Monday, April 21, 2003

The Purpose Driven Life: It All Starts with God Google Search It There are countless people who believe that there are many ways to God.  Their analogy is one of a mountain that has many paths leading to the top.  The assumption, however, is that the journey to God starts with us.  We are the ones that are climbing the hill, we are the ones that start at different locations around the mountain, and ultimately, it is on our strength that we are able to reach the summit. From the very beginning, however, I believe the premise that we find God and that we are climbing up to him is false.  We cannot reach heaven on our own, even heaven here on earth.  Rather, it is God who reaches us.  Jesus came down to earth, not the other way around.  God chooses to save us, it is not that we save ourselves. The emphais on God not actually considering my input provides a nice contrast to the 21st century attitude in which democracy if not concensus is given such a high priority In the same way, the search for purpose in life should not begin with us.  Rather we need to begin by looking at God and what he desires for us, what his plan is for us.  "God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him.  His purpose for your life predates your conception.  He planned it before you existed, without your input!"  (page 21) It should be noted that one can still be successful even if they don't start with God.  However, success (especially as defined by the world) is an entirely different matter from fulfilling your life's purpose.  Many people have been extremely successful at achieving all sorts of amazing accomplishments.  The question, however, is how many of them have completed all that God planned for their lives.  8:35:35 AM   []    comment []

The Purpose Driven Life: A Journey with Purpose Google Search It For the next 40 days I am going to be reading a book called The Purpose Driven Life.  This is the same book that almost every member of my church is reading.  Furthermore, all small groups are going to be going through discussion material on the book.  The goal:  to get a better understanding of why I was created and why I remain alive, to have a firm grasp on God's plan for my life. The choice of 40 days is simply because of the number of people in the Bible that were transformed in forty days.  Noah, Moses, David, Elija.... the list goes on.  Even Jesus spent 40 days wondering in the wilderness. One interesting note from the introduction was the disappointment that registered while breezing through the introduction.  There it strongly urges one not to read more than a day at a time.  I had sat down with the intention of reading ahead so that if I happened to skip a day I wouldn't get behind.  Oh well!  There goes that idea.  I am going to try go one day at a time and rely on consistency.  8:15:52 AM   []    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Mark Michaelis.