Keeping a balanced life is a challenge for all of us. We tend to be really busy. We focus on some things and let other things go. Sometimes the things we focus on, or the things we let go can be good, sometimes bad, but it takes work and discernment to keep things in balance.

It’s the same way with the five purposes we have been learning about. Some of the readings may have resonated with us and we said “Yes… this means something to me.” Others may have been difficult to even finish the reading. Whatever the case we have five purposes, all of which are important to keep balanced in our lives.

How to we maintain balance? One of the best ways to maintain balance is to have some accountability in your life through small groups. Remember, we were never meant to do this alone and small groups provide a safe atmosphere where we can share and have others reflect the Word of God back to us and we can see where we need to grow. We learn best in community. Even though the temptation is to be a “self contained” unit, we have some very valuable lessons that we cannot learn apart from being with other believers.

Our minds are sharpened and our convictions deepened through conversation. We can learn from each other, give feedback to one another and encourage each other. Sometimes we just cannot find what we are looking for on our own. We don’t see things from the perspective that we need to see it. We can get lost in our own little world. This is where we can open up to each other share the hard times, the good times and have times of worship and healing.

Another way we can maintain balance is looking at where we are spiritually and doing an assessment of our spiritual health.  Give yourself a spiritual checkup. The “vital signs” that can be checked are: worship, fellowship, growth in character, ministry and mission.  When we look at each of these areas we can take an inventory and ask ourselves if we are balanced or where we need improvement.

We can stay balanced by recording, or “journaling” what we are learning and the progress we are making to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives. Writing tends to help us remember things. What we write about, we can go back and review. It helps us to clarify what God is doing in our lives. Write down the pleasant things and even the not-so-pleasant things. Remember every problem we have is purpose-driven.

A fourth way of staying balanced is to give what we have learned to others… pass it on.. The best way to keep growing and learning is to pass on what we have learned to others. When we pass on the insights that God has given us, He gives us more. It’s an amazing truth. We were not meant to learn the lessons we learn just to keep them “hoarded” for ourselves. The Bible says that “the one who blesses others is abundantly bless; those who help others are helped.” Proverbs 11:25 The fact is this. What you have learned up to this point can and will bless and touch others if you just make yourself available and are willing to pass it on!

The reason that we pass on what we learn, is that God has a purpose to bring others into His Kingdom to know Him and experience His glory. We are privileged to be a part of this great purpose. Bringing Glory To God!! He wants us to introduce others to Christ, bring them into fellowship, help them grow into maturity and discover their place of service, then send them out to reach others too.

No matter where we are in life currently, the rest of our lives can be the best of our lives. Praise be to God

You have a choice to make, be a world class Christian, or be a worldly Christian.

A worldly Christian is someone who look to God mainly for what they can get from Him and for personal fulfillment. They are saved but full of their own agenda that may include enrichment seminars  and concerts, but not be the least bit interested in missions or serving.  It’s a case of the “me” generation just slapping a Christian exterior on. They say all the right things, but are really more interested in a comfortable lifestyle,  and having their own needs met and use God for their own purposes instead of being used for His purposes…

Worl-class Christians know that they have been saved to serve and made with a mission. Big difference. They are excited about the privilege of being used by God. Thy feel fully alive and know that their lives make a difference. They wake up excited about the new ways God is going to use them.

Which type of Christian do you want to be?

It takes a shift in thinking to go from worldly to world-class. You have to shift from a self centered focus to thinking about others. It’s a maturing process. When we were baby Christians, we are naturally a bit self centered, because babies are just that way. We mature as we depend upon the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. It’s not a job we can do on our own. It’s God’s Spirit that helps us mature.

We can also mature and become a world-class Christian as we develop global thinking. The world around us is much bigger than our own home, neighborhood, city or even country. We can start to think globally. The nations of the world are so much more available to us to see on television, read about and even visit. Our lives can make a difference to an entire nation if we open ourselves to thinking that way.

The best way to start is to simply start praying for a country. Start with ours, then branch out. Pray for the leaders to come to know Christ, for the needs to be met for the poor and homeless, that Christian laborers would be released to the harvest fields. Pray that the deceptions of the enemy would be revealed and that the truth of Christ’s finished work on the cross would go forth. Pray that God’s judgment would be held back and that his mercy would prevail.

