My left eye went out of focus the other week. It seems the prescription for my glasses needs changing, again. It actually took me a few days before I realized that my left eye was not quite right. During this time my right eye did an amazing job of compensating for the lack of focus in my left eye and things looked ok, just not great. I knew something was wrong but only discovered the problem when I closed my right eye and concentrated on seeing through my left eye. Sure enough the trees were fuzzy, the computer screen blurry and when I looked in the mirror some of the wrinkles in my face had disappeared.
Here is the problem as I see it…sometimes life just doesn’t work quite right. We are not sure what is wrong but we know all is not right. It’s not so much that life is bad…it’s just not quite the way it should be. Maybe you are out of focus. Perhaps your alignment is off. Could be a lens needs changing or you need a slight adjustment. The problem could even be that you have drifted from your intended purpose.
Drifting from your purpose…the reason you were created…the mission you were assigned, is the primary cause of life’s dissatisfaction, discomfort, disease, and depression.
You are only fulfilled when you fulfill your purpose; the purpose God created you to fulfill. When you are out of focus with God you are out of focus with life. When you are out of focus with the Creator you are out of focus with His creation. Try as hard as you may to bring clarity to your life you will be unable to do so until you change the lens through which you see your life.
As surely as my optometrist designs a prescription that is uniquely suitable to only my eyes so God has designed a purpose that is uniquely suitable to only me. I can not wear your glasses or fulfill your purpose. You can not wear my glasses or fulfill my purpose.
I can not make up my own eye glass prescription…I need the doctor to do it! You and I can not make up our own purpose…we need the creator to do it!
Until I get the prescription right, my world will be out of focus. Until I get my purpose right, my life will be out of focus.
Jesus made the following statement to a group of followers ‘I have come to give you life and give it to you in abundance.” Just as I asked Dr. Vachon for a new prescription for my eyes perhaps you need to ask Jesus for a new prescription for your life.
When you ask Him, God has an amazing way of bringing clarity to your life.
Hey,just picked up my new glases from Costco... and I can read the fine print! I can see clearly now. It's amazing what a new perscription can do for your clarity!
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, October 13, 2008
WILL THE REAL YOU PLEASE STAND UP
I don’t know about you, but I see very little of God in our world today. I see greed, haltered, selfishness, cruelty, emotional pain, rejection, isolation, jealousy, lies, sensuality, careless sex, aborted babies, broken promises, shame, guilt, fear and a host of other behaviours, that if taken together reflect God, I would want no part in Him.
Maybe what really freaks me out is that I see so little of God in my own actions. When I am truly honest with myself my behaviours more often reflect my selfish needs and not the actions of a loving God. I have reached a season in my life where I do not want that to be so any longer.
The key to changing any behaviour is to change what you believe in your heart. You cannot behave any differently from what you believe. Every action is a response to what you truly believe deep down in side of you. James Allen has written, “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”.
What would you do if you discovered that many of the things you believe about yourself are not true? They are in fact lies. And for years you have been acting/ behaving from that set of lies and not from the truth. And, (here comes the conspiracy theory) there has been a concerted effort to make sure you never find out the truth about who you were really meant to be. I call this IDENTITY THEFT.
It is so simple. God has a plan and a purpose and a personality just for you. That plan purpose and personality has been hijacked and until the hijackers are exposed you will never find the real you, the you, God intended you to be. Until you discover Gods intentions for you, you will forever be searching in the wrong place. That is why so many people work hard all their lives, get ahead, become successful and eventually come up empty. That is why so many people never learn from their mistakes and repeat the same failures over and over again. They have been deceived, lied to, and are working under false orders.
I believe with all my heart our real personality and purpose has been hijacked. In Psalm 139 David is very clear about the fact that God has a distinct purpose and personality for each of his created children. He says in verse 14 that” We are fear fully and wonderfully made”; made in the very image of God
There is good news. God has made a way for you to discover who he intends you to be. Everything hinges on what you believe and weather what you believe is the truth or a lie. We are all on a journey of self discovery. The path we take may be different. And contrary to current popular thought, all paths do not lead to the same destination.
