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    "What does the Bible say about changing the way you think?",
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    "According to the excerpt, what is the first half of the mental shift needed to develop the mind of Christ?"
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Unfortunately, many
people never grow beyond that
kind of thinking. The Bible says
that selfish thinking is the source of
sinful behavior: “Those who live following their sinful selves think
only about things that their sinful selves want.”
9
The second half of thinking like Jesus is to start thinking
maturely, which focuses on others, not yourself. In his great
The Purpose-Driven Life 182
The way you think 
determines the way you feel, 
and the way you feel influences
the way you act. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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chapter on what real love is, Paul concluded that thinking of
others is the mark of maturity: “When I was a child, I talked like a
child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a
man, I put childish ways behind me.”
10
Today many assume that spiritual maturity is measured by
the amount of biblical information and doctrine you
know. While knowledge is one measurement of
maturity, it isn’t the whole story. The Christian
life is far more than creeds and convictions; it
includes conduct and character. Our deeds must
be consistent with our creeds, and our beliefs must
be backed up with Christlike behavior. Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a
relationship and a lifestyle. The core of that lifestyle is
thinking of others, as Jesus did, instead of ourselves.


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The Bible
says, “We should think of their good and try to help them by doing
what pleases them. Even Christ did not try to please himself.”
11
Thinking of others is the heart of Christlikeness and the best
evidence of spiritual growth. This kind of thinking is unnatural,
counter-cultural, rare, and difficult.


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    "What does the Bible suggest we should do for others according to the excerpt?",
    "How is thinking of others described in relation to Christlikeness?",
    "What challenges are associated with thinking of others, as mentioned in the excerpt?"
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Fortunately we have help:
“God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way
that the people of this world think.”
12 In the next few chapters we
will look at the tools the Holy Spirit uses to help us grow. PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 183
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 184
Day Twenty-three
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: It is never too late to start growing. Verse to Remember: “Let God transform you inwardly
by a complete change of your mind.


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    "What is the point to ponder in Day Twenty-three of The Purpose-Driven Life?",
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Then you will be able
to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to
him and is perfect.”  Romans 12:2b (TEV)
Question to Consider: What is one area where I need
to stop thinking my way and start thinking God’sway? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What does Romans 12:2b suggest about knowing the will of God?",
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24
Tr ansformed by T ruth
People need more than bread for their life; 
they must feed on every word of God. Matthew 4:4 (NLT) 
God’ s .


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. gracious W ord 
can make you into what he wants 
you to be and give you everything 
you could possibly need. Acts 20:32 (Msg)
The truth transforms us. Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth. Jesus
prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”1
Sanctification requires revelation. The Spirit of God uses the
Word of God to make us like the Son of God. To become like
Jesus, we must fill our lives with his Word. The Bible says,
“Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks
God has for us.”
2
God’s Word is unlike any other word. It is alive.3 Jesus said,
“The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”4 When
God speaks, things change. Everything around you—all of
creation—exists because “God said it.” He spoke it all into
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 185
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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existence. Without God’s Word you would not even be alive. James points out, “God decided to give us life through the word of
truth so we might be the most important of all the things he made.” 5
The Bible is far more than a
doctrinal guidebook. God’s Word
generates life, creates faith,
produces change, frightens the
Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts,
builds character, transforms
circumstances, imparts joy,
overcomes adversity, defeats
temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds,
brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever! We
cannot live without the Word of God!


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    "According to the excerpt, what did God decide to give us through the word of truth?",
    "What are some effects of God's Word mentioned in the excerpt?",
    "Why is the Bible described as more than just a doctrinal guidebook?"
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Never take it for granted. You should consider it as essential to your life as food. Job said,
“I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily
bread.”
6
God’s Word is the spiritual nourishment you must have to fulfill
your purpose. The Bible is called our milk, bread, solid food, and
sweet dessert. 7 This four-course meal is the Spirit’s menu for
spiritual strength and growth. Peter advises us, “Crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 8
Abiding in God’s Word
There are more Bibles in print today than ever before, but a
Bible on the shelf is worthless. Millions of believers are plagued
with spiritual anorexia, starving to death from spiritual
malnutrition.


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To be a healthy disciple of Jesus, feeding on God’s
Word must be your first priority. Jesus called it “abiding.” He
said, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of
Mine.”
9 In day-to-day living, abiding in God’s Word includes
three activities. I must accept its authority.


