WHAT DRIVES YOUR LIFE

 WHAT DRIVES YOUR LIFE?

Ecclesiastes 4:4 again I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

A man without a purpose is like a ship without a                rudder-a waif, a nothing, a no man by (Thomas Carlyle)

*Everyone’s life is driven by something most dictionaries define the verb drive as “to guide, to control, or to direct”. Whether you are driving a car, or a nail, or a golf ball, you are guiding, controlling, and directing it at that moment.

What is the driving force in your life?

Some are driven by a problem, a pressure, or a deadline, painful memory, a haunting fear, or an unconscious belief. 

     Here are five of the most common ones:

1.Many people are driven by guilt: They spent their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame. A guilt-minded persons are manipulated by memories. They allow all there past to control their future.

“We are the product of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoner to it”. God’s purpose is not limited by your past.

2.Many people are driven by resentment and anger: They hold on to hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over again

 in their minds. “Those that hurt you in past will not continue to hurt you now unless you hold onto them through resentment.

3.Many people are driven by fear: Their fear may as a traumatic experience, realistic expectations, growing in a high control home, or even genetic predisposition. Regardless of the cause fear driven people often miss great opportunity because they’re afraid to venture out.

4.Many are driven by materialism: There desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. This drive to always want more is based on the misconceptions that having more will make me happier, more important, and more secure, but all their ideas are untrue.

5.Many people are driven by the need for approval: They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives.

     I don’t know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everyone. Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purpose for your life and nothing can compensate for not knowing Him.

Without a purpose, life is a motion without meaning, activities without direction, and events without season. Without a purpose, life is a trivial, petty, and pointless.

THE BENEFITS OF PURPOSE DRIVEN LIVING 

These are five great benefits of living a purpose driving life:

*Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life: we are made to have meaning. This is why people try dubious methods like astrology or psychics to discover it. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without it nothing is bearable.

   Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose life has no meaning, without meaning life has no significance or hope. Hope is essential to your life as air and water. You need hope to cope.

*Knowing your purpose focuses your life: It concentrates your effort and energy on what’s important. You become effective by being selective. Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches, or other externals hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart. You think may be this time it will be different, but it doesn’t solve your real problem. This is as a result of lack of focus and purpose.

       The bible says “don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly make sure you understand what the master wants”. If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling, stop trying to do it all. Do less, prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activities with productivity. You can be busy with a purpose what is the point? Paul said, “Let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us”.

*Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don’t do. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and aren’t. Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. You will tend to make choices base on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment. People who don’t know their purpose tend to do much and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.

 *Knowing your purpose motivate your life: Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose. On the other hand, passion dissipates when you lack a purpose. Just getting out of bed becomes a major chore. It is usually meaningless work, not overwork that wears us down, saps our strength and robs our joy.

*Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity: Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy on the earth. They want to be remembered when they’re gone. Yet, what ultimately matters is not what people will say about but what God will say.

         James Dobson’s goal was to become the school’s tennis champion. He was proud when his trophy was prominently placed in the school’s trophy cabinet. Years later, someone mailed him that they found his trophy in a trashcan when the school was remodelled. Jim said, “Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else.

        Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. The bible says, “Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgement seat of God. Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God”.

         God wants us to pass His test so He has given us the questions in advance. From the bible we can be surmise that God will ask this two crucial questions:

1.What do you do with my son Jesus Christ? God won’t ask about your religious, background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love Him? “Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life. No one come to the Father accept through me”.

2.What did you do with what I gave you? “What did you do with your life? All the gifts. Talents, opportunities, energy, relationships, and resources God gave you? Did you spend them for the purpose God made you for?”

                  

                    REFLECTION

*Point to ponder: Living on purpose is the path to peace

*Verse to remember: Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusted in Thee.

*Question to consider: What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life? What do I want it to be?