Why Am I Here? - Week 1, Day 1

Day 1: Why am I here on this earth?

Let me start off by asking you a couple of questions:

1. What is your purpose in life?

2. Why are you here on this earth?

3. When your life is over, what will you have accomplished that you can look back upon and say, "yeah, I did what I was supposed to do! I lived my life the way I was supposed to live my life. There was a reason for all of this."?
 

Is there a purpose in your life? Do you know where you are heading? Or is your life more like a cruise to nowhere? You have probably never seen these advertised, but they do exist. People get on board a cruise ship, and when they leave the pier, instead of heading out to some lush island or other exotic location, they go out to sea and travel around in circles for a couple of days. Meanwhile, they dine on great meals, lounge around the pool, and participate in onboard activities. 

They are on a trip with no set destination. They are in a holding pattern. They occupy their time doing things they enjoy but that lack any lasting meaning for them. They are simply traveling in circles. Does that describe your life? 

Or maybe you are more like the young lady who got lost driving her car in a snowstorm. She remembered what her dad had once told her: "If you ever get stuck in a snowstorm, wait for a snowplow and follow it." Pretty soon, a snowplow came by, and she started to follow it. She followed the plow for about forty-five minutes. Finally, the driver of the truck got out and asked her what she was doing. She explained that her dad had told her to follow a plow if she ever got stuck in the snow. The driver nodded and said, "Well, I'm done with Wal-Mart, so now you can follow me over to K-Mart if you like." 

Some of us today might feel like that young lady. You think you are headed in the right direction, but something doesn't seem right to you. The peace you search for still hasn't been found, and you wonder if this is what life is supposed to be all about. 

Others of us are like Hank Aaron. Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, was playing the Milwaukee Braves in the World Series. As usual, Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter to distract the Milwaukee batters. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything, but he hit it into the left-field bleachers when the next pitch came. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read." 

Some of us today, like Hank Aaron, know exactly how and what to do next. We know exactly why we are here on this earth, and we are heading in a positive direction to accomplish our purpose. If that's you, then let this weeks' time together be a moment where you sharpen your purpose even more. 

Whether we know it or not, life is a journey. We can either select a destination and steer accordingly or allow ourselves to be swept along with the tide, letting others determine where we will end up. The choice is entirely up to us. 

When we were in the process of starting up our church, we had a group of people who we called the "People of Purpose." We spent months looking at God's purpose and how we fit into His master plan. 

Your purpose is what you were born to do. It draws on your talents and abilities. It sparks your feelings of destiny. Our purpose gives us meaning and a reason to keep on going, no matter what. Since God made us and gave us abilities, it seems only logical that we look to God's word for the purpose God has for each of our lives. 

This week, I will ask you some tough questions that I hope you will have some great answers to. You are not here on this earth by accident. You are handcrafted by God. You were made by God and for God, and He has things He wants you to accomplish with your life. It starts today. It doesn't start off way off in the future. It is here and now. Are you ready?  

Time Out: 

1. What is your purpose in life?


2. Why are you here on this earth?


3. When your life is over, what will you have accomplished that you can look back upon and say, "Yeah. I did what I was supposed to do! I lived my life the way I was supposed to live my life. There was a reason for all of this."?