos, 2016 (Lima, Peru)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Indiana Wesleyan University, 2016 (Marion, IN)
Doctor of Divinity, Trinity College of Florida, 2014 (Trinity, FL)
Doctor of Sacred Theology, Liberty University, 2013 (Lynchburg, VA)
Doctor of Divinity, McMaster Divinity College, 2012 (Hamilton, Ontario)
Doctor of Divinity, Tyndale College and Seminary, 1998 (Toronto, Ontario)
Doctor of Laws, Asbury College (now University), 1990 (Wilmore, KY)
Doctor of Divinity, Houghton College, 1980 (Houghton, NY)
Note : I have barely scratched the surface when it comes to what he has achieved. You can check out his complete CV at ( https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/rzimmedia.rzim.org/assets/downloads/Ravi-K-Zacharias-CV.pdf )
My only reaction to this is? Please Lord, I want to be as impactful as Uncle Ravi was and live a life that has purpose and meaning!
In conclusion, when your purpose to life is awakened, you will impact nations. I urge you today, if you are looking for answers or if you find yourself not knowing what you have been destined to do, please reach out. We are more than willing to journey with you to find your purpose. If you are plagued by any form of sadness, loneliness, depression or just need a friend to talk to, kindly reach out to us by sending us a message through the 'chat box' located at the bottom right of your screen.
God bless you and know that you are deeply loved!
We celebrate the life of Ravi Zacharias, and continue to keep his family and ministry in our prayers.
By,
Joshua Devaratnam
Founder of Thecouragecatalogue
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