You can also think more globally if you actually see the areas of the world that you may be praying for. Volunteer for a short term mission. Experience the other places that may not have as much as you do. It’s eye opening to see and it gives you a different perspective.

Becoming a world-class Christian also requires a shift in thinking from the short term, “here and now” to an eternal perspective. Paul said, “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but that which is unseen. What is seen is temporary, what is not seen is eternal.” 2 Cor 4:18  This shift in a more eternal way of thinking will allow us to put things into perspective. We won’t major on the minor things. We won’t be overly concerned about the things that don’t last and really don’t matter.

How do we shift from temporary thinking to eternal?  We have to daily remind ourselves that we cannot trade our lives for that which is temporary. It is a maturing process to let go of the temporary and replace it with the eternal. We have to trust that our here and now will be taken care of. Even if things don’t look like they will.

The goal to become a world-class Christian can be realized if we don’t make excuses. Shift from excuses why you can’t do it to thinking of creative ways to fulfill your commission. You are never too old, or have nothing to offer. These are just excuses. Not knowing a language is no excuse. There is no special call or voice from heaven that will direct you more than the word that has already been given. Stop making excuses to serve God and becoming a World Class Christian. Ask God to show you where you can serve. Just be willing. You may be surprised what God will do with a willing vessel.

You may not feel as if you have anything to share but that is just the enemy whispering in your ear. You actually have a huge deposit of experiences that God wants you to share in order to bring others into His family.  This is your Life Message, and no…it’s not boring or unworthy to be told.

There are four parts to a life message.

1. Your testimony: the story of how your relationship with Jesus began
2. Your life lessons: what has been the most important lessons God has taught you.
3. Your godly passions: the issues God shaped you to care about most
4. The Good News: the message of salvation

The essence of witnessing is really nothing more than sharing your personal experiences with the Lord.  Your not expected to “prove” anything, convince anybody of anything or try and convert people. It’s your testimony. It’s what’s happened to you. A witness just reports what they saw. Jesus said that you would be “his witnesses”  not his attorney.

Sharing your testimony is an essential part of your mission on the earth because it is unique to you. There is no one else that has your story.  You may not be a bible scholar or even know where all the books of the bible are, but you are an authority on your own life and it’s hard to argue with personal experience.

Personal stories are easier to relate to. When you are sharing what happened to you, and you are authentic, people will respond much differently than a sermon from a professional “preacher.” As a matter of fact, you may be the only Bible some people will ever read…

In order to be prepared to share what God has done in your life, divide it into four parts.

1. What was your life like before you met Jesus
2. How did you realize you needed Jesus
3. How did you commit your life to Jesus
4. The difference Jesus has made in your life.

There are other areas that you could focus on, but this is a great start in telling your story.

Remember that God has also taught you many lessons that you may take for granted, but these are a part of your Life Message as well.

The lessons you have learned will be used to help others through similar situations and maybe even spare them some of the pain that you had to endure while you learned the lesson.

You can share with people what God has taught you through failure, having a lack of money, an illness, from disappointments or even some great blessing you have been given. What have you learned from other brothers and sisters, a great message you responded to, or how home groups have helped you.  You have a lot to share, and as you think about it, you’ll be surprised as to how much..

Your God given passions are areas that God wants you to talk about. You may be passionate about a cause, such as the rights of unborn children, or about the elderly and seeing that they are taken care of. Whatever you feel passionate about, is an area that you have a Life Message in as well. Everybody is not as passionate as you are about things, that is what makes us different.

The Good News is part of your Life Message, isn’t it. God has never made a person that He didn’t love. Many of them just don’t know it yet. It’s your job to tell them the Good News. Loving others leaves no choice but to share God’s love. Are you willing? Is anyone going to heaven because of you?

Think of who needs to hear from you today. It is your Life Message that can be the very tool that God uses to touch that person. Don’t let fear hold you back…

Yes…God is at work in the world and He has extended an invitation for you to join him. Should you accept the invitation, this assignment will be your mission. Your work and service to the Body of Christ is your ministry, and your work and service in the world is your mission. God wants you to have both…

As we come to day 36 of in our 40 Days of Purpose, we find that fulfilling your mission in the world is our fifth purpose. There are two parts to this mission. One part is shared. The other is specific. The shared part is the responsibility that we share with every other Christian. The other part is the part that is specific only to you.

