Finding Fulfillment and Experiencing Joy in Your Life

Finding Joy

By Bob Westfall

“Are you ready to dream God’s dream?” In his new book, The Fulfillment Principle: Experiencing a Life of Pure Joy and Fulfillment, Bob Westfall invites those who are overwhelmed and unfulfilled to realize this simple but profound truth: “When you use the gifts God gives you to live out the dream He has birthed in you, then you experience the joy of fulfillment that comes straight from heaven.” Drawing on the challenge from Jesus’ parable of the talents,

Westfall shows readers how the Creator of the universe hands His children a clear, concise blueprint for pure joy. They will see the extraordinary impact individuals can have when they choose to use their gifts and not bury them.

Do you have it? There’s something you want, we all want. In fact, our hearts ache for it. Some of us realize it sooner than others. Unfortunately, some of us never realize it at all. It’s joy. It’s fulfillment. It’s a pleasure and contentment and peace—an unending spring of living water—that runs deep within our very being.

An Invitation

“Enter into the joy of your master?”

Where did that come from?

Everyone knows the part that says, “Well done, good and faithful slave.” And some people know about the, “You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.”

But how many people realize that in this oft-repeated text, the creator of the universe hands his children a clear, concise blueprint for pure joy? And we’re talking about you and me, entering in to his joy—a joy unspeakable and unending—right now.

Not tomorrow. Not next week or month. But today. Not only pastors or missionaries. Not only scholars and saints.

But you and me. School teachers and business people, housewives and home school moms, mechanics and mill workers, computer geeks and career women.

The Joy of Your Master

Many people have heard the story of the talents in the Bible. A man—who is a picture of Jesus—is about to go on a journey. Before he leaves, he calls his servants— a picture of us—and doles out his possessions to them. One servant is given five talents, one is given two talents, another is given one talent. Before I get further into the details of the parable, however, allow me to jump to a segment of the story that most people overlook.

I did, until the winter of 2001 when a life-changing nugget from this tale hit me like a semi-truck sent from heaven, proverbially altering the way I live and move and have my being. You see, at the time I was experiencing some incredible personal challenges with my life feeling unfulfilled. I was successful at work, but feeling as though I had missed my mark and my calling.

The words I’m referring to—the ones that changed the landscape of my life once and for all—are those of the man who went on the journey, the man who represents Jesus in the parable. When that man returns from his long trip, he sees that the men who were given five talents and two talents had invested the money, each making double what he’d left them. In response, the master says: “‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master’” (Matt. 25:21, author’s emphasis).

Hold it right there.

The God That Gives Us Dreams, Makes Them Come True

The word “talent” spoken of in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) is a measure of weight and, in this usage, means “money.” As in many of Christ’s parables, however, the story contains multiple layers of meaning and wisdom.

“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey” (Matt. 25:14, 15, author’s emphasis).

Notice that God gives us something of his to invest—according to our ability.

Who gave us our ability?

God.

What Has God Given You?

So, although God may have given you five talents and me two and someone else one, he views us each the same. Just because you have more does not mean God views you as more valuable or important. Indeed, God sees us all as equal; he values us the same. And what he truly values most is the way you and I steward the talents he’s entrusted into our lives. How do we invest those talents? Are we fruitful? Do we get a good return on the deposit he’s made in our lives?

Instead of the popular term, “return on investment (ROI),” I’ve coined it, “return on talent (ROT).”

What talent—be it treasure or ability or passion or skill—has God entrusted to you today?

It might be a flock of a thousand church members, it may be twins in diapers. It might be an up-and-coming ad agency of ten people, or a rescue unit in which you provide a home for lost animals. You may be a mother of five or a single dad. You may be a meter reader, a steel worker, or the CEO of a multi-million dollar company.

The question is still the same. What has God entrusted to you—according to your unique ability? What passion has he woven into your heart, and only your heart?