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The Bible must become the
authoritative standard for my life: the compass I rely on for
The Purpose-Driven Life 186
The Spirit of God uses the 
Word of God to make us 
like the Son of God. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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direction, the counsel I listen to for making wise decisions, and
the benchmark I use for evaluating everything. The Bible must
always have the first and last word in my life. Many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on
unreliable authorities: culture (“everyone is doing it”), tradition
(“we’ve always done it”), reason (“it seemed logical”), or
emotion (“it just felt right”). All four of these are flawed by the
Fall.


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    "What is the primary source of guidance mentioned in the excerpt for making wise decisions?",
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Only God’s Word meets that need. Solomon
reminds us, “Every word of God is flawless,”
10 and Paul explains,
“Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for
teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing
them how to live.”
11
In the early years of his ministry, Billy Graham went through a
time when he struggled with doubts about the accuracy and
authority of the Bible. One moonlit night he dropped
to his knees in tears and told God that, in spite of
confusing passages he didn’t understand, from
that point on he would completely trust the Bible
as the sole authority for his life and ministry. From
that day forward, Billy’s life was blessed with
unusual power and effectiveness. The most important decision you can make today
is to settle this issue of what will be the ultimate authority
for your life. Decide that regardless of culture, tradition, reason,
or emotion, you choose the Bible as your final authority. Determine to first ask, “What does the Bible say?” when making
decisions. Resolve that when God says to do something, you will
trust God’s Word and do it whether or not it makes sense or you
feel like doing it. Adopt Paul’s statement as your personal
affirmation of faith: “I believe everything that agrees with the Law
and that is written in the Prophets.”
12
I must assimilate its truth. It is not enough just to believe the
Bible; I must fill my mind with it so that the Holy Spirit can
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 187
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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transform me with the truth. There are five ways to do this: You
can receive it, read it, research it, remember it, and reflect on it. First, you receive God’s Word when you listen and accept it
with an open, receptive attitude. The parable of the sower
illustrates how our receptiveness determines whether or not God’s
Word takes root in our lives and bears fruit. Jesus identified three
unreceptive attitudes—a closed mind (hard soil), a superficial
mind (shallow soil), and a distracted mind (soil with weeds)—and
then he said, “Consider carefully how you listen.”
13
Anytime you feel you are not learning anything from a sermon
or a Bible teacher, you should check your attitude, especially for
pride, because God can speak through even the most boring
teacher when you are humble and receptive. James advises, “In a
humble (gentle, modest) spirit, receive and welcome the Word which
implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your
souls.”
14
Second, for most of the 2,000-year history of the church, only
priests got to personally read the Bible, but now billions of us
have access to it.


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In spite of this, many believers are more faithful
to reading their daily newspaper than their Bibles.


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It’s no wonder
we don’t grow. We can’t watch television for three hours, then
read the Bible for three minutes and expect to grow. Many who claim to believe the
Bible “from cover to cover” have
never read it from cover to cover. But if you will read the Bible just
fifteen minutes a day, you will read
completely through it once a year. If you cut out one thirty-minute
television program a day and read
your Bible instead, you will read through the entire Bible twice a
year. Daily Bible reading will keep you in range of God’s voice. This
is why God instructed the kings of Israel to always keep a copy of
The Purpose-Driven Life 188
Many who claim to believe the
Bible “from cover to cover” have
never read it from cover to cover. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What instruction was given to the kings of Israel regarding the Bible?"
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his Word nearby: “He should keep it with him all the time and read
from it every day of his life.” 15 But don’t just keep it near you; read
it regularly! A simple tool that is helpful for this is a daily Bible
reading plan. It will prevent you from just skipping around the
Bible arbitrarily and overlooking sections. If you would like a
Third, researching, or studying, the Bible is another practical
way to abide in the Word. The difference between reading and
studying the Bible involves two additional activities: asking
questions of the text and writing down your insights. You haven’t
really studied the Bible unless you’ve written your thoughts down
on paper or computer. Space does not allow me to explain the different methods of
Bible study.


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Several helpful books on Bible study methods are
available, including one I wrote over twenty years ago. 16 The
secret of good Bible study is simply learning to ask the right
questions. Different methods use different questions. You will
discover far more if you pause and ask such simple questions as
who? what?


