Monday, February 15, 2010

Purpose 4: You were shaped for serving God

"God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you. Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen."--1Peter 4.10-11
You were shaped for serving God! This is the fourth purpose of your life as outlined in The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. But this is not just an idea that Rick Warren came up with. It runs throughout the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, we see regular people using the time, talents, and treasures God gave them to serve God and other people. You may not feel very gifted, but God custom designed you for a mission of service to him and others.
Yesterday, in the Sunday service, I noted that you can even use Martial Arts for Jesus! It's true! The evangelism ministry, Kicks for Christ, gets people's attention with martial arts and then shares the gospel. (Check them out at http://www.kicksforchrist.com/)
There are bikers for Christ, cowboys for Christ, even metal heads for Jesus! You can use whatever talents and passions you have in life to serve God. What talents, time, treasures, or even trials you've experienced in life could you use today to bless others with the love of Jesus?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Purpose 3-Becoming like Jesus

"I am confident of this: that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."--Philippians 2.6
The third purpose of our lives, as outlined in The Purpose Driven Life, is to become like Jesus. Now, in itself, this would be an impossible task. Most days, we are all too aware of our sins and short comings. And if we are in doubt, the world will be sure to remind us of these.
The Good News is that we are not charged to become like Jesus in our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. And the encouragement of the Scripture listed above is that by the end of our lives, God will complete that work of making us like Jesus.
Our role is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, to give the Holy Spirit room to operate in our lives. We do this by worship, prayer, reading the Bible, doing good works for other people. All these spiritual disciplines are what John Wesley called "means of grace," tools that God uses to grow us like Christ.
So, remember today your goal, your focus, to become like Jesus. And remember that the Holy Spirit is working in you to achieve that goal.