When we become Christians we are sent out with a unique mission in the world, to represent Christ,  as messengers. Jesus said, “as the Father sent me, so I send you…” Jn 20:21 His mission was completed at the cross, when he uttered “It is finished.” He passed the torch on to us, because we are his body on the earth. Our mission is to show the love of God, and introduce others to Christ.

Our mission is important and there are several reasons why

1. Your mission is a continuation of Jesus’ mission on earth
2. Your mission is a wonderful privilege.
3. Telling others that they can have eternal life is the greatest thing that you can do for them.
4. Your mission gives your life meaning.
5. God’s timetable for histories conclusion is connected to the completion of our commission.

The mission is so significant that Jesus said it five times in five different ways in five books of the Bible! The Great Commission that Jesus gave all his followers, (not just pastors and teacher says “Go to the people of every nation and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you.”  Matthew 28:19-20  As followers of Christ this mission is a wonder, but mandatory, privilege.

If you knew the cure for cancer but never told anyone…that would be a criminal act. If we knew how people could be set free from bitterness and experience forgiveness, have peace and a purpose in their lives,  and live eternally, wouldn’t we want to say something? Do we really believe that we are the message bearers of Good News…the Best News? Or.. have we gotten so bogged down not trying to “offend” people, even if it meant they would be saved from a life of destruction and death. Sometimes it boggles the mind why we don’t say more than we do…

We have a divine purpose in our mission that has eternal significance. The consequences of our mission will last forever, the consequences of our job will not. Nothing that we do has more meaning and matters more than helping people establish an eternal relationship with God.

There are people here in this world that you are the only person that will be able to reach them because of where you live or work. You are that very person that God chose for that very person at this very time. It’s a divine appointment with eternal consequences. Don’t miss the opportunity.

If you commit to fulfilling your mission, no matter what it costs, God will meet you with grace and power beyond your wildest dreams. To share the very thing that is closest to God’s heart, his love and desire to reconcile the world to himself, will bring you into an understanding and joy of knowing Him that compares with nothing that is offered by this world. To cooperate with God, there isn’t anything that He won’t do for you.

Being a servant is a mental thing. It is an attitude, and God looks more on the attitude of our heart and why we do things more than what we actually do. In 2 Chronicles 25:2 it says that King Amaziah lost God’s favor “he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart.” You mean to say that we can do what is right, but not do it with the right heart? Yes…it all boils down to attitude…

Real servants think more about others than they think about themselves. It’s not that we don’t think about ourselves at all, it’s that we think about ourselves less. When we are exhorted to “lose our lives” for Christ’s sake, that is the process of “forgetting” ourselves in service to others. It’s about focus. When you stop focusing on your own needs, you can begin to see the needs of others.

When we think of Jesus, we see someone who, as our example, “emptied himself taking on the form of a servant.” Philippians 2:7 When was the last time you emptied yourself out on the behalf of someone else? It is a rare quality because we are by nature very self serving people. Most of the time we use our service to get someone to recognize us, be admired, or serve our own goals. If we honestly look at our hearts, our attitudes can be questionable. This is why each day challenges us to humble ourselves as circumstances “de-center” us and change our attitudes towards service. When I am given the choice to meet my own needs, or meet the needs of others, what I choose shows me where I really live. Self-denial is at the core of true servanthood.

Servants think like stewards not owners. Now…this one is a big one for most of us. What we think about what we “own” will affect our choices and how we serve. Here’s the interesting part… we don’t “own” anything. Our Father has entrusted us, as stewards, all of the resources we have. God is the one who “owns” everything and real servants remind themselves of this every day.

With that in mind, we have to ask ourselves how is that working for you? How are you handling the resources that God has entrusted to you? If you are like most people, this is an area of great and needed improvement, and in order to become a true servant of God, you have to settle the issue of money once and for all.

Money, money, money… it can motivate you, hold you, cause fear if you don’t have it, and be your master. It can be the greatest distraction or a great ally. It can be your master, or you can master it. You can use it to build your kingdom, or you can make a lot of it and build the real Kingdom. Jesus spoke more about money that he spoke about heaven or hell. The bottom line is this… ” no servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13

Living for ministry and living for money are mutually exclusive. Wealth is not a sin. It doesn’t mean that God wants you to live in poverty. Failing to use money for God’s glory is a sin. God uses money to test your faithfulness as a servant.

