1. Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. When life has meaning we can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is bearable. Without God life has NO purpose and without purpose life has NO meaning without meaning life has NO significance or hope! The greatest tragedy is NOT death, but life WITHOUT purpose.
God says, “I know what I am planning for you…I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give hope and a good future.”-Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV)
“God…is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of-infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” –Ephesians 3:20 (LB)
2. Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you DO and what you DO NOT DO. You simply ask yourself, “Does this activity help me fulfill one of God’s purposes for my life?” Without a CLEAR purpose you have no foundation in which to base our decisions, allocate our time, and use our resources. People who DON’T know their purpose tend to do too much which cause stress, fatigue and conflict.
“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.” –Proverbs 13:7 (Msg)
3. Knowing your purpose focuses your life. It concentrates your effort and energy on what’s important. You become effective by being selective. Without a clear purpose we will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches, or other externals-hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in our hearts. If we want our life to have impact we MUST FOCUS IT! STOP DABBLING. STOP TRYING TO DO IT ALL. DO LESS. PRUNE AWAY EVEN GOOD ACTIVITES AND DO ONLY THAT WHICH MATTERS MOST!
NEVER CONFUSE ACTIVITY WITH PRODUCTIVITY. YOU CAN BE BUSY WITHOUT PURPOSE, BUT WHAT’S THE POINT?
“Let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.” –Philippians 3:15
4. Knowing your purpose motivates your life. Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose like a clear purpose. Alternately, nothing dissipates passion like lack of a purpose. Just getting out of bed becomes a chore. It is usually meaningless work, not overwork, which wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy.
George Bernard Shaw wrote, “This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of aliments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
5. Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity. What ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what God says. What people fail to realize is that ALL achievements are eventually surpassed, records broken, reputations fade, and tributes are forgotten. Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. A wiser use of our time is to build an eternal legacy. You weren’t put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.
“Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God…Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God.” –Romans 14:10b, 12 (NLT)
“I observed that the basic motive for success is the driving force of envy and jealousy!” Ecclesiastes 4:4
Five Most Common things that can Drive our lives by Rick Warren:1. Guilt: Many people are driven by guilt and spend their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame. They allow their past to control their future. We are a product of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. God specializes in giving people
“What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven!...What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.” Psalm 32:1 (LB)
2. Resentment & Anger: Many people are driven by resentment and anger they hold from hurts and never getting over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds. LISTEN: Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. YOUR PAST IS PAST! NOTHING WILL CHANGE IT. YOU ARE ONLY HURTING YOURSELF WITH YOUR BITTERNESS. LEARN FROM IT AND THEN LET IT GO!
“To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do.” –Job 5:2 (TEV)
3. Fear: Many people are driven by their fears which may have occurred as a result from a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up in a high-control home, or even genetic predisposition that often miss opportunities because they are scared to venture out. Fear is a self-imposed prison. We MUST use our weapons of faith and love to combat fear.
“Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death, fear of judgment-is one not yet fully formed in love.” -1 John 4:18 (Msg)
4. Materialism: Many people are driven by materialism their desires to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. This drive to always want more is the based on the misconception that having more will make us happy, more important and more secure. ALL are untrue because possessions only provide temporary happiness because THINGS DO NOT CHANGE and we eventually become bored with them and then want bigger, newer and better THINGS. YOUR SELF WORTH IS NOT DETERMINED BY THINGS! YOUR NET WORTH AND SELF WORTH ARE NOT THE SAME.
Wealth can be lost instantly. But REAL security can ONLY be found in a relationship with God and that can NEVER be taken away from us.
5. Approval: Many people are driven by the need for approval that they allow the expectations of others to control them. Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. One KEY to failure is to try to please everyone. Being controlled by the opinions of others is a guaranteed way to miss God’s purposes for our lives.
Jesus reminds us that “No one can serve two masters.”
–Matthew 6:24 (NLT)
