PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE – DAY 40 {LIVING WITH PURPOSE} - LAST DAY!

Point to Ponder: Living on purpose is the only way to really live. Everything else is just existing.

Insight: Acts 13:36 says, “David served God’s purpose in his generation.” Now we can understand why God called King David “a man after my own heart.” There is no greater epitaph than that statement! That we serve God’s purpose in our generation.

Most people struggle with 3 basic issues in life. The answers to all 3 questions are found in God’s five purposes for us.

• The first is identity: “Who am I?”
• The second is importance: “Do I matter?”
• The third is impact: “What is my place in life?”

Once we know what God wants us to do, the blessing comes in actually doing it. As we come to the end of this 40 day journey together, and now that we know God’s purposes for our life, we will be blessed if we do them!

This probably means we will have to stop doing some other things. There are probably many “good” things we can do with our life, but God’s purposes are the 5 essentials we must do. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get distracted and forget what is most important. It’s easy to drift away from what matters most and slowly get off course. To prevent this, we should develop a purpose statement for our life and then review regularly.

What Is A Life Purpose Statement?

It’s a statement that summarizes God’s purposes for our life – In our words we affirm our commitment to God’s five purposes for our life. It’s not a list of goals. Goals are temporary, purposes are eternal.

It’s a statement that points the direction of our life – Writing down our purpose on paper will force us to think specifically about the path of our life. A life purpose statement not only spells out what we intend to do with our time, life and money, but also implies what we aren’t going to do.

It’s a statement that defines “success” for us– It states what we believe is important, not what the world says is important. It clarifies values.

It’s a statement that clarifies our roles – We will have different roles at different stages in life, but our purposes will never change. They are greater than any role we will have.

It’s a statement that expresses our shape – It reflects the unique ways God made us to serve Him.

Rick Warren recommends we take time writing out our life purpose statement. He explains we shouldn’t try to complete it in a single sitting, and not to aim for perfection in the first draft; just write down our thoughts as fast as they come to us. It is always easier to edit than create. Here are 5 questions we should consider as we prepare our statement:

Life’s 5 Greatest Questions

What will be the center of our life? This is the question of worship. Who are we going to live for? What are we going to build our life around? We can center our life around our career, our family, a sport or hobby, money having fun, or many other activities. These are all good things, but they don’t belong at the center of our life. None is strong enough to hold us together when life starts breaking apart. We need an unshakeable center.

Whatever is at the center of our life is our god. When we committed our life to Christ, He moved into the center, but we must keep Him there through worship.

How do we know when God is at the center of our life? When God’s at the center, we worship. When He’s not, we worry. Worry is the warning light that God has been shoved to the sideline. The moment we put Him back at the center, we will have peace.

What will be the character of my life? This is the question of discipleship. What kind of person will we be? God is far more interested in what we are than what we do. Remember, we will take our character into eternity, but not our career. Make a list of the character qualities we want to work on and develop in our life. Don’t get discouraged and give up when we stumble. It takes a lifetime to build a Christlike character.

What will be the contribution of our life? This is the question of service. What will be our ministry in the Body of Christ? Knowing our combination of spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences (SHAPE), what would be our best role in the family of God? How can we make a difference? Is there a specific group in the Body that I am shaped to serve?

What will be the communication of our life? This is the question of our mission to unbelievers. Our mission statement is a part of our life purpose statement. It should include our commitment to share our testimony and the Good News with others. We should also list the life lessons and godly passions we feel God has given us to share with the world.

If we are parents, part of our mission is to raise our children to know Christ, to help them understand His purposes. One day God will review our answers to these life questions. Did we put Jesus at the center of our life? Did we develop His character? Did we devote our life to serving others? Did we communicate His message and fulfill His mission? Did we love and participate in His family?

God Wants to Use Us - Acts 13:36 says, “David served God’s purpose in his generation.” Now we can understand why God called King David “a man after my own heart.” Rick Warren says, There is no greater epitaph than that statement! That we serve God’s purpose in our generation.

The purpose-driven life is that we do the eternal and timeless (God’s purpose) in a contemporary and timely way (in our generation). Neither past nor future generations can serve God’s purpose in this generation. Only we can. Like Esther, God created us “for such a time as this.” Esther 4:14

God is still looking for people to use. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

My thoughts: Wow, this is the last day! I cannot believe that 40 days have gone by so fast. I have learned so much studying, reading and blogging about the Purpose Driven Life book. I have gone to bed many nights thinking about what I have learned and the way God revealed Himself to me via this book. I was thinking that I started reading this book back in September 2009 and I only read few chapters and put the book away and recently picked it up again. Today is a living testimony of God’s love and amazing grace that I followed through this time and finished the book. Blogging about it, helped me to stay focus but in the meantime I have gain increased readership in my personal blog that I started about two years ago with the purpose to give God the glory. Living my life for God’s purpose has a total new meaning for me. I am still honing on my talents and gifts but I am not sitting by the sidelines waiting. I am using my writing to touch others. Soon I will be moving and I am looking forward to joining a new church family and getting involved in a new community. For the first time, I am thinking about going on a mission trip and hopefully soon sharing my life story to encourage others. This has truly been an amazing journey!