What drives your life?

Everyone's life is driven by something. It could be guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism, approval or a hundred other reasons. Today's devotional looks at each of these reasons, and why God's purpose for our lives don't include these driving forces. As Rick Warren said, "we are products of our past but don't have to be prisoners of our future." Emotional health is a topic I have been studying for a long time, and these drivers in a person's life lead to the exclusion of God's love and love for yourself.

In summary, here are why each of these drivers are harmful to you!

• Guilt: The Bible says in Psalm 32:1: "What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven!... What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record."


• Resentment and Anger: Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you unless you hold onto the pain through resentment! Your past is past! Learn from it, and let go!


• Fear: Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from being what God wants you to be. You must move against Fear with faith and with love! The Bible said in 1 John 4:18: Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life - fear of death, fear of judgement - is one not fully formed in love.


• Materialism: Self-worth and net worth are not the same! The most common myth about money is that having more will make you more secure. It won't. It can be lost through a variety of uncontrollable factors. Real security can be found in that which can be never taken away from you - your relationship with God.


• Need for approval: The expectations of parents or spouses or teachers or children can control a person's life. Peer pressure, the approval of unpleasable parents, these are some of the ways your focus can be taken away from that whose purpose for your life is clear. The Bible is clear about this: No one can serve two masters." Matthew 6:24.

The benefits of purpose-driven living are these:

1. Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. Did you know that Hope comes from having a purpose? If you've ever felt hopeless, great changes are in store for you when you begin to live life on purpose.


2. Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren't. It is impossible to do everything people want you to do. You have just enough time to do God's will. If you can't get it all done, it means you are trying to more than God intended for you to do!


3. Knowing your purpose focuses your life. Some of us can be easily distracted. And that means life is keeping you spinning without stopping, without getting anywhere. The power of focus is easily seen in light. A diffused light has little power or impact, but use a magnifying glass and light can be concentrated enough so that the rays of the sun can set paper on fire. And super-concentrated light, as in a laser, can cut steel as easily as wood. If you want to your life to have impact, focus it! Stop trying to do everything; do less, do that only which matters most.


4. Knowing your purpose motivates your life. Nothing energizes like passion, and purpose always produces passion. It is usually meaningless work that saps our energy, not overwork. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose.


5. Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity. Many people try to build a legacy on earth. What people fail to realize is that all achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, tributes are forgotten and reputations fade. What matters most will not be what others think of you, it is what God thinks about your life. A wise use of time is to build an eternal legacy, through the purposes of worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship and ministry. This life is a rehearsal for the eternal life with God!

Tomorrow: You were made to last forever.

|