Sometimes I hear people talking about waiting on God. God has made it very plain that waiting is what we need to do, then wait. However, most of the time we are just trying to spiritualize our reluctance to take action. I get this strong feeling that God is probably waiting on them.
I wrote a blog about how I went from a 6th-grade flunky who always struggled academically to a student that excelled in a Master’s program with a 4.0 GPA. Someone made the comment that the school must not have been very good if someone who always struggled academically was able to do so well. I think his insinuation was that it was not a “real” Master’s from a “real” school.
To not have that purpose is deadening. To discover and follow that purpose is life to the full; life more abundantly; it is real and eternal life, more and better life than we ever dreamed of!
Helen Keller said it well when asked if there was anything worse than being blind and she replied, “Yes, being able to see and having no vision.”
Not only does everyone have their first purpose (to know, love, and follow Jesus), and their general purpose (Worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism), but each one of us also has a specific purpose. While our first and general purpose are universal, our specific purpose is unique for each and every one of us.
Is not life more than just living, dying, and having kids? Is this it? Just survive and reproduce? I believe there is more. Our purpose is bigger than just living, dying, and having kids. Our God-given purpose is to make an eternal difference in people’s lives and to make this world a better place in the process.
One of the best ways to find real happiness is to become a giver. Psychologist Alfred Adler put it this way, “We could be cured of depression in only fourteen days if every day we would try to do something good for somebody else.”
You may have finished your formal schooling, but if you want to find real happiness and joy, you must never finish your education.
Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says, “You are the same person today that you will be five years from now except for the people you meet and the books you read.” The right relationships take us places we would not otherwise get to go.
Happiness and joy will not find you, it must be sought out. However, if you only self-indulge to make yourself happy, you will never find happiness. If your actions are only for your benefit, then happiness will elude you.
John Maxwell tells of the time an interviewer asked his wife, Margret, if John made her happy. John Maxwell smiled as he expected a positive answer to this question, but to his surprise, she said, “No.” He was shocked until…