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and how? The Bible says, “Truly
happy people are those who carefully study God’s perfect law that
makes people free, and they continue to study it. They do not forget
what they heard, but they obey what God’s teaching says. Those who
do this will be made happy.”
17
The fourth way to abide in God’s Word is byremembering it. Your capacity to remember is a God-given gift.


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    "According to the excerpt, what is the effect of carefully studying God's perfect law?",
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You may think
you have a poor memory, but the truth is, you have millions of
ideas, truths, facts, and figures memorized. You remember what is
important to you. If God’s Word is important, you will take the
time to remember it. There are enormous benefits to memorizing Bible verses. It will
help you resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build
confidence, offer good advice, and share your faith with others. 18
Your memory is like a muscle. The more you use it, the
stronger it will become, and memorizing Scripture will become
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 189
copy of my personal Bible reading plan, see appendix 2. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What are some benefits of memorizing Bible verses mentioned in the excerpt?",
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    "What analogy is used in the excerpt to describe memory?"
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easier. You might begin by selecting a few Bible verses out of this
book that have touched you and writing them down on a small
card you can carry with you. Then review them aloud throughout
your day. You can memorize Scripture anywhere: while working
or exercising or driving or waiting or at bedtime. The three keys
to memorizing Scripture are review, review, and review! The Bible
says, “Remember what Christ taught and let his words enrich your
lives and make you wise.”
19
The fifth way to abide in God’s Word is toreflect on it, which
the Bible calls “meditation.” For many, the idea of meditating
conjures up images of putting your mind in neutral and letting it
wander. This is the exact opposite of biblical meditation.


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It takes serious effort. You select a
verse and reflect on it over and over in your
mind. As I mentioned in chapter 11, if you know
how to worry, you already know how to
meditate. Worry is focused thinking on
something negative. Meditation is doing the
same thing, only focusing on God’s Word instead of your
problem. No other habit can do more to transform your life and make
you more like Jesus than daily reflection on Scripture. As we take
the time to contemplate God’s truth, seriously reflecting on the
example of Christ, we are “transformed into his likeness with ever-
increasing glory.”
20
If you look up all the times God speaks about meditation in the
Bible, you will be amazed at the benefits he has promised to those
who take the time to reflect on his Word throughout the day. One of the reasons God called David “a man after my own
heart”
21 is that David loved to reflect on God’s Word. He said,
“How I love your teachings!


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I think about them all day long.”22
Serious reflection on God’s truth is a key to answered prayer and
the secret to successful living. 23
The Purpose-Driven Life 190
DAY TWENTY-FOUR:
TRANSFORMED
BY TRUTH
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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I must apply its principles. Receiving, reading, researching,
remembering, and reflecting on the Word are all useless if we fail
to put them into practice. We must become “doers of the word.”24
This is the hardest step of all, because Satan fights it so intensely. He doesn’t mind you going to Bible studies as long as you don’t
do anything with what you learn.


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    "What does Satan's attitude towards Bible studies reveal about his opposition?"
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We fool ourselves when we
assume that just because we have
heard or read or studied a truth, we
have internalized it. Actually, you
can be so busy going to the next
class or seminar or Bible conference
that you have no time to implement
what you’ve learned. You forget it on the way to your next study.


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Without implementation, all our Bible studies are worthless. Jesus
said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into
practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
25 Jesus
also pointed out that God’s blessing comes from obeying the
truth, not just knowing it. He said, “Now that you know these
things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
26
Another reason we avoid personal application is that it can be
difficult or even painful. The truth will set you free, but first it
may make you miserable! God’s Word exposes our motives,
points out our faults, rebukes our sin, and expects us to change. It’s human nature to resist change, so applying God’s Word is
hard work. This is why it is so important to discuss your personal
applications with other people. I cannot overstate the value of being a part of a small Bible
study discussion group. We always learn from others truths we
would never learn on our own.


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    "What did Jesus say about those who hear his words and put them into practice?",
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Other people will help you see
insights you would miss and help you apply God’s truth in a
practical way. The best way to become a “doer of the Word” is to always
write out an action step as a result of your reading or studying or
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 191
The truth will set you free, 
but first it may make 
you miserable! Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 192
reflecting on God’s Word. Develop the habit of writing down
exactly what you intend to do. This action step should be personal
(involving you), practical (something you can do), and provable
(with a deadline to do it). Every application will involve either
your relationship to God, your relationship to others, or your
personal character. Before reading the next chapter, spend some time thinking
about this question: What has God already told you to do in his
Word that you haven’t started doing yet? Then write down a few
action statements that will help you act on what you know.


