Believing Your Uniqueness

by Jon Walker
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotation

“The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me — to tell people the Good News about God's grace.” (Acts 20:24 NCV)

God gave you a unique role to play in his Kingdom.

You’re the only person in the world who can live your particular life for the glory of God. There is no one else in the world with your unique mix of spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, personality, and experiences. God shaped you for a very specific ministry, and no one else can fulfill your mission.

If you don’t do it, nobody else can!

Paul writes, “The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me — to tell people the Good News about God's grace.” (Acts 20:24, NCV) To Paul, the most important thing we can do is to be on a mission to tell others about God’s Good News.

Telling people about Jesus is more than just a matter of life and death; it involves the eternal destiny of those waiting to hear about Jesus from you. God doesn’t want us to waste a precious minute of our lives doing things that don’t matter — if the most important thing we can do is left undone.

It’s never too late to move faithfully into your mission for God. You may think you don’t have any skills God can use, but the truth is that God would never send you on a mission without making sure you had everything you needed – including your unique shape – and the Holy Spirit active within you.

So what?

· Take inventory – Through your spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, personality, and experiences, God has uniquely shaped you for your mission. Take an inventory of your life and think it through: What mission do you see God has prepared you for?

· Don’t waste God’s grace – The Apostle Paul writes, “But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 MSG)

· What if it’s true? – How would you live differently if you really believed God had created you for a unique mission, one that only you could accomplish?

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Jesus Answers Your Fears

by Jon Walker
The Propose Driven Life Daily Devotional

“Be friendly with everyone. Don’t be proud and feel that you are smarter than others. Make friends with ordinary people.” (Romans 12:16 CEV)

When we’re in Christian community, we do a lot of things right, but we still have a lot to learn about being “friendly with everyone.” (Romans 12:16) Many of us, particularly the guys, are not very good at developing deep, deep friendships.

But that shouldn’t discourage us – because we “can do all things through Christ.” As believers, we can be eternal optimists, and our relationship with Christ provides us with tremendous potential for developing authentic, transparent friendships.

The fear in all this is that, in order to truly know other people, I must be willing to be known, allowing others to get close enough to see the real me. And that sounds a little scary, doesn’t it? What if there are parts of me that I’m not proud of or need a lot of work?

These fears are common to anyone, but Jesus is the answer to your fears. Did you hear that? Jesus doesn’t just provide the answers for your fears – Jesus is the answer to your fears.
Whether these deeper relationships are with other believers who strengthen us in our faith, or with unchurched people God wants to love through you, keep two things in mind:

First, Jesus invites you to know him intimately. Jesus isn’t afraid of deep relationships. In fact, he went to the cross to ensure you could be “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6), no matter what you’ve done or no matter how far you need to come.

Second, your intimate friendship with Jesus will help others see that it’s not so scary to know and be known. A godly community emerges when we observe, practice, and model transparent, authentic, no-strings-attached relationships.

So what?

· You have to take a risk – “Being known” by others means risk. Every time you reach out to another person in friendship, you risk being rejected or misunderstood. The risk may be even higher with non-believers because of the difference in worldviews and values.

· You can’t do it alone – Your friendship with Jesus gives you the strength you need to risk building friendships with others. For that matter, your friends need Jesus’ strength to develop a deep relationship with you!

· You need to start now – If we wait until our lives are cleaned up before we develop deep Christian friendships, then it will never happen. Growing up in Christ, and maturing as a believer, are lifelong pursuits and require a deeply loving, committed community.

· Think about it – Are there barriers that keep you from building deeper friendships? Who are the people God wants you to reach out to in friendship?

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Because of you

by John Fischer
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional

Your mission is to live your life.

In 1 Corinthians 7, the Apostle Paul addresses believers who are married to unbelievers, and outlines a general rule that if the unbelieving spouse chooses to stay in the marriage, it would be good for the believer to stay, too. He gives two reasons for this: First, the children will have a godly influence through the believing parent, and second, the unbeliever may be converted “because of you.” (1 Corinthians 7:16) (Exceptions to this rule would of course be situations of abuse and endangerment of a spouse or child.)

Just what does he mean by “because of you,” I wonder? Does it mean you are on a personal crusade to save your spouse? Does it mean that you will preach the Gospel to your spouse at every possible opportunity? Does it mean you will turn your house into a religious institution that coerces your spouse to either put up with Christianity or leave? No, it doesn’t mean any of these things.

It means simply what it says: “… because of you” – because of who you are, because of how you live, because of the way your faith affects everything you do, because of the way you carry on your life, because of the reality of Christ in your life. That’s it. No more; but certainly, no less. Paul is suggesting that living your life with a sense of purpose that comes from your faith in God is enough to convert someone.

It occurs to me that this could be applied to all believers in relation to life in the world among people with whom we work and associate who are not believers. General rule: Don’t leave the world. (Where would you go anyway?) Stay in the world – in relationships with unbelievers – for the chance that someone may be converted “because of you.”

We are not on a crusade; we are on a mission to live our lives according to God’s purposes. When we do that, we make possible an environment of change where a person who does not have a meaningful relationship with God might become curious about someone who does. “Because of you” is a statement of subtle influence, not coercion, and in the context of Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians 7, it is a steady influence over time, as would be implied by a marriage. There’s nothing complex or even premeditated about a “because of you” influence. This is a believer going about the process of believing; and this is an unbeliever going over their life with a microscope, observing the good, the bad, and the ugly. Does not matter if God is there.

Thought for the day: Don’t ever sell short what God can do “because of you.”

The power of a changed life

by John Fischer
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35 NIV)

It would appear that Christ’s first convert, other than the disciples he called, was the Samaritan woman he met at the well of Jacob. Up until this time, Jesus had performed some miracles and healed a few people, but this is the story of a woman who was not sick or demon-possessed; she was just an ordinary sinner like any one of us. This is our story as much as it is anyone’s.

The essence of this encounter is that Jesus knows everything about this woman’s past – her five husbands and current illicit relationship – and is offering her the living water of a new life. It’s a wonder that he was talking with her at all, with three strikes against her – a woman, a Samaritan, and a sinner. But Jesus not only talked to her, he gave her life significance. He noticed her, knew who she was, and knew what she needed.

She was so taken by this encounter that she left her water jar – the reason she came to the well in the first place – and ran back to town to tell everyone about this incredible man she just met. But what is equally remarkable was that Jesus appeared to be taken by this encounter as well, for when the disciples returned from the town bringing him food, he responded that he has food to eat that they don’t know anything about (John 4:32). Could it be that Jesus was suddenly overwhelmed over what his love could do for a desperate human being – how it could lift a huge burden of sin and set someone free. It’s one thing to heal a body; it’s another thing to heal a soul.

I think Jesus was overcome with joy and a passion for others who were lost – indeed, for the whole town. That’s why he responded to his disciples’ offer of food with: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. … What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!” (John 4:34-36 NLT)

Jesus was a man on a mission, and I believe he got introduced to the power his message would have on people that day. There’s nothing to equal the power of a changed life, and there’s nothing that will change a life like God’s forgiving love. Once this has happened to you, you can’t sit still. You have to run and get all your friends. And once you experience what it can do for someone else, you’ll be beside yourself, too, just like Jesus.

Lord, open our eyes to those who are ripe for your message today.