Life is a test and a trust.

DAY FIVE (Seeing Life From God’s View) – The Purpose Driven Life

The way you see your life shapes your life.

I see my life as a battle. A battle for supremacy, for significance and for greatness. That’s why I’ve lived my life planning every thing before execution. I contemplate a lot before I do anything as I always want to be two, if not three steps ahead of everybody else. I’ve built a fortress in my mind, a fortress where I am strong, secured and in-command.

In retrospect, I’ve invested a lot on myself, time, money, talent, trying to be better and better in order to be victorious and be dominant in this life.

I think I got this from watching to much anime when I was a kid. One of my favorite ANIME during my childhood years was Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin). His mortal enemy Shishio Makoto saw the world as a battle where the strong will live and the weak will die. I guess it stucked in my mind that I had to be strong or at least stronger than most to be recognized in this world.

This chapter however, introduces a different metaphor that teach us God’s view of life as the bible offers: Life is a test, life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment.

The Bible says, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God.’

Now, I think have to take down the fortress that I’ve built in my mind in order to make room for God’s Kingdom. And knowing myself, I doubt if this is going to be easy. When you see life as battle, the last thing on your mind would be COMPLETE SURRENDER. So help me God.

There is more to life than just here and now.

DAY FOUR (Made to Last Forever) – The Purpose Driven Life

ETERNITY, “a state to which time has no application”.

This chapter talks about us humans being hard-wired for eternity / immortality. We need it and we continually seek it. But there’s more to it than just finding it, it’s whom you will be spending it with.

Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.

While life on earth offers many choices, eternity offers only two: heaven or hell.

I must admit, it is down-right scary to think of spending eternity, in the latter. But I think this only comes when you don’t have full faith on your Creator and His promises. As for me, I am a work in progress, soon to be redeemed.

Always keep in mind… there is more to life than just here and now.

The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking.

What drives your life?

DAY THREE (What drives your life?) – The Purpose Driven Life

Everyone’s life is driven by something.

This chapter talks about some of the most common driving force we have when living our day to day life. I found this chapter very intuitive as I look back to how I’ve lived my life, now that I have a clearer view of what drives me.

I’ve always strived to find purpose in everything I do. I want to WORK on something that I am passionate about. Something simple yet meaningful. Something that I could give all my focus to and I will have peace.

I’ve been looking at all the wrong places to find it, so it seems.

Worldly things (i.e. success, wealth, fame, or pleasure) can be lost instantly through a variety of uncontrollable factors. Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you-your relationship with God.

This chapter also talks about the benefits of a purpose driven life. More than giving your life direction, meaning or significance, knowing your true purpose lets you glorify God and enjoy Him, forever.

Allow me to share to you some of my favorite lines in this chapter.

Never confuse activity with productivity. You can be busy without a purpose, but what’s the point?

It is usually meaningless work, not overwork, that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy.

Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. A wiser use of time is to build an eternal legacy. You weren’t put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.

You Are Not an Accident.

DAY TWO (You Are Not an Accident) – The Purpose Driven Life

I found chapter two very hard to make sense of. Although I’ve already told myself that I shouldn’t try to make sense of it all. Your mind can never conceive your “true” purpose as it can only make sense of what is available.

You are not an accident.

This world is really a work of art. Everything, even every part of our body has a purpose like it was designed down to the finest detail. Just like how an engineer plans every details of a building, God prescribed every single detail of your body. If you are a result of an astronomical random chance then your life would have no purpose, meaning or significance against the vastness of this infinite universe.

This chapter also talks about God’s motive for creating us.
I think this is very important to know as this helps us understand the world better.

The Bible says, “God decided to give us life through the word of truth so we might be the most important of all the things he made.” This is how much God loves and values you!

My own analogy for this is: Say your getting a pet and your motive for getting one is so that you could love it, then the world will be a very conducive place for that pet, as you will feed it, take care of it, play with it and more.

This is just like how God made the world for us. We have the sun to keep us warm, plenty of food, air to breath and people that love us. We are very lucky indeed that God’s motive for creating us is love. Even more and unlike us, His love is eternal and unchanging.

Statement 1: You are not an accident.
Response: Yep, who wants to be an accident?

Statement 2: You a result of an astronomical random chance in the universe.
Response: Maybe…

Now why does this two statement elicit a different response when they’re one and the same?

