Sunday, Day #39, Balancing Your Life.

"Blessed are the Balanced.

God's five purposes for your life;
-"Love God with all your heart."
-"Love your neighbor as yourself."
-"Go and make disciples."
-"baptize them into..." identify with his church through fellowship.
-"teach them to do all things..." discipleship

Keeping the five purposes in balance is not easy.  We tend to overemphasize the purposes we feel most passionate about and neglect the others.

Talk with your spiritual partner or small group.  "put into practice what you have learned."  A small.... group...can give and receive feedback,,.can discuss real life examples...can pray for, encourage and support each other.

Give yourself a spiritual check-up.  For your spiritual health you need to regularly check the five vital signs of worship, fellowship, growth in character, ministry, and mission.

Write down your progress in a journal.  This is not a diary of events, but a record of the life lessons you don't want to forget.  Your life is a journey, and a journey deserves a journal.

Whenever problems occur, remember that God uses them to fulfill all five purposes in your life: Problems force you to focus on God, draw you closer to others in fellowship, build Christlike character, provide you with a ministry, and give you a testimony.  Every problem is purpose driven.

Pass on what you know to others.  If you want to keep growing, the best way to learn more is to pass on what you have already learned.

Now that you know the purpose of life, it is your responsibility to carry the message to others.  The more you know, the more God expects you to use that knowledge to help others.

Knowledge increases responsibility

Imagine how different the world would be if everyone knew their purpose.

It's all for God's Glory.  The reason we pass on what we learn is for the glory of God and the growth of his kingdom.

Today God calls each of us to the same work.  not only does he want us to live out his purposes, he also wants us to help others do the same.  God wants us to introduce people to Christ, bring them into fellowship."  PDL. Chapter #39

For me, keeping a balance is definitely a challenge.  It's easy to see myself learning and attempting to act for God's pleasure and I have had a 180 degree vision shift about my responsibilities in the church.  I know that I want to become like Christ and that my life is to serve Him.  This Christian life is still all so new to me, that the missionary part is still difficult for me to think about.  It's much easier to see myself as a missionary in my present circumstances, than it is to see myself going overseas.  Writing a journal of my life's experiences is also difficult, as I'm not a natural writer.  I think a lot, but have never journaled.  Doing all this and keeping it all balanced, so that I am attending to each area equally feels like a large assignment.