Real servants think about their work, not what others are doing. What you do is important, but comparing what you do with what others do is foolish and a waste of time. Remember the story of Mary and Martha? One of the sisters was busy working in the kitchen, and the other took the most expensive thing she owned, a costly perfume, and poured it on Jesus worshiping Him. Mary was pretty upset about the fact that Mary wasn’t helping, the disciples were upset because they saw dollars signs going down the drain, and Jesus.. well… he said it was “significant” Matt. 26:10. Martha shouldn’t have been criticizing Mary’s act of service. This is not a competition. We are all on the same team. If you find yourself critical of another ministry, perhaps you need to look at what are you doing and think about that…

Servants base their identity in Christ. Servants have nothing to prove and they are not looking for approval. They are not trying to prove their worth by what they do because they have settled their identity in Christ. Only secure people can be true servants. Insecure people are always worried about how they appear to others. They fear the exposure of weaknesses and hide beneath layers and layers of protective pride and pretense. When we give up measuring our meaning by the yardstick of others, we become free to be compassionate and serve. When you base your worth and identity in Christ you are freed from expectations of others and you can see clearly to serve them best.

Servants think of their ministry as an opportunity not an obligation. They enjoy what they do. They serve the Lord with “gladness.” Joy is in their hearts as they reach out to help meet needs. They have hearts full of grace, because they are genuinely thankful for what God has done in their lives. They know that the highest level of worship and the greatest use of their lives is in giving their lives away. The real joy comes from service, not from a place of some sort of duty, or obligation but the love that is shed abroad” in our hearts. God will begin to use us as we change our thinking and act like true servants. It’s never to late, and quite frankly… God is waiting..

Yes,…it does take time.  But.. we tend to want things fast. The faster the better. The truth is that there is no fast way to becoming mature.  The development of Christlike character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth takes time. While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned about how strong we grow. Because he views us from an eternal perspective, he is never in a hurry.

The moment we open our hearts to Christ, God finally is able to start on developing maturity in us. But that’s just the start. We opened to door of our heart and invited him in, but he stands inside to door and is excited begin the life long process of making us more like him. We may have thought we gave everything to him at that very moment, but the truth is that there are areas of our lives that we are not even aware of yet. Things that we simply do not see.

The fact is that every day there is more and more ground covered and taken for Christ in our lives. Old habits do not stop in a day. It’s a day to day maturing that takes time. It a “little by little” change that happens.

Why does it take so long to mature and change? There are fiveareas that our reading today brings out.

1. We are slow learners
2. We have a lot to unlearn
3. We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves
4. Growth is often painful and scary
5. Habits take time to develop

How many of us have felt like we are slow learners? Same lessons, over and over again? Why don’t we learn it the first time? Frustrating isn’t it? The good news is that the lesson is repeated until we do learn it, and we change. Most of us have patterns of things that we have learned over many years.

Thank God for those who come to Christ very early in their lives because they don’t have so much stuff to unlearn. It takes time to unlearn things. They didn’t happen overnight and there is no “quick fix” here either. There is no prayer, pill or principal that will undo the damage that was done over many years. At our conversion we were given a brand new nature. It takes time to unlearn old habits, patterns and practices that need to be removed and replaced.

If we do not honestly face our character defects it keeps us in a prison that only the truth can set us free from. God has to shine his light on these things so we can see them, humbly admit them, and be set free from them. Takes time.

It’s scary to change if all we have known is a particular way of doing things, but there is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind. We give up the old to take on the new. The problem for many of us is that the old, (self defeating behavior, bad habit) is at least familiar to us. We know it. We don’t know what we will be like without it. It’s like that old baby blanket.  So comforting. It can be very frightening to start having things that we have depended upon for comfort, start being taken away so we can grow up. The very things that we identify as  “that’s just my personality..hey that’s just me..” may be things that God wants to replace with something else, but we are too afraid to let go. Who will I be?

Your character is the sum total of your habits. You can’t claim to be kind unless you are habitually kind and do it without even thinking. It takes time. Like any sport you train for, it takes time to develop a habit that comes naturally after many many hours of training. Golfers know about “muscle memory.” After hitting thousands of balls, our muscles develop a “memory” of  the right swing and it begins to happen naturally. It takes time to develop the good habits that define your character. To get good at something, you have to practice it and practicing character building skills is a “spiritual discipline.”

