No copyright infringement intended. Just want to share this for people who don’t have the patience to finish the whole book but interested to have more than a glimpse of the book.
Things I agree that was mentioned at the beginning of the book:
✅Writing down your thought is the best way to clarify them.
✅A journey is always better when it is shared. Real spiritual growth is never an isolated, individualistic pursuit. Maturity is produced through relationships and community.
✅Your life is worth taking the time to thinak about it.
How to get the most from this book?
Don't just read this book. Interact with it. Underline it. Write your own thoughts in the margins. Make it your book. Personalize it! The books that have helped me most are the ones that I reacted to, not just read.
And this I couldn't agree more. I actually did and do this on my other books. I highlight and write down, take notes on my books.
The books also begins with a covenant that you can sign with your partner/spouse. I think this books is created for married couples, though even a single reader and everyone else can still find it very useful.
❤Bible quotes I like from this book that is applicable for us as Christian married couples. ❤
❤"Two are better off than one, because together they can more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up...Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break."-Ecclesiastes 4:9 (TEV)❤
DAY 1. IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD
You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
You were made by God and for God.
It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose our significance, and our destiny.
Life is about letting God use you for his purpose.
This is not a self-help book. It will teach you how to do less in life--- by focusing on what matters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be.
You have only two options. Your first option is
speculation. Fortunately, there is an alternative to speculation about the meaning and purpose of life. It's revelation.
He has clearly revealed his 5 PURPOSES for our lives though the Bible. It is our Owner's Manual, explaining why we are alive, how life works, what to avoid, and what to expect in the future.
God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it.
Three insights:
1. You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. His purpose for your life predates your conception.
3. The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity.
Without God life makes no sense.
DAY 2. YOUR ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.
Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you would live.
God's motive for creating you was his love.
We are the focus of his love and the most valuable of all his creation.
You were created as a special object of God's love! God made you so he could love you. This is a truth to build your life on.
God is love. It doesn't say God has love. He is love. Love is the essence of God's character.
He wanted to make you in order to express his love.
There is a God who made you for a reason, and your life has profound meaning! We discover that meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives.
DAY 3. WHAT DRIVES YOUR LIFE?
❌Many people are driven by guilt
We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.God specializes in giving people a fresh start.
❌Many people are driven by resentment and anger
Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent.Listen: Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go
❌Many people are driven by fear
Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.
Possessions only provide temporary happiness. Because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then want newer, bigger, better versions.
Self-worth and net-worth are not the same. Your value is not determined by your valuables, and God says the most valuable things in life are not things!
Real security can only be found in what which can never taken from you--- your relationship with God.
❌Many people are driven by the need for approval
Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.
One key to failure is to try to please everyone.
Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty, and pointless.
THE 5 GREAT BENEFITS OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIVING
✅ Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life
✅ Knowing your purpose simplifies your life
✅ Knowing your purpose focuses your life
✅ Knowing your purpose motivates your life
✅ Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity
DAY 4. MADE TO LAST FOREVER
Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity.
C.S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says 'All right then, have it your way.' "
In heaven we will be reunited with loved ones who are believers, released from all pain and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that we will enjoy doing.
God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here.
If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death.
The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next.
Matthew Henry said, "It ought to be the business of everyday to prepare for our final day."
DAY 5. SEEING LIFE FROM GOD'S VIEW
The way you see your life shapes your life.
How do you define life determines your destiny.
"How do you see/picture your life?" That image is your life metaphor.
The Bible offers three metaphors that teach us God's view of life: Life is a test, life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment.
Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. Your are always being tested.
God tests my faith through problems, test my hope by how I handle possessions, and tests my love through people.
A very important test is how you act when you can't feel God's presence in your life.
Nothing is insignificant in your life.
We are stewards of whatever God gives us.
God is the owner of everything and everyone on earth.
At the end of our life on earth you will be evaluated and rewarded according to how well you handled what God entrusted you.
If you treat everything as a trust, God promises three rewards in eternity.
✅You will be given God's affirmation
✅You will receive a promotion and be given greater responsibility in eternity
✅You will be honored with a celebration
Money is both a test and a trust from God.
Life is a test and a trust, and the more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.
DAY 6. LIFE IS A TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT
To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths:
- Compared with eternity life is extremely brief
- Earth is only a temporary residence
❤LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away.-Psalm 39:4 (TIV)❤
Christians should carry spiritual green cards to remind us that our citizenship is in heaven.
Your eternity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven.
"Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul."
The pursuit of happiness is not what life is about.
The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why, as followers of Jesus, we experience difficulty, sorrow, and rejection in this world.
God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life-- longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something better.
You will have happy moments here, but nothing compared with what God has planned for you.
C.S. Lewis observed, "All that is not eternal is eternally useless."
Never focus on temporary crowns.
But the end of life is not the end!
It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner.
When life is tough, when you're overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living for Christ is worth the effort, remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home-- you'll go home.
