What Drives Your Life?

Everyone’s life is driven by something. Five of the most common driving forces are:
Guilt - Many people live their lives burdened by guilt. They allow this guilt to control them so that their past controls their future. God, though, loves to give them the opportunity for a fresh start. They do not need to live in guilt.
Resentment & Anger - Some people hold on to hurts from the past and never learn to let them go. Eventually this anger and resentment controls them. Warren’s advice is “For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.”
Fear - Fear controls many people. By playing it safe and always fighting to maintain the status quo they may avoid God’s purpose for their lives. These people need to learn to fight fear through faith in God.
Materialism - Most people in our society are driven by materialism. They are driven to acquire more and more possessions and believe that security can only be found in having more. This goes directly against Scripture which says that the most valuable things in life are not things!
Need For Approval - Many people allow their need for other people’s approval to control their lives. They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
Though not an exhaustive list, these probably summarize most people. There are five main benefits to living a purpose-driven life. They are:
Knowing My Purpose Gives Meaning To My Life - Humans were made to have meaning. Without purpose, life is meaningless. A meaningless life is a life without hope or significance. This is a profound statement and one that everyone should spend time pondering. God gives purpose. Purpose gives meaning. Meaning gives hope and significance. There is awesome truth contained within that logic.
Knowing My Purpose Simplifies My Life - My purpose becomes the standard I use to determine which activities are important and which are not. If an activity does not further my purpose it can, and often should, be removed or ignored. My purpose gives me the foundation on which to base decisions and allocate my time and resources.
Knowing My Purpose Focuses My Life - With a determined purpose I can focus my time and energy on what is truly important. Without purpose I may always be getting distracted and changing direction. Focusing on a few things that fulfill my purpose will yield better results than attempting to focus on many things that may not.
Knowing My Purpose Motivates My Life - Purpose produces passion. By knowing my purpose I will be passionate about achieving it.
Knowing My Purpose Prepares Me For Eternity - My time on earth is nothing more than a preparation for eternity. What matters in the end is not whether people remember me after I am gone but what God says about my life. Building an eternal legacy is far more important than building an earthly one.
As we stand before God after death, God will ask us two questions. The first will be, “What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” and the second will be “What did you do with what I gave you?” I found that his statement “your religious background or doctrinal views” will not matter did not sit very well. Though in theory I agree, I do not like to see such things downplayed. Sound doctrine and a solid walk with God is critical to the Christian life. The finer points of doctrine may not matter when it comes to entrance into heaven, but this does not mean they do not matter at all.
Bible Passages
In speaking about the importance of purpose, Genesis 4:12 which speaks about the curse God placed on Cain as punishment for murdering his brother. It reads, “You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Warren then states, “That describes most people today - wandering through life without a purpose.”

Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Question To Consider
Today’s question is, “What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life? What do I want it to be?” I have not asked any of my friends and family. I certainly would like to think and sincerely hope that they would answer that God drives my life. I want nothing more than to be a tool used by God to further His work. No, my life is not wholly devoted to this purpose and I know it never will be in entirety, yet I do hope that as I grow in my faith, so will my devotion to this purpose.

You Are Not An Accident

I am not an accident. No matter how my birth came about, even if it was a mistake in human terms, it was not a surprise to God. He had planned for it long before I was born. Not only did he know I was going to be born but he also knew where I would be born, how I would be born and even how long I would live. My life was perfectly planned and brought to perfect execution. He did all of this to fulfill His purposes. Now that I realize God is the one responsible for my life, I am accountable to God to make Him the focus of my life so that through Him and in Him I can discover its meaning and purpose.
All that God has done He has done out of love. God, being the perfect example of love, and indeed the very essence of love, created me to love me. I find myself quite uncomfortable with this teaching. I believe it is more Scriptural to say that God created me so I could love Him! “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” God created us so that we could bring glory to Him. It is true that He created us out of love and with the intention of loving us, but that was not His primary purpose. His prime purpose was His own glorification.
Bible Passages
Ephesians 1:4 which reads, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.” The next verse goes on to say that, “In love He predestined us to adoption” but that speaks of our election and justification, not our creation.
We can discover God’s meaning and purpose only when we make Him the reference point of our lives. Romans 12:3 as, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith
Point To Ponder
Today’s point to ponder is “I am not an accident.” To me that is not a major revelation and accepting my life has never been a struggle. However, when I began to ponder the statement, especially in light of today’s Question To Consider, I realized that though I have not struggled with my life being accidental, I have often struggled with parts of my personality and character (and even physical traits) as being accidental. I see now that God created and foreordained me not only in an abstract sense of giving me life, but also in an intimate way of providing me with a certain type of character as well as a specific personality and specific physical traits. Rather than be disappointed or angry with God for giving these to me, I should accept them as part of who God created me to be. Rather than hide them, I should discover how I can use them for Him.