The encouragement that we need to give ourselves and those we love is this. Don’t get in a hurry and whenever it doesn’t  feel like God is working, he is.

There are seasons in our lives, seasons of great growth, followed by times where it seems as if things have just dried up. We cannot be disappointed if things take time and it seems so gradual. We cannot deny that there may be miraculous transformations that happen, but for the most part it’s a slow steady change we see. Even the hardest rock is eroded over time by a steady stream of water.

We must be patient with God and ourselves in this process. We can become discouraged when we have to learn things over, feel like failures, and even hate the area of our lives causing us the pain that we know needs to change. Remember God is going to complete the work that he started in you. He is committed to us even when we don’t feel committed to him. If we are willing, he is able. Be patient with the process. Be kind to yourself.  You will be able to look back on that area with gratitude and tears thanking God that he did not let you stay there. You have matured… it does take time.

Sometimes we get hit so hard, and the feelings are so strong that we just don’t see the way out from yielding to an area of temptation, but “remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” 1 Cor. 10:13

What is the way out you ask? How do I see it and what do I do?

The first step is to refocus your attention on something else. There is no place in the Bible that says to resist temptation. If you focus on resisting something, it has already won. What gets your thoughts get you! The more you say to yourself, ” I will not eat that cake, I will not eat that cake..” the more hungry you get and the desire for “that cake” grows. The more you say to yourself, “I won’t think about _________ …” the more you will think about it. Surprisingly the very thing we try not to think about winds up being reinforced in our minds. “I will never be like my mother/father/ex-spouse ..” simply drives that very thing deeper into our minds.
You don’t defeat temptation by focusing on it or fighting the feeling of it. The battle is won or lost in our minds. It’s not an issue of resisting the temptation, it’s an issue of being able to refocus our attention and replacing the thoughts!

Temptation begins by capturing your attention. What gets your attention arouses your emotions. Your emotions activate behavior, and you act on what you feel. The more you focus on “I don’t want to do this, ” the stronger it becomes.

Ignoring temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once your mind is focused on something else, the temptation loses it’s power! The best way to do this is to fill your mind with good things. Memorizing scripture is a powerful tool, and the one that Jesus used to overcome temptation in the wilderness when Satan tempted him. If Jesus used scripture, maybe it’s a clue how we should resist Satan when he tempts us!

Another way to defeat temptation is to be willing to open up to others about it. It’s a sad fact that we are so conditioned to put on a show of “everything is alright, thanks for asking,” that we miss how important it is to get the help of others when we are weak and struggling.

Everything is not “alright” if my brother or sister is stuck and defeated by a particular temptation and sin that holds them back from being all that they were created to be. Sometimes we need to “confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be healed.” James 5:16 It comes down to how badly we really want to overcome this thing versus how proud we are to admit we have a problem. When we finally admit it and confess it we get power over it!

Hiding it doesn’t help you it only intensifies it. Revealing brings healing. Don’t repress it, confess it! The problems that grow in the dark will shrink in the light of God’s healing power and restoration. Don’t let it go on another minute without making a commitment to share and open up your heart. It will lift the oppression and pressure, and you’ll experience joy.

So far we have learned two ways to defeat temptation. Refocusing our thoughts and attention as well as opening up and sharing our weaknesses with others. A third area way is to resist the devil.

This area probably is misunderstood the most. How do we resist the Devil? Why is resisting Satan and resisting temptation so different?

James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” We do not passively sit back and wish for things. We take massive warlike action because we are in a war! Christians are many times compared to soldiers in enemy territory. So what do we do?

“Put on your helmet of salvation and take the sword of the spirit.” Eph. 6:17 The first step is accepting God’s salvation. You can’t say no to the Devil unless you have first said yes to Christ. The helmet of salvation protects our minds. Satan cannot force you to do anything, only suggest if you are a believer. Salvation frees you from the bondage and power Satan holds on your life.

The second step is effectively wielding the “sword of the spirit,” which is the Word of God. You don’t have any arguments that you can win with Satan. He’s been at this thing a long time. What Satan cannot stand is God’s Word. Quote it. Memorize it. Pick up your sword and use it. Cut off the lies at their knees. Stand victorious.

