Friday, February 9, 2024
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.? Deuteronomy 10:12-13
Living a life of meaning and impact is not about doing something different but doing what we do with purpose. The circumstances of life have no value in and of themselves. What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. Ecclesiastes 3:9-10
Circumstance w/o purpose produces weariness. We do things for a variety of reasons. When we review those reasons, we often find that the majority of what we call "motivations" are actually "coercions"... external pressures. The word "struggles" speaks of the feeling many have toward life's circumstances.
Every day you get up without a goal, plan and direction you will live someone else’s.
When you lose your purpose you can lose your energy.
When you lose your purpose you can lose your peace.
When you lose your purpose you can lose your joy.
When you lose your purpose you can lose your life.
Circumstance w/o purpose produces boredom. Physical weariness is not nearly as depressing as mental weariness. If our heart is not involved, we will have no initiative...no life in our labor. We are seeing young people busier than any other generation and yet twice as bored with life.
Circumstance w/o purpose produces emptiness. "Unfulfilled" is the key descriptive word for people in our world today. We have generated the capacity to get anything we want and yet still can't get what we need. There are millions that come to the end of life and still don't know why they lived it.
A key statement for beginning to take control of your life is: "Nobody is responsible for my happiness and success but me and God." Personal responsibility is the beginning of placing the locus of control in your hands.
The Circumstances of Life in Time Find Purpose and Value in Eternity
Eternity = breadth and depth as well as duration
The picture of eternity must include the present as well as the future for that is what the word means. Eternity has quality as well as length and this is what God has put in our hearts. Every moment God controls is an eternal act. God's design and desire is to control our lives to bring about that purpose and give us the fulfillment He desires. When God acts through our lives we find ourselves connected to eternity in a special way. Being responsible to God with time in life can bring us the peace, joy, and fulfillment we have been trying to produce on our own.
The question to consider at this very moment is:
What am I doing with the life that God has given me?
That Christ bought for me?
Am I living it for Him? Am I living it to the fullest?
You are in control of how you choose to spend your time on earth. Are you going to live a stagnant life, or are you going to live radical for God? Enter every environment (home, school, work, church, etc.) with every intention to shine as little light as possible on you and as much light as possible on Jesus, God the Son. Live with purpose and intention. You only get one chance to make it countlly.