How You Can Know God Personally

Here’s how you can know God personally; there are four main points:
1. God Loves you and created you to know him personally. “God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish by have eternal life. John 3:16

You see, this life is not the end of us. This life is preparation for eternity, deciding where we want to spend it eternity … with God or apart from God.
God’s Plan “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV)
What prevents us from knowing God personally?
2. Man is sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love because of our sin. Man is Sinful “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Man is Separated “The wages of sin is death (separation from God) (Romans 6:23). Man is continually trying to reach God and establish a personal relationship with Him through his own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion – but he inevitably fails.
The third principle explains the only way to ‘bridge’ this separation:
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him alone can we know God personally and experience God’s love. He Died in Our Place “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He Rose from the Dead “Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve disciples. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6) He is the Only Way to God “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6). Visualize now that God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. It is not enough just to know these truths…
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love. We Must Receive Christ “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). We Receive Christ Through Faith “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast; (Ephesians 2:8-9). When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth John 3:1-8 After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to speak with Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you." Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God." "What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."

What On Earth Am I Here For?

Have you ever wondered about, or felt confused about, the purpose of your life?
Being confused about your purpose in life is not a bad thing. It is actually something that can awaken a desire to seek the truth about who we are and why we’re here.
One of the wisest men in history, King Solomon, who ruled the nation of Israel after his father, David, was confused about his purpose in life. He once wrote, “I, the Teacher, was king of Israel and I lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done in the world. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. Everything under the sun is meaningless, like chasing the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-15 NLT).
A lot of people are surprised to find out that such statements are in the Bible, and that God himself would be blamed as being responsible for our meaningless lives. But the key to Solomon’s observation is where he places the seat of this wisdom as being “under the sun.” Solomon is saying that if he looks at our human existence trapped on this planet and tries to explain it using human reason and accomplishments “under the sun,” that he can’t come to any better conclusion than life is meaningless.
It is hard—almost impossible—to explain the meaning of life without God, and that’s why everything starts here. God brings design and purpose to our existence. God has a plan that stretches beyond our history. God wants a relationship with us. That in itself gives us meaning. For whatever reason, Solomon wasn’t willing to go beyond what he could physically prove to look for answers to his questions
Every human being who has ever lived has had questions about his or her existence. It makes a big difference where you look for answers. You can’t really know much about meaning in life without being willing to admit that “beyond the sun”—or outside our human experience—is a Being with a design and a reason for all that we see and experience “under the sun.” You’ll need to at least be open to the possibility to move on in this study.
Here’s something to think about: Do you think it’s possible that God created us hungry for the very thing He wants to give us? He created us to seek Him? If so, wondering about your purpose could very well be the most important thing you could do. If this is true, then wondering about your purpose is the first step in finding it.
What ways have you tried to discover your life’s purpose that haven’t worked?
Have you ever wondered if a good deal of advertising appeals to the need we all have for purpose and meaning in life? Buy this car, drink this beer, go to this school, wear this make-up, purchase this insurance and you will have meaning in life. (…and for everything else, there’s MasterCard.)
The real truth about human nature never changes. Almost 400 years ago, Blaise Pascal, a brilliant French scientist and philosopher explained the dilemma of human existence as a God-shaped vacuum in the center of the human heart—a need for God that He placed there that won’t be satisfied by anything other than God Himself. In Pascal’s own words:
What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object—in other words, by God Himself.
Think of the things our culture lures us into using for our purpose: power, prestige, glory, sex, and wealth. The problem with these things is that there never seems to be enough. Even the people who have “arrived” aren’t happy the way we imagine them being. Meaninglessness is like a black hole at the center of human existence that sucks up whatever we throw at it, leaving it as empty as it was before. Even things that are supposed to be good seem to disappear in this deep cavern.
What have you thrown into the black hole of your existence that hasn’t filled it up? I think we all receive temporary satisfaction from some things, but what will really hold up over time?
Why do you think people try to discover their life’s purpose without turning to God, their creator?
Let’s think about some answers on this one:
- If I turned to God I might lose control of my life.
- God might take away all my fun.
- If there is a God, He’s definitely bigger than me and probably has some demands on my life.
- We always want to do things ourselves. Theme song: “I Did It My Way.”
- We want to be in control of our own destiny.
- We are afraid of God, we don’t know God, or we find God too mysterious.
- We think God’s idea of purpose is probably pretty religious and definitely boring.
- We like religion about as much as we like politics; we don’t want to get into a discussion about either one.
- We don’t believe in creation. We’ll have to find a purpose apart from a designed existence because that’s what we learned to believe.
But what if God were a kind, loving creator who made us like Himself because He wanted a relationship with us, and gave us the ability to choose Him or not because He didn’t want robots? What if He actually has our best interests in mind? Wouldn’t you want to check it out?