Why Am I Here?
Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Life in 2002. As of 2020, it has sold over 50 million copies and been translated into 85 languages.
It hit a deep nerve for millions of readers.
It spoke to a deep longing to be here to make a difference. To do something that actually matters.
When you don't have a purpose that energizes you, if you don't have a vision for the difference you can make, if you have no sense of life as a mission on behalf of something bigger than yourself, than you will live a smaller existence that is mostly devoted to having pleasurable experiences that make you feel good (for a time) and then go after the next... and the next... and...
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are created in Christ Jesus to do "good works" which God has already prepared for you and I to do.
It hit a deep nerve for millions of readers.
It spoke to a deep longing to be here to make a difference. To do something that actually matters.
When you don't have a purpose that energizes you, if you don't have a vision for the difference you can make, if you have no sense of life as a mission on behalf of something bigger than yourself, than you will live a smaller existence that is mostly devoted to having pleasurable experiences that make you feel good (for a time) and then go after the next... and the next... and...
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are created in Christ Jesus to do "good works" which God has already prepared for you and I to do.
So, What Holds You Back?
One thing that holds many of us back is that we really don't believe we do matter. Or that the things we do matter. Or that we are truly needed. We live in a world where the big and splashy, the newsworthy and noteworthy, the famous and important, that is what matters. And most of us are not big or splashy, certainly not famous or that important, and not worthy of news or note.
Therefore...
I was powerfully impacted by these words from George Eliot. The wording is a bit poetic and awkward, so you may want to read it at least twice.
Therefore...
I was powerfully impacted by these words from George Eliot. The wording is a bit poetic and awkward, so you may want to read it at least twice.
Eliot is saying that most of the good that happens in the world is NOT news or noteworthy. It is not big and splashy. No one is going to write a report about it. You are not going to win awards about it.
But that isn't the point.
The point is that the world works as many people do the small, simple, and apparently insignificant acts of kindness and goodness that go overlooked. That is what makes the world go round. Your life would be so much less than it is, and most likely, so much harder if it were not for the constant and gentle presence of a few others who knew their mission on earth was to be faithful and loving... and do it again tomorrow.
Just like the Father in Heaven loves the prayers we offer in our secret places, he loves the acts of service we do quietly and hidden.
Why are YOU here?
To be one of the quiet, hidden, doers of good, in the name of Christ, and for the sake of love.
And these acts will ALWAYS be noticed by God. And in the words of a previous post, you will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant... well done."
Pastor Brian Rice
But that isn't the point.
The point is that the world works as many people do the small, simple, and apparently insignificant acts of kindness and goodness that go overlooked. That is what makes the world go round. Your life would be so much less than it is, and most likely, so much harder if it were not for the constant and gentle presence of a few others who knew their mission on earth was to be faithful and loving... and do it again tomorrow.
Just like the Father in Heaven loves the prayers we offer in our secret places, he loves the acts of service we do quietly and hidden.
Why are YOU here?
To be one of the quiet, hidden, doers of good, in the name of Christ, and for the sake of love.
And these acts will ALWAYS be noticed by God. And in the words of a previous post, you will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant... well done."
Pastor Brian Rice