40 days of Purpose

I used to be quite skeptical about the whole Purpose-driven life campaign, because from the 2 times that I read the book I didn't think that I was actually getting much from it, and at times I even found myself disagreeing with some of the content... While I did know that God has used Rick Warren and this ministry to bless and teach a lot of people, I have always felt that this is useful more for those who are new to the Christian faith, and it's just another one of those "self-help" books that are over commercialized.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to attend the "40 days of Purpose" campagin started by W's church As I listened and watched the video (sermon by Rick Warren), God had touched my heart and really enabled me to see how much I need this reminder of God's purposes in our lives:

We were planned for God’s pleasure,
so our first purpose is to offer real worship.
We were formed for God’s family,
so our second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.
We were created to become like Christ,
so our third purpose is to learn real discipleship.
We were shaped for serving God,
so our fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.
We were made for a mission,
so our fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism

Throughout the entire sermon, I really tried to put down my pride and asked myself - how "well" did I think I was doing in each of these areas??? A self examination had caught me off guard and ashamed!!

There was that one part in the video where Rick Warren was sharing about how his Dad, in his dying breath, kept saying "Gotta save one more for Jesus"... his heart to reach out to lost souls touched me soooo much.

In the busyness of life it's so easy to forget what we are on earth for... and I do pray that we will at least give ourselves the time to reflect and truly figure out our purpose... and then live out what we believe in...