There is a you, which God intended. You are not a random collection of neurons and microbes and synapses and electrical currents. Most of us have been living out lies, lies that we have embodied as truths. We must replace those lies with the Truth and learn to live each day out of the truth and act from a position of love in our personalities.
God has made it possible for you to behave differently. He gave us Jesus Christ as our example. Every action, every attitude of Jesus Christ was birthed from His understanding of the truth about who he was and his purpose. He behaved consistently out of his beliefs and his beliefs were grounded in love, for he himself was love in human form.
Genuine change in behavior is possible but we must start with a tested, proven reliable source for that change. I believe that reliable source is Jesus.
So here is my IDENTITY THEFT CHALLENGE, start to read about the life story of Jesus. Get an easily readable translation of the bible like The NIV, The Message, or CEV. You will find the translation short forms on the cover. Start in the New Testament section the book called John, then go back and read Matthew, Mark and Luke. One thing you will notice is the incredible consistency with which Jesus behaved. He behaved the same no matter what the circumstance. He also behaved in complete agreement with his source. (You will understand what I mean by the time you have finished the book of John). Getting grounded in understanding the personality and purpose of Jesus is the first step in discovering who you really are.
Next time we will look at the sources of what you believe about yourself. We will examine them and test them in a writing called “Why You are the Way You Are”.
Maybe what really freaks me out is that I see so little of God in my own actions. When I am truly honest with myself my behaviours more often reflect my selfish needs and not the actions of a loving God. I have reached a season in my life where I do not want that to be so any longer.
The key to changing any behaviour is to change what you believe in your heart. You cannot behave any differently from what you believe. Every action is a response to what you truly believe deep down in side of you. James Allen has written, “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”.
What would you do if you discovered that many of the things you believe about yourself are not true? They are in fact lies. And for years you have been acting/ behaving from that set of lies and not from the truth. And, (here comes the conspiracy theory) there has been a concerted effort to make sure you never find out the truth about who you were really meant to be. I call this IDENTITY THEFT.
It is so simple. God has a plan and a purpose and a personality just for you. That plan purpose and personality has been hijacked and until the hijackers are exposed you will never find the real you, the you, God intended you to be. Until you discover Gods intentions for you, you will forever be searching in the wrong place. That is why so many people work hard all their lives, get ahead, become successful and eventually come up empty. That is why so many people never learn from their mistakes and repeat the same failures over and over again. They have been deceived, lied to, and are working under false orders.
I believe with all my heart our real personality and purpose has been hijacked. In Psalm 139 David is very clear about the fact that God has a distinct purpose and personality for each of his created children. He says in verse 14 that” We are fear fully and wonderfully made”; made in the very image of God
There is good news. God has made a way for you to discover who he intends you to be. Everything hinges on what you believe and weather what you believe is the truth or a lie. We are all on a journey of self discovery. The path we take may be different. And contrary to current popular thought, all paths do not lead to the same destination.
There is a you, which God intended. You are not a random collection of neurons and microbes and synapses and electrical currents. Most of us have been living out lies, lies that we have embodied as truths. We must replace those lies with the Truth and learn to live each day out of the truth and act from a position of love in our personalities.
God has made it possible for you to behave differently. He gave us Jesus Christ as our example. Every action, every attitude of Jesus Christ was birthed from His understanding of the truth about who he was and his purpose. He behaved consistently out of his beliefs and his beliefs were grounded in love, for he himself was love in human form.
Genuine change in behavior is possible but we must start with a tested, proven reliable source for that change. I believe that reliable source is Jesus.
So here is my IDENTITY THEFT CHALLENGE, start to read about the life story of Jesus. Get an easily readable translation of the bible like The NIV, The Message, or CEV. You will find the translation short forms on the cover. Start in the New Testament section the book called John, then go back and read Matthew, Mark and Luke. One thing you will notice is the incredible consistency with which Jesus behaved. He behaved the same no matter what the circumstance. He also behaved in complete agreement with his source. (You will understand what I mean by the time you have finished the book of John). Getting grounded in understanding the personality and purpose of Jesus is the first step in discovering who you really are.
Next time we will look at the sources of what you believe about yourself. We will examine them and test them in a writing called “Why You are the Way You Are”.
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