Do You Feel God's Pleasure?
11/24/2009 1:23:25 PM
October 23,2009
I interrupt this program [our study of Galatians] for this public service announcement:
You have been born with a purpose.
I should like to frame this teaching with a little story I found a few years ago~
“The Hammer”
Consider a hammer. It’s designed to hit nails. That’s what it was created to do. Now imagine that the hammer never gets used. It just sits in the toolbox. The hammer doesn’t care.
But now imagine that same hammer with a soul, a self-consciousness. Days and days go by with him remaining in the toolbox. He feels funny inside, but he’s not sure exactly why. Something is missing, but he doesn’t know what it is.
Then one day someone pulls him out of the toolbox and uses him to break some branches for the fireplace. The hammer is exhilarated. Being held, being wielded, hitting the branches—the hammer loves it. At the end of the day, though, he is still unfulfilled. Hitting the branches was fun, but it wasn’t enough. Something is still missing.
In the days that follow, he’s used often. He reshapes a hubcap, blasts through some sheet rock, knocks a table leg back into place. Still, he’s left unfulfilled. So he longs for more action. He wants to be used as much as possible to knock things around, to break things, to blast things, to dent things. He figures that he just hasn’t had enough of these events to satisfy him. More of the same, he believes, is the solution to his lack of fulfillment.
Then one day someone uses him on a nail. Suddenly, the lights come on in his hammer soul. He now understands what he was truly designed for. He was meant to hit nails. All the other things he hit pale in comparison. Now he knows what his hammer soul was searching for all along. . . The End, for now.
Good Day, my friends~
In the last few years, the term ‘purpose’ has been bandied about from different quarters, from Rick Warren of The Purpose-Driven Life to Oprah, (actually the Nov. 2009 issue of her magazine!), and various psychology ‘experts’ and spirituality gurus. And yet, I have recently heard from a number of friends and colleagues that they just don’t know their purpose. So, we are going to take a look at the subject. . . and then, we’ll resume Galatians in a few days. That said, this discussion is a well-timed segue in light of thinking about joy because living out our purpose causes joy to well up inside of us, and make a home within.
{Print this out, and spend some time thinking about these questions, and answering them}
Purpose: The object toward which one strives, or for which something exists~
>I think my purpose is:_____________________________________________________
>If only __________________________________, then I would love to ____________
________________________________________________________________________
>I would like my legacy to be _______________________________________________
Like Eric Liddell from “Chariots of Fire”, said, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure~”
>How about you? “When I ___________________________________________, I feel God’s pleasure.”
>If I were to dream ‘big’, I would____________________________________________
These questions take some time to answer for most of us, and I pray that you will take the time because it is well worth it. No matter your age, it is a great time to do this exercise.
Many are familiar with God’s words to us, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a hope and a future. . .” Don’t you want to know God’s plan and unique purpose for you?
More next time. . .
Let’s dig, let’s think, and let’s purpose to find our God-given purpose so that we can live on purpose for Him!
Christine