John 10:10b (NLT)

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT)

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT)

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Genesis 2:15 (NLT)

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

Humanity was created in God's image to extend his divine realm on earth and to combat the forces of evil that oppose this growth and seek to invade and degrade it.

Genesis 3:4,5 (NLT)

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

John 3:5,6 (NLT)

Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

Romans 8:5-9 (NLT)

Those who are dominated by the flesh think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your flesh control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the flesh is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their flesh can never please God. But you are not controlled by your flesh. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

So, to find our true Authentic Self is to find who we are “in the Spirit” and not who we are “in the flesh.”

Here’s the truth: To find our God-created Authentic Self is to engage in the activity and purpose for which God created us.

Matthew 16:18b (NLT)

Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

From a Christian perspective, our God-given purpose is to grow and spread his influence in the world, thereby enlarging his kingdom while overcoming evil.

Matthew 16:24,25 (NLT)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”