In this amazing victory that we are able to realize, we are never to grow cocky and proud. “He that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall…” Any person, given the right circumstances is capable of sin. We must never let down our guard. Our confidence is in the One who gives us what we need when we need it.

Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.

On the path to spiritual maturity even temptation is a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block when you realize that it’s an opportunity to make a choice to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing.While temptation is Satan’s primary tool to defeat and destroy you, it’s God tool to develop and mature you. Every time you choose to do good instead of sin, you develop the character of Christ.In order to grow in character and be more Christlike, we have to understand and see the character qualities of Jesus.Here is one of the most detailed descriptions of the fruit of the Spirit. “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” Galations 5:22-23

These nine qualities portray the character and nature of Jesus Christ himself and to have the “fruit of the Spirit” is to be like Christ himself.

How does this fruit become evident in our lives? Does it happen the minute we receive Christ as our Savior and wake up the next morning suddenly filled with all these characteristics? No…. it takes time for fruit to grow doesn’t it? There has to be a maturing process and temptation actually is a part of the process.

Character development always involves a choice.

It takes the unlovely people around us that teaches us how to love. It doesn’t take any character to love those that love us back. It takes a sorrowful and difficult experience to teach us joy in the middle of it. Our “happiness” is based upon what’s happening in our external circumstances, but joy comes in the middle of those circumstances.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Anybody can be peaceful watching a sunset or having a quiet time walking in the woods. Peace is what we learn in the middle of the chaos and conflict. We get real peace when we decide to trust God when we are tempted to worry. Patience is learned when we are forced to wait and we are tempted to get angry.

God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice.

You can’t claim to be good if you have never been tempted to be bad, and you can’t claim to be faithful, if you have never been tempted to be unfaithful.

But here’s the GOOD NEWS!!

Every time you resist the temptation, you build character and integrity. Every time you reject the temptation to quit, you build up endurance. Every time you resist the temptation to be prideful, you develop humility. Every temptation you resist and choose the right thing, you become more like Jesus.

When you are fighting temptation and making wise choices, it is nice to know that the temptations are pretty predictable. It’s been the same temptations that Satan has used from the beginning. Every temptation begins with a four step process that can identified.

1. Begins with a thought that hooks an internal desire whether a sinful one or a good desire.
2. Causes you to doubt what God says about the desire.
3. Doubt then opens the door to deception. Satan is the “father of lies” and half truths
4. You act on it by being disobedient.

The area of temptation probably is one of the greatest deceptions that Satan has been able to dupe the Church with. Many Christians do not know that it’s not wrong to be tempted. They feel guilty for even being tempted, and this guilt alone is enough to disable and render useless many brothers and sisters. We need to have our eyes opened to how to overcome temptation, not shy away from it or be intimidated by it. In one sense you can actually consider temptation a compliment!

Many people, for instance, do not know the difference between physical attraction, sexual arousal and lust. They are not the same things. We are created sexual beings. Attraction and arousal are natural, spontaneous God-given responses to physical beauty, while lust is a deliberate act of the will. Lust is the choice to commit in your mind what you’d like to do with your body. You can be attracted or even aroused without choosing to sin by lusting.

Many people, especially brothers in Christ feel shame and condemnation for having active hormones! When they are naturally attracted to a beautiful woman, they assume it’s lust. May God deliver us from this area of confusion and may we be grateful for the bodies that God gave us!

It’s important to see the pattern of temptation in our lives and avoid them. “A wise man sees the temptation (sin) and hides himself, the simple (fools) go on and are punished.” Proverbs 22:3 Situations are always unique to our weaknesses and you need to identify them.

Ask yourself, “when am I most tempted, what time of day, am I bored or lonely, sad or angry?” “Where am I tempted, and who am I tempted with.” Co workers, crowds of strangers? At home, at work? A sports bar? Sitting in front of the computer?

One you identify the typical pattern do your best to avoid situations where your weaknesses are amplified by the temptation. We can’t completely avoid all temptation, but we can avoid being stupid..

Remember… God is building character in you as you learn to make good decisions, but you are not alone in this. These temptations are “common to man” and God has a plan of escape for you. Prayer is a 24 hr hot-line right into the throne room of God, who is waiting for you to (finally) cry out and ask for help.