I once heard from Anthony Robins’ TED talk (why we do what we do) that humans have 6 basic needs.

1. CERTAINTY: Some people need that Certainty that they can avoid pain and have comfort or pleasure. How do people get certainty? Example 1: Work Really Hard to Master Something So There is No Uncertainty That YOU Are the Best! Example 2: Lower Your Expectations. If you’re certain that it won’t work anyway you satisfy this need.
2. UNCERTAINTY: We Need Variety to Feel Alive. How do people get variety? Anything that changes your state. Different Foods, a new book, having a conversation with someone new.
3. SIGNIFICANCE: To Feel Unique, Important, and Special. EVERYONE has these needs, but what Beliefs about how to meet this need? Example 1: Serving and making a difference in the world Example 2: Dominating
4. CONNECTION: Love is in our DNA. Do you meet the need for connection in Neutral ways, Negative Ways, or Empowering Ways.
5. GROWTH: Everything in the world is growing or dieing. It’s a constant process ocuring in life. Reason that we grow is to satisfy the next Need…
6. CONTRIBUTION: We GROW so we have something to give. What makes you feel alive is to know it’s MORE than just you. You are making a meaningful impact on others.

The first 4 are called the needs of the personality. Somehow someway we all figure out a way to meet these 4 in order for us to be happy. That’s why no matter what your circumstances are now, you can be happy. The last 2 are the needs of the spirit and this is where fulfillment comes.

I thought the talk was very insightful but then again these are just self-help tips.
If you really want to live a meaningful life then you must live your life with a purpose and accepting that you are not an accident brings you one step closer.

It’s not about me.

DAY ONE (Thinking About My Purpose) – The Purpose Driven Life

Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless. Bertrand Russel, atheist

I think the quote above plays a key role in making sense of this whole book.

It was very hard for me to make sense of this chapter, since I’ve always thought that HAPPINESS and FULFILLMENT are what I really needed to have or achieve in this life. But upon reading the chapter over and over again, it dawned on me, who am I to dictate the purpose of my life?

You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn’t know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its purpose.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had this feeling that I was born to be great, that I was meant to do great things, and that my life had a great purpose. Deep inside, I knew I had the potential to achieve greatness, that’s why I’ve always been on the chase for great success.

Right now, I am the technical lead at an IT firm and I am happy with what I do. Flexible time, decent pay, significant role, and a lot of room for growth. At the same time, I’m also taking up my Masters degree in Computer Science. I’ve aced almost all of my subjects and currently I am working on a promising thesis that I envision to build my own company around. However, as great as this seems for me, I somehow end up asking myself, Is this what I really want? Is this really what I was meant to do or be?

Upon reflecting on the first chapter of this book, I had to rewire my thinking. The very first line of this chapter says:

It’s not about you.

If it’s not about me being happy and fulfilled then what is it about? What is the purpose of my life? And do I really need to know? In the first place, why even ask this question?

I once had a conversation with a seemingly happy and fulfilled woman at her early 50s. You can see it in her eyes, her smile and the way she talks, she is happy and that she knows a lot more about life than I do. I remember her saying that at a very young age, I had a lot of options and opportunities, that I can do anything I set my mind. So I asked her with this vague question resonating in my mind, with all these options, all these opportunities, WHAT DO I REALLY WANT and is it important that I know now than later? The conversation got cut off, and I didn’t get any answer…

As to how the question entered my mind, I think that’s another very long discussion but Chapter 1 of this book made it clear that you need to think outside of the box if you want to find out the answer to the WHAT question.

Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its purpose.

I guess I have to ask Him.

Self-realizations:

• I don’t really know my purpose in life (Do I really need to know?)
• Being successful (acc. to the world’s standard) and fulfilling your life’s purpose are not at all the same issue.
• Life will not make sense if you succumb to the world’s wisdom. It is only in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.

Questions:

1. What is the purpose of my life?
2. Why is it important that I know my life’s purpose?

Life has a purpose.

Life has a purpose – A Point To Ponder

Definitely my life has a purpose, just like all things, small or great. Today, I signed a covenant to a journey that will hopefully give me some or “the” answer to this question.

Greg Hermo – signed June 17, 2012

Now reading, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life.