Friday, April 06, 2007

Day 40 – Living with purpose

Living with purpose

Final Day

Finally, living on purpose is the only way to really live, as everything else just exists. And in order to find our identity (who we are), our importance (if we matter) or our place in life, we will and can only find answers in God’s five purposes for us. And when we know there is a blessing in doing the right thing to do them [John 13 vs. 17]. However it is not easy to do the right thing, and it’s so easy for us to get distracted and drift away from what matters most. Therefore, in order to prevent being easily distracted, we ought to develop a purpose statement for our life and review them regularly.

I am told that it should be a statement that:

1) summarises God’s purpose for my life [note – not a list of goals – as goals are temporary and purposes are eternal] [Psalm 33 vs.11]

2) Points the direction of my life, as this forces me to think specifically about the path of my life [Prov. 4 vs. 26]. So not only does it spell out what I intend to do with life, time and resources – it will imply what I will not be wasting them on [Prov. 17 vs. 24].

3) Defines “success” for me, which should state that what I believe is important and not what the world believes, and should clarify my values [Philippians 1 vs. 10]

4) Clarifies my role – so even though I may have different roles at different stages of my life, my purpose will and should never change.

So as I prepare the statement I need to be able to answer the following questions which include:

1) Whom am I going to live for and build my life around? I.e. what will be in the centre of my life? - It is good to centre our life on our career, family, hobby even money; however none of them is strong enough to withstand the problems faced in life. Therefore, we need to have a solid centre that is unshakable [2 Chronicles 14 vs. 4], show me who is more solid than the Great Jehovah. To also bear in mind that whatever is at the centre our life is our god [Eph. 3 vs. 17]; and only when we know that we know that we KNOW that God is our unshakable centre will we worship Him [Phil. 4 vs. 7].

2) What will be the character of my life? This question is to do with discipleship. I am told that I need to make a list of character qualities I need to work on and develop in my life, like for example, the fruit of the Spirit [Gal. 5 vs. 22 – 23]; or the beatitudes [Matt. 5 vs. 3 – 12; 2 Pet. 1 vs. 5]; And not to be discouraged when I stumble or fall through my journey [1 Tim. 4 vs. 16].

3) What will be the contributions of my life? To answer this question I need to understand that this question is to do with service; i.e. what my best role in the family of God is [2 Corinth. 9 vs. 12]; therefore, by serving others, I am acknowledging God’s goodness to me and saying thank you to Him. I also need to choose whom I can help best seeing as I have not been called to help everybody as have a specific gifting [John 15 vs. 16]

4) What will be the communication of my life? This is all about my mission to unbelievers, which is my commitment to share my testimony and good news with others; [and if a parent, then part of their mission is to raise their children to know Christ, in order to help them understand His purpose for their life [John 24 vs. 15]]. And to live credible lives that unbelievers will accept [Philip. 1 vs. 27].

5) A final question is what will be the community of my life, that is how will I fellowship with others and how will I understand my commitment to other believers and connections to family of God.

So therefore, after I have put together my statements, I am informed that it will be very good to keep them in mind [Prov. 22 vs. 18]. To also remember that God’s will for my job, marriage or where I am supposed to lived are very important but are secondary issues, and so it’s imperative I fulfil God’s eternal purposes regardless of where I live or work or whom I marry [Prov. 19 vs. 21].

As I conclude this series, I would like us to remember; Since our purpose is to please God [1 Thess. 2 vs. 4], let us therefore be like David, a man who dedicated his life to fulfilling God’s purpose on earth in his generation [Acts 13 vs. 36], since He has created us for such a time as this [Ester 4 vs. 14] and is looking for those to show Himself strong on their behalf [2 Chronicles 16 vs. 9].

Finally I pray: Dear Lord please use me for your purposes, help me to serve your purpose in my generation in Jesus Name. Amen.

11 comments:

Admin UD said...

Once again, keep up da good work!

Am really impressed!

Anonymous said...

WOW! U deserve a standing ovation for this. Good job! Now, it's time to apply the knowledge gained. I'll read thru the post as soon as i can. Happy easter

~CHERUB

Mrs Somebody said...

Happy Easter to you my dear.Thanks for all the encouraging words.

You are indeed blessed.

Anonymous said...

I love your post about living with purpose and how our ultimate purpose is to please God. To please God, we have to know who He is and this is done by spending time raeding the bible (the book through which He revealed Himself), worshipping Him and fellowshiping with others.

For a student like i, it seems hard to spend time reading the bible consistently with all the work i have to do. Many days i go without reading (or even praying!). I have Christian friends who are SU-like. 'God this- and-that'. I compare myself to them and i'm like 'maybe that's why i'm not hearing from God, these people are on fire for God!' Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GOD but i'm still struggling to find my identity with Him (how He sees me and what my purpose is in life, so i can live for him) so i would stop comparing myself to others. I don't want to be SU but i want people to see God in the way i live.

Sorry for ranting, but your post got me thinking...

- Destined-in-a-crazy-world

Anonymous said...

Happy easter mami... hope the season brings you every good thing you want for yourself... have a great day...

Anonymous said...

LOASCM, u are indeed blessed. I admire your committment to this series. Those are really deep questions that I will need to meditate on but thanks for reminding us that God has created us for a specific purpose which we must discover and run with before our time here is over. Take care

temmy tayo said...

I am sending you a blog hug, blog kiss for this wonderful job well done.

DiAmOnD hawk said...

Life...im proud that youve been able to start and finish it...as you know...i dropped off early but im really proud of you!!! talk to u soon and hope you enjoyed ur easter

Vera Ezimora said...

Update!!

Kafo said...

I liked this series
thanks ooooo
blessings

ChiefO said...

hi stranger. long time! nice post.