Sometimes the temptation is so strong and the desire so intense, that we just don’t cry out, because we actually want to give in. At that moment we think we know what’s best for us instead of God! See the power of deception?

God tells us in Hebrews 4:16 (amplified) “Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].”

We ask him for help in the middle of it and cry out.. he will help us.

And.. lastly, when we fail, and we will…
Remember, God’s love is everlasting and it’s not fatal. Get back up, don’t give up, and look to Him. He will restore, rebuild and give you another opportunity to make a right choice so that you will be Christlike and a victorious one..

It’s all for Him…

This beautiful video with music by Carl Cartee sums up chapter 7.

We were created for God’s glory. Everything that is created has been created with the ultimate purpose in mind, His glory. It’s the reason everything exists.

Truly, you can see it everywhere from the smallest microscopic particle to the great expanse of the heavens. As the Psalmist declares “The heavens declare the glory of God” Psalm 19:1 Creation itself reveals God’s glory with such a beauty, intricacy, order and design that only a person blinded by their own pride and rebellion cannot see it. It’s our sin that keeps us blinded to this Glory. Like the song says..”Don’t let me miss the Glory…”

Living for God’s glory is the greatest achievement that we can accomplish with our lives. This is the reason for everything, so how can we bring glory to God with our lives?

In the same way that Jesus brought glory to God the Father by fulfilling His mission, his purpose on earth, so it is for us.

The fact that we are reading “The Purpose Driven Life” and we have a desire to know His purpose for us here on earth confirms in us that we are bringing glory to God. How encouraging! As St.Iranaeus said “The glory of God is a human being fully alive…”

Todays reading points out that there are five ways to bring glory to God.

• We bring glory to God by worshiping Him
• We bring glory to God by loving other believers
• We bring glory to God by becoming like Christ
• We bring glory to God by serving others with our gifts
• We bring glory to God by telling others about him

The question of what and who we live for brings us to a place of having to make a decision doesn’t it? Living the rest of our lives to the glory of God will require just a bit of a change in our priorities, our relationships and everything else.

As we come the fork in the road everyday and make those crucial decisions as to what we are going to do, let’s be reminded of the scripture that says ” He that seeks to save (hold on to) his life will lose it, but he that loses (gives up) his life for My sake will find it..” John 12:25 It’s in finding that life we bring glory to God.

Chapter 6 reminds us that our life on earth is “like a mist” that appears for a short while then vanishes away. To make the best use of our life on earth we must not forget two truths.. First, compared with eternity our life here is pretty brief. Second, earth is a temporary residence.

If our life here is brief and it’s a temporary residence, how might that affect our values and the way we view “things” here? If we won’t be here long, how is it that we become so attached to the things that are here? If our true “home” is eternal why do we worry so much?

We are reminded that we are Christ’s ambassadors in a “strange, alien and foreign” land. Our challenge is while we live here, not to adopt the values, ideals, priorities, and lifestyle of the world around us. When we are bombarded every day with TV, billboards, sales pitches telling us what we need (and want), it’s difficult to come out from noise and clutter and get our perspective back. We are not of this world. We don’t get our “marching orders” from the world around us.

The idea that is brought up in this reading about spiritual adultery is one that we have to allow to penetrate the hard skin of justification that we have. We all think that what we do is “ok” because it’s so easy to justify it, isn’t it? When we are reminded however that when we take in the values of this world, flirt with it, we actually have the potential of becoming enemies of God. We commit spiritual adultery. This puts a new perspective on compromise doesn’t it?

Another interesting point that is brought out is the fact that there is something left unfulfilled in us for a reason. The idea of God allowing us to feel a “significant” amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life, and that we are not completely happy here on earth because we are not supposed to be this side of eternity, is one that probably a big one to swallow for many of us.

After all, aren’t we supposed to do the things that make us happy? Isn’t our happiness the supreme goal? If it makes you happy do it… hmmm

How do you deal with the idea that our happiness is not the goal, abundant life doesn’t mean our material possessions, and things that are temporary are not important, our life on this side of eternity is just a blip on the screen, and as CS Lewis puts it ” All that is not eternal is eternally usesless…”

Why do we put such importance on things that are temporary? How does changing the way that we look at living here on earth put things into a different perspective? What do you think?