Forty Days of Purpose: One to Five

Whilst I planned to blog each day, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours! Oh well. Here’s a compressed version of the first five days.

What on earth am I here for?

Day 1: It all starts with God
Warren’s very first sentence is this: “It’s not about you.” This is an incredible challenge. My life is not about me, but how oh so much I wish it were!

Day 2: You are not an accident

Day 3: What drives your life?
This is a really interesting question. Is God really driving my life, or am I a leaner driver desperately trying to control a swiftly moving vehicle, thinking I’m doing a good job?

Day 4: Made to last forever
Perhaps foolishly, I’ve agreed to lead a home group for the 40 Days. We were talking in depth about this one last night, probably because yesterday was Day 4. Even when we know our purposes, life can seem frustrating. I put this down to that, being made for eternity and in the image of God, life on earth is not going to fulfill that eternal longing to be with Him. It’s a complex and difficult issue, I think.

Day 5: Seeing life from God’s view
This one today really got me going.

How do you see your life? … People have said, “Life is a carousel: Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, and sometimes you just go round and round” or “life is a ten-speed bicycle with gears we never use” or “life is a game of cards: you have to play the hand you are dealt.”

Think about it for a moment. How do you really see life working? What kind of metaphor can you build to describe how life works? What it’s all about?

The best I could come up with is music: Life is a tune, or a song. Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes simple or complex, or both at the same time! It can be beautiful, ugly, funny and boring. But it should always be passionate, and artistic. Warren goes on:

Your unspoken life metaphor influences your life more than you realize. It determines your expectations, your values, your relationships, your goals, and your priorities. … If you think life is a party, your primary value in life will be having fun. If you see life as a race, you will value speed and probably be in a hurry much of the time. If you view life as a marathon, you will value endurance. If you see life as a battle or a game, winning will be very important to you.

You get the idea. The point is that our own perspectives don’t really cut it in determining our life view. But God’s perspectives do. In life God will test us, but He also trusts us with much, and in relation to eternal life with God, this is only a temporary assignment.

More later. It's going be one heck of ride!