rick warren, purpose driven life: section 32

Using what God gave youSection 32

pages 249-255

Monday 15 November 2010

God deserves your best


God shaped you for a purpose - and he expects you to make the most of what you have been given - focus on the talents he has given you to use.

Serving God in ways you are not made to do is like pressing a round peg in a square hole - uncomfortable at the best, wasting time, energy and talents.

To serve God best - find out your shape, accept it, enjoy it, develop it to its fullest.


Eph 5:17

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.


1. Discover your shape

What are you good at - and what aren’t you good at?Rom 12:3Make a list, ask people’s opinion - make sure it is realistic not flattery.Where have you seen fruit in your life that people confirmed?

a. Assess your gifts and abilities


[Spiritual gift inventories can be helpful but are also to be treated with caution - no definitions in the Bible, standardised for all people, maturity makes you more useful]

Experiment with different areas of service - after you do it you might think differently - try things you haven’t done before, start serving - if it goes badly call this process and experiment not a failure.


Gal 6:4

Get feedback from people who know you well.

Ask yourself: what do I enjoy most, when do I feel alive, do I like routine or variety, individual or team roles, introverted or extrovert, thinking or feeling?

b. Consider your heart and your personality


Review your life and how it has shaped you.

Dt 11:2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;

Forgotten experiences are useless (use a journal to help) - Gal 3:4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?

c. Examine your experiences and extract the lessons you have learned


Remember Jesus to Peter: John 13:7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

Only later did Peter understand what was taking place. Problems are often best evaluated with this hindsight


2. Accept and Enjoy your shape

God knows what is best for you - accept and be grateful for the way he has made you.Rom 9:20-21But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?


Eph 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Recognise your limitations - you can’t do everything

Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us


Gal 6:4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

Don’t compare yourself to others and don’t conform to the pattern others expect - they are deadly traps laid by satan.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others.


Pride is to be avoided - you might find someone doing your ‘job’ better or worse than you - both lead to a destroying of your service and loss of joy

1 Cor 10: 12 We're not, understand, putting ourselves in a league with those who boast that they're our superiors. We wouldn't dare do that. But in all this comparing and grading and competing, they quite miss the point.


Other people will have their opinion of what you should do - it is best to avoid such discussion and do what God told you to.

“If my life is fruitless, it doesn’t matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn’t matter who criticises me”John Bunyan


3. Keep developing your shape

The parable of the talents shows Jesus expects us to keep developing: gifts & abilities, hearts aflame for God, character, personality.Php 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight


2 Tim 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Lack of use can result in the gift being taken away - Matt 25:28 - “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

1 Tim 4:14 that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.


Every gift of God can be developed through practice - good becomes better, becomes a master in any area.

Take advantage of the opportunities God gives you to improve.

2 Tim 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.


Point to ponder

God deserves my best


Verse to remember

2 Timothy 2:15


Question to consider

How can I make the best use of what God has given me?
