A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.

Proverbs II: 28 (Msg)

It all starts with God

For everything, absolutely everything,

above and below, visible and invisible,

everything got started in him and

finds its purpose in him.

Colossians I: 16 (Msg)

Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless. In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren starts out by saying, “It’s not about you.” “The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”

Rick Warren’s advice isn’t based on another self help book, according to the bible, “Self help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.”

There is a distinct difference between achieving your goals and finding your purpose in life. Many authors of self help books begin with a self centered view, telling you things like, set goals, clarify your values, stay focused, you can accomplish more with a group and never give up! While these are all good strategies for reaching your life’s goals, they won’t help you find your true purpose. You can only find that through God.

For thousands of years, the purpose of life was a mystery to people. Why is this? It’s because we start at the wrong place—with us. The questions we ask ourselves are self-centered, we ask questions like what should I do with my life? What do I want to do? What goals do I have? What dreams do I have? What am I passionate about? The problem is that we focus on us; we will never discover our purpose in life.

The Bible states, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.”

To spite the advice of many self help books, seminars and movies, focusing on yourself won’t reveal your life’s purpose. Have you already tried this?

Since you weren’t created by yourself, you simply can’t tell yourself why you were created; just like an invention can’t tell why it was created. The creator is the only one that knows what it’s created for.

God is your starting point since he created you. You are made “by God and for God,” life will never make sense without this understanding.

You were made for Gods’ purpose, not the other way around.

The Bible states, “obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life”

This chapter is not about self help. It’s not aimed at, reaching your dreams, discovering that ideal career or your life’s plans. And I’m not going to tell you how to cram more stuff into already hectic day. Instead, you will learn what matters most in life, which will allow you to do less and become what god created you for.

There are only two options for revealing your true purpose:

1. Speculation- This is the path most people follow. When people say things like: “I think life is…What they are really saying is that this is the best guess as to why I was created.

Brilliant philosophers have pondered and speculated, “Why are we here,” over thousands of years and philosophy is important and has its place, but in regards to the meaning of life, the greatest philosophers are simply guessing.

Once, Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University decided to write to 250 of the greatest minds, including philosophers, writers, intellects and scientists around the planet; with one question, “What is the meaning of life?” Some gave it their best guess, and the others admitted that they didn’t have a clue while others said they actually made up a purpose for life. Amazingly, several of these brilliant people requested Professor Moorhead to contact them and let them know if he discovers, “the purpose of life.”

Thankfully, there is another way to find the purpose in life; a better way, God’s way. It’s found in his revelation.

Here are the five insights for a purpose driven life:

PURPOSE #1 You were planned for God’s pleasure—love through worship

As soon as you were born, God smiled upon your birth. He wanted you alive. When you entered the world he felt tremendous pleasure. He didn’t have to create you; he decided to create you for his own pleasure. Therefore, offering glory to God living for his delight is your first purpose in life. The Bible states: “Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ, he would make us his children-this was his pleasure and purpose.”

PURPOSE #2 You were formed for God’s family—love others through ministry

Even before you were born, God designed you for his family. Do you know what story is told throughout the whole bible? It’s the story of God building a family who will honor him, love him, and live with him for eternity; the bible states, “his unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

PURPOSE #3 You were created to become like Christ—this is accomplished through evangelism

How do we do this- by learning to grow up. God’s goal is for you to develop the characteristics of Jesus Christ by growing up. The sad truth is millions of Christians grow older, but never grow up. They are stuck in their spiritual booties and pampers.

The problem is growing was never a priority. Spiritual growth doesn’t just happen. First, you have to want to grow, choose to grow, try to grow and persist in growing. The way to becoming like Christ—Discipleship always starts with a choice. We are called by Jesus and we follow. “Come, be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. “So Matthew got up and followed him.”

PURPOSE #4 You were shaped for serving God—you do this with fellowship of his church.

Throughout the bible we are told, “Serve the Lord with all your heart”. God wants you to serve him passionately, not halt heartedly. Without passion, it’s rare to excel at anything in life. God want you to serve him and others with your natural talents.

When you serve God from your heart you are enthusiastic. You love what you do. There’s no need to challenge or motivate you. And there’s no need to check on you.

When your heart isn’t into something, it becomes easy to get discouraged. But when you have passion, you naturally strive for perfection and become more effective.

Don’t sell yourself short by reaching for “the good life”, because the good life is never good enough. You’ll never totally be satisfied. You can live on a lot and still have nothing to live for. Strive instead for “the better life;” glorifying God with all your heart. “A simple life in the fear-of-God is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.”

PURPOSE #5 You were made for a mission—to become like Christ through discipleship

God wants you to join him in his world work.

Serving believers is your ministry and serving unbelievers is your mission. Since you are the Body of Christ, your mission is the same mission Jesus had when he was on earth; introducing people to God! The bible states: “Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.” In fact, your mission is so important that Jesus mentions it five times, in five different ways, in five different books of the Bible. Embracing Gods family means your mission is mandatory. It would be disobedient to ignore it.

“Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone.”

The pentathlon is one of the events at the summer Olympics. There are five events: running, pistol shooting, horseback riding and fencing. The goal of the pentathlete is to win at each event, not just one or two.

Just like the pentathlon, your life also has five purposes, which need to be balanced.

Since we indulge in the purposes that we are most passionate about, we tend to lose sight of others. But you can stay balanced by regularly attending a small group, which will hold you accountable by consistently measuring your spiritual health. You will record your growth in your personal journal and share your insights with others. Joining a small discussion group and sharing your thoughts is the best way to internalize The Purpose Driven Life. The Bible states, “As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.”