HOW ARE YOU USING YOUR LIFE?

There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand – Proverbs 19:21

“God desires that every man find his purpose and fulfil it. If a man wants to know who he is in order to live fully in that reality, he must first understand GOD’s PRINCIPLES of PURPOSE. He has to learn these anchors for living from the Word of God. Otherwise, he will fall into a trap of confusion…

Proverbs 19:21 is a foundational Scripture in regard to understanding God’s purpose: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (NIV). This crucial truth tells us that we can make all the plans we want to in life, but if we don’t make our plans according to the purpose for which God created us, then our plans will be in vain. We won’t live up to our full potential, and we will be unfulfilled. We may even pursue goals and engage in practices that are harmful for us. We have only one life, and we have to make that life count if we are ever to fulfil our purpose.

What value do you place on your life? Do you know that one of the most dangerous things in life is WASTING TIME? It is said that time is a commodity that you never are able to recapture. Once you’ve lost time, it’s gone forever. What you’ve lived, you can never relive. So the best thing to do with time is to use it in a way that will bring the greatest results. The best way – the only way to use time effectively is to do WHAT you are supposed to do WHEN you are supposed to do it. Effectiveness does not mean just doing GOOD THINGS, but rather doing the RIGHT THING.

It would be terrible to be busy doing the wrong things your entire life. Wouldn’t it be sad to be serious and committed and faithful – to the wrong thing? It’s possible to do what is good but not what is right… It is possible to do good things but not things that are best based on God’s purposes for you. One of the devil’s greatest weapons against my life is to get me busy doing things that are good but that are not right and best for me.

God created each of us with a purpose. That purpose is what’s right for us. Suppose Jesus had become a priest in the Sanhedrin, the highest council and tribunal of the Jews. That would have been a good thing. Suppose He had become a member of the Sadducees and been one of the leaders in the social structure of Galilee and Judea. That would have been a good thing. Suppose He had become a social worker, helping the poor, having massive crusades, feeding multitudes of people every day with bread and fish. Would that have been a good thing? Sure. Suppose He had devoted every hour to healing the sick and raising the dead. That would have been a good thing, wouldn’t it? Yet it would not have been the right thing for Him.

…When Jesus began to tell His disciples that He would be crucified. They didn’t want to hear that…The disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ purpose was, “We rebuke You. Get that thought out of Your mind. You will not die.” But Jesus turned around and rebuked them for their short-sighted perspective (Matthew 16:22-23). Jesus was saying, in effect, “I know why I was born. I know the purpose for My life. Don’t distract Me with things that are merely good. I must pursue the highest purpose.”