The Purpose Driven Life, ChapterTwenty Nine
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Today's chapter begins the segment on Purpose #4: You Were Shaped For Serving God
You were put on earth to make a contribution. God designed you to make a difference with your life. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. This is God's fourth purpose for your life, and it is called your "ministry" or service.
You were created to serve God.
Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God and fulfilling one of your purposes.
You were saved to serve God.
God redeemed you so you could do his "holy work." You're not saved BY service, but you are saved FOR service. In God's kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill. We don't serve God out of guilt or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what he's done for us. We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.
If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I'm only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Another term for serving God that's misunderstood by some people is the word ministry. When most people hear ministry, they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is a minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.
You are called to serve God.
The Bible says that every Christian is called to service. Your call to salvation included your call to service. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.
One reason you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters.
You are commanded to serve God
For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. it is the heart of the Christian life. Serving and giving sum up God's fourth purpose for your life.
Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.
The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.
As we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking "Whose needs can I meet?" Do you ever ask that question?
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God and He is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow. To all excuses, God will respond "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?"
If you aren't serving, you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.
You are going to give your life for something. What will it be--a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have lasting significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives.
God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He want to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.
You were put on earth to make a contribution. God designed you to make a difference with your life. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. This is God's fourth purpose for your life, and it is called your "ministry" or service.
You were created to serve God.
Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God and fulfilling one of your purposes.
You were saved to serve God.
God redeemed you so you could do his "holy work." You're not saved BY service, but you are saved FOR service. In God's kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill. We don't serve God out of guilt or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what he's done for us. We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.
If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I'm only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Another term for serving God that's misunderstood by some people is the word ministry. When most people hear ministry, they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is a minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.
You are called to serve God.
The Bible says that every Christian is called to service. Your call to salvation included your call to service. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.
One reason you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters.
You are commanded to serve God
For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. it is the heart of the Christian life. Serving and giving sum up God's fourth purpose for your life.
Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.
The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.
As we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking "Whose needs can I meet?" Do you ever ask that question?
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God and He is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow. To all excuses, God will respond "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?"
If you aren't serving, you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.
You are going to give your life for something. What will it be--a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have lasting significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives.
God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He want to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.