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L. Moody said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge
but to change our lives.”
Day Twenty-four
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: The truth transforms me. Verse to Remember: “If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:31–32 (KJV)
Question to Consider: What has God already told me
in his Word that I haven’t started doing yet? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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25
Tr ansformed by T rouble
For our light and momentary troubles 
are achieving for us an eternal glory 
that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
It is the fire of suffering that 
brings forth the gold of godliness. Madame Guyon
God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, he
depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he
depends on our reading the Bible. The reason is obvious: You
face circumstances twenty-four hours a day. Jesus warned us that we would have problems in the world. 1
No one is immune to pain or insulated from suffering, and no
one gets to skate through life problem-free. Life is a series of
problems.


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    "What does 2 Corinthians 4:17 suggest about the relationship between troubles and eternal glory?",
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Not all of them are big, but all are significant in God’s
growth process for you. Peter assures us that problems are
normal, saying, “Don’t be bewildered or surprised when you go
through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing
that is going to happen to you.”
2
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 193
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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God uses problems to draw you closer to himself. The Bible
says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are
crushed in spirit.”3 Your most profound and intimate experiences
of worship will likely be in your darkest days—when your heart is
broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options,
when the pain is great—and you turn to God alone. It is during
suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt,
honest-to-God prayers.


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When we’re in pain, we don’t have the
energy for superficial prayers. Joni Eareckson Tada notes, “When life is rosy, we may slide by
with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him
and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.”
We learn things about God in suffering that we can’t learn any
other way. God could have kept Joseph out of jail,
4 kept Daniel out of the
lion’s den,5 kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit,6
kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times,7 and kept the
three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing
furnace8— but he didn’t. He let
those problems happen, and every
one of those persons was drawn
closer to God as a result. Problems force us to look to God
and depend on him instead of
ourselves. Paul testified to this
benefit: “We felt we were doomed to
die and saw how powerless we were to
help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the
hands of God, who alone could save us.”
9 You’ll never know that
God is all you need until God is all you’ve got. Regardless of the cause, none of your problems could happen
without God’s permission.


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    "What does Joni Eareckson Tada suggest about knowing Jesus during times of suffering?",
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Everything that happens to a child of
God is Father-filtered, and he intends to use it for good even
when Satan and others mean it for bad. The Purpose-Driven Life 194
Your most profound 
and intimate experiences 
of worship will likely be 
in your darkest days. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Because God is sovereignly in control, accidents are just
incidents in God’s good plan for you. Because every day of your
life was written on God’s calendar before you were born,10
everything that happens to you has spiritual significance. Everything! Romans 8:28–29 explains why: “We know that God
causes everything to work together for
the good of those who love God and
are called according to his purpose for
them. For God knew his people in
advance, and he chose them to become
like his Son.”
11
Understanding Romans 8:28–29
This is one of the most misquoted and misunderstood passages
in the Bible. It doesn’t say, “God causes everything to work out
the way I want it to.” Obviously that’s not true.


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It also doesn’t
say, “God causes everything to work out to have a happy ending
on earth.” That is not true either. There are many unhappy
endings on earth. We live in a fallen world. Only in heaven is everything done
perfectly the way God intends. That is why we are told to pray,
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
12 To fully understand
Romans 8:28–29 you must consider it phrase by phrase. “We know”: Our hope in difficult times is not based on
positive thinking, wishful thinking, or natural optimism.


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It is a
certainty based on the truths that God is in complete control of
our universe and that he loves us. “that God causes”: There’s a Grand Designer behind
everything. Your life is not a result of random chance, fate, or
luck.


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There is a master plan. History is His story. God is pulling
the strings. We make mistakes, but God never does. God cannot
make a mistake—because he is God. “everything”: God’s plan for your life involves all that happens
to you—including your mistakes, your sins, and your hurts. It
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 195
Everything that happens to 
you has spiritual significance. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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includes illness, debt, disasters, divorce, and death of loved ones. God can bring good out of the worst evil. He did at Calvary. “to work together”: Not separately or independently. The
events in your life work together in God’s plan. They are not
isolated acts, but interdependent parts of the process to make you
like Christ. To bake a cake you must use flour, salt, raw eggs,
sugar, and oil. Eaten individually, each is pretty distasteful or even
bitter.


