By: Alan Wynn

  By now most of us have heard of the best seller, "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren.  I am definitely not writing this to promote the book, due to the fact that so much of the writings in this book provided a less than scriptural approach to the most important Purpose that we as Christians are called to perform.  

I am not a great literary Guru and I don't pretend to have more than a basic understanding of the grammar that is necessary to put together a coherent paragraph, but I know what the truth is concerning our "purpose" or "calling" in life. 

I am not going to write a long dissertation explaining what we should be doing with our lives, rather, I am going to briefly lay the truth of the Word of God before you and let you decide what your purpose in life is.  I believe that by using the simple approach (like me) it may be more understandable.

You see, without a more than basic understanding of the "BOOK", The Word of God, our Bible, that provides the whole truth concerning our purpose in life, many earthly writers can make a strong statement as to what they believe your purpose is and can persuade us by cleverly worded statements into believing our purpose is to just trust them, the writers.  Well, I'll tell you right now that I don't ever just "trust" a writer who is writing to sell books.

When I take time to peruse the scriptures, I find myself reading the timeless works of God himself who, in errantly, provided to the writers the power of his message to a dying world.  We can trust the words of these men, because they did not speak from their own understanding but from the Holy Spirit inspiring them to relay the message of God to us, His people. (2 Timothy 3:16)  Jesus, stated rather purposely what our instructions for living are in the following passage from the Gospel of Matthew:   Matt 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Is there any way to misunderstand his commands?  What his message says to us is simple.  Here is what you must do, and to accomplish this you must know what my commands are so that you can teach true obedience to My plan.  All of this is followed up with the promise of his enduring presence to the very end of the age!!  Wow!  How does the so called Christian community get so confused?

I could go on and on about the wonderful instructions our savior has laid out for us as His purpose for our lives but I will just list a few 1 liners that hopefully will spur us on to the purpose He has for each of us.  Take a moment to look them up and read them in context and then resolve to allow His purpose to become our purpose.

1.We are to be aliens in this world.  1 Peter 2:11

2. We are to love our neighbors.  Matthew 19:19                                

3. We are to study His word.  2 Timothy 2:15

4. We are to be able to withstand the world's attacks with joy.  James 1:2

5. We are to recognize and expose the false teacher.  1 John 4:1

6. We are never to be a stumbling block.  1 Corinthians 11:31-33

7. We are to be peacemakers not rabble rousers or gossips.  Mark 9:50 and Hebrews 12:15

8. We are to anxiously look forward to His coming.  1 John 3:2,3 and 2 Timothy 4:8

9. We are to be sure that no one can bring accusation against us.  Colossians 1:21-23

10. We are to always bear the fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:22,23

11. In a nutshell, we are to accomplish His will not our own!!

Dear ones, walk in the Spirit and you will accomplish His purpose for your life.  Galatians 5:24,25