Your Purpose

Our pastor sent us this devotional recently from Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life). I really like it:

Choices control your calendar

Sunday July 25 2010

Posted by Rick Warren

We are each responsible for our own conduct. Galatians 6:5 (NLT)

"You have just enough time to do God's will while you're here on earth."

Your choices control your calendar and, as a result, your lifestyle. Your choices are far more powerful than your circumstances. You may not like how complicated your life has become yet, with very few exceptions, no one is forcing you to keep your life complicated.
You have the power to simplify your life.
The Bible teaches, "We are each responsible for our own conduct" (Galatians 6:5 NLT). To me, that means God expects us to assume responsibility for our lives and to carefully choose how we spend our time.
That's why I've spent years teaching people to discover why God placed them on this planet: What is your purpose for being here?
Ultimately, it will be the donation of your life that will count far more than the duration.
In other words, it's not how long you live - or even how much you cram into how long you live - it's really about how you live.
Here are three essential steps to simplify your life:

• First, figure out your purpose, and then let your purpose guide the goals of your life.

• Second, organize your activities based upon your purpose.

• Finally, harmonize your schedule with your purpose; that is, bring your activities into agreement with your goals.

You have just enough time to do God's will while you're here on earth. You've been given just enough time to fulfill your purpose. When you try to do more than God planned for you, it's only natural that you'll find yourself constantly out of time or stressed over your schedule.
If it doesn't fit the purpose of your life, God doesn't want you doing it. In fact, he may be overjoyed that you finally got the message and stopped doing meaningless activities. He may even want you to add "rest" or "have fun" to your to-do list.
My prayer for you is that you will find relief from stress and a new sense of satisfaction as you do only the things God created you to do.