The Purpose Driven Life

Pastor Rick Warren, the author of 'The Purpose Driven Life,' says we do not find our life's purpose because we start at the wrong starting point, ourselves!  We did not create ourselves, and so we cannot find the purpose of our existence by looking within us as Eastern religions suggest.  If someone makes a gadget and gives it to us, we cannot understand its purpose unless the designer tells us!  The Lord of the Universe has created us, and only He can tell the purpose for which He created Man.  The Bible says, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, …. All things were created through Him and for Him" (Col. 1:16).  That means we cannot understand the purpose of our lives apart from God.  God has created each of us with a purpose and has equipped us with gifts and talents to fulfill that purpose.  Then the question we have to answer is, how am I fulfilling the purpose for which God created me?  How can we answer that question if we do not know our life's purpose?

Life without a purpose is empty and unlivable.  Some make their children the purpose of their lives, and they are discouraged when they leave home.  Some make their job their purpose, and when they retire, they feel lost and unwanted.  In 2 Cor. 5:20, Paul says, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…"  Our purpose is to walk around as representatives of Jesus, reflecting His attributes.  To be like Jesus, we have to be with Jesus constantly.  That is worship and fellowship.  So, I believe the purpose of our life is to love God first, expressed by worship, and then express that love for God in loving service to the people around us.  Jesus summarized this in Matthew 22:37-40 saying, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

My friend, each of us has to strive consciously to fulfill that God-given purpose, living a life of worship and a life of service!  This New Year, let us do our best with what we have for Jesus today and every day.  Let us desire to hear Jesus say, "'Well done, good and faithful servant… " so that we can enter into the joy of our Lord.

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