Purpose Driven Life

PDL Day 4:-Made to last forever.

Eternity in the hearts of man (Ecc 3:11) – important because throughout history, men have always had that sense of their own mortality and immortality.

Thought of Sailing to Byzantium – Yeats – Art through the ages speak of this eternity in our souls. Poets and artists, convinced that what we have within us is everlasting encased in this dying form. No, soul and body cannot be divorced- not in the way Yeats imagines anyway.

"An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress"

Contrast with Psalm 33:11-12

“ The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. “

If the here and now is temporary, then what comes next? What if what we do has reverberations for eternity? Moment of reality - how do I account for my wasted time?

Ties back to yesterday’s study on purposefully using my resources – time,money,education- what have I done with them? It is difficult enough in the sobering light of adulthood, to confront the time I wasted and bitterly rue those days and years but - there is a ringing fear about my ears- when I think about the fact that I must also account for that time to my Maker.

Note: Gosh – strange thought – first time I’ve really come to terms with God as the Creator – as my Creator- really brings home that potter and clay concept. We who were dust and could be dust again but for His grace – who are we to challenge his rule?

PDL Day 5 - Seeing Life from God's point of view

Change in the view of life -

Life as a test and a trust - in law, a trust is created when the legal ownership of something resides in A but the beneficial ownership resides in B.

Radically different view of the world if we see ourselves as mere guardians and trustees of our lives and time - the real/beneficial owner being god.

"Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. " (1 Cor 4:2)

Again this idea of stewardship! True though - isn't it the same with employment? You start people off with small things then gradually hand them more when they have been proven to be trustworthy with what little they've been given.

Test - in this case, everything is a test: it's not just the dramatic situations of being presented with actual hardship or tragedy but everything we're given, large and small.

My view is that one of the greatest gifts- besides redemption- that we've been given is time. Time to live and love, laugh and cry, time to learn and fall down and stumble forward, time to be wild and times of solitude; it's the reasoning behind that great hymn about humanity and time in Ecclesiastes.

" I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God."(Ecc 3:12)