We finally made it! Day 1. The first
thing out of the chute, the reference made was 2 Timothy 2:15 with the single word “Study”. “Do your best to present yourself to God as
one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word
of truth.” In some translation the words are “be diligent” or “study”. Her point was that she must be determined and
focused if she was going to get the most out of reading this book.
Rightly handling the “word of truth”.
Since God is the source of truth and the Word is truth (John 17:17). It was important to her that anything that
declares it is consistent with the Word or comes from God must be aligned with
God’s revealed truth – His Word.
By the way, I am going to focus primarily on what she underlined and her
notes in the margins. If I tried to address
all of the highlighted text, then I would nearly have to rewrite the book which I doubt neither
Rick Warren nor Zondervan would appreciate.
You discover your identity
and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. (p 20 note) When mom had asked
me to read from the Bible while I was yet lost, she knew that I did not have
the capacity to understand the spiritual truth of what I was reading. Could I understand the words, yes, of course? They can be easily found in the dictionary or today, you can “google” them. But without
Jesus as Lord, the spiritual context was lost.
Yes, the seed was planted in my heart, but the “soil” was not yet ready
to allow it to grow. Mom understood that
who we are, who anybody is or was is derived from the Creator God. To understand that requires spiritual
restoration – a new beginning. To be restored Jesus must be Lord and only then
can you discover your identity and purpose.
You don’t get to choose your
purpose. (p 21 note) I have known plenty of people who have
tried. Many people suffer from “purpose
envy”. They see what others are doing
and lust after that thing. The problem
is that God has not created them for it.
So they slip into the sin that plagued Adam. They want to be god and decide for
themselves. But by rejecting God’s best for them, they will never be
satisfied. Listen – anybody can preach from
a pulpit – but not everybody is anointed by God to do it and without the
anointing, there is no spiritual power.
Mom saw the big picture. The eternal
picture. God’s grand design. She understood that because of her new beginning, she had
a part in it. Both for the “here and now”
and for the “then and there”. And so do
you if you know Jesus as Lord!
Note references :
Taken from The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren Copyright © 2002 by Rick
Warren. Use by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com
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