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But bake them together and they become delicious. If you
will give God all your distasteful, unpleasant experiences, he will
blend them together for good. “for the good”: This does not say that everything in life is
good.


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Much of what happens in our world is evil and bad, but
God specializes in bringing good out of it. In the official family
tree of Jesus Christ,
13 four women are listed: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth,
and Bathsheba. Tamar seduced her father-in-law to get pregnant.


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Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was not even Jewish and broke the
law by marrying a Jewish man. Bathsheba committed adultery
with David, which resulted in her husband’s murder. These were
not exactly sterling reputations, but God brought good out of
bad, and Jesus came through their lineage. God’s purpose is
greater than our problems, our pain, and even our sin. “of those who love God and are called”: This promise is only
for God’s children. It is not for everyone. All things work for bad
for those living in opposition to God and insist on having their
own way. “according to his purpose”: What is that purpose? It is that
we “become like his Son.” Everything God allows to happen in
your life is permitted for that purpose! Building Christlike Character
We are like jewels, shaped with the hammer and chisel of
adversity. If a jeweler’s hammer isn’t strong enough to chip off
our rough edges, God will use a sledgehammer. If we’re really
stubborn, he uses a jackhammer.


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He will use whatever it takes. The Purpose-Driven Life 196
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the
more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual
muscle and moral fiber. Paul said, “We know that these troubles
produce patience. And patience produces character.”14 What
happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what
happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, but your
character will last forever. The Bible often compares trials
to a metal refiner’s fire that burns
away the impurities. Peter said,
“These troubles come to prove that
your faith is pure. This purity of faith
is worth more than gold.”
15 A
silversmith was asked, “How do
you know when the silver is pure?” He replied, “When I see my
reflection in it.” When you’ve been refined by trials, people can
see Jesus’ reflection in you. James said, “Under pressure, your
faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.”
16
Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you
through the same experiences Jesus went through.


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That includes
loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other
problems. The Bible says Jesus “learned obedience through
suffering” and “was made perfect through suffering.”
17 Why would
God exempt us from what he allowed his own Son to experience? Paul said, “We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go
through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go
through the good times with him!”
18
Responding to Problems as Jesus Would
Problems don’t automatically produce what God intends. Many people become bitter, rather than better, and never grow
up.


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Remember that God’s plan is good.God knows what is best
for you and has your best interests at heart. God told Jeremiah,
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 197
What happens outwardly in
your life is not as important as
what happens inside you. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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“The plans I have for you [are] plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future.”19 Joseph understood this
truth when he told his brothers who had sold him into slavery,
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
20
Hezekiah echoed the same sentiment about his life-threatening
illness: “It was for my own good that I had such hard times.”
21
Whenever God says no to your request for relief, remember, “God
is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best.”22
It is vital that you stay focused on God’s plan, not your pain or
problem. That is how Jesus endured the pain of the cross, and we
are urged to follow his example: “Keep your eyes on Jesus, our
leader and instructor.


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He was willing to die a shameful death on the
cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards.”
23 Corrie
ten Boom, who suffered in a Nazi death camp, explained the
power of focus: “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If
you look within, you’ll be depressed.


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But if you look at Christ,
you’ll be at rest!” Your focus will determine your feelings. The secret of endurance is to remember that your
pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal. Moses endured a life of problems “because he was
looking ahead to his reward.”
24 Paul endured
hardship the same way. He said, “Our present
troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet
they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that
will last forever!” 25
Don’t give in to short-term thinking. Stay focused on the end
result: “If we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us
later.”
26
Rejoice and give thanks. The Bible tells us to “give thanks in
all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”27
How is this possible? Notice that God tells us to give thanks “in
all circumstances” not “for all circumstances.” God doesn’t expect
you to be thankful for evil, for sin, for suffering, or for their
The Purpose-Driven Life 198
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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painful consequences in the world. Instead, God wants you to
thank him that he will use your problems to fulfill his purposes. The Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”28 It doesn’t say,
“Rejoice over your pain.” That’s masochism. You rejoice “in the
Lord.” No matter what’s happening, you can rejoice in God’s
love, care, wisdom, power, and faithfulness. Jesus said, “Be full of
joy at that time, because you have a great reward
waiting for you in heaven.”
29
We can also rejoice in knowing that God is
going through the pain with us. We do not
serve a distant and detached God who spouts
encouraging clichés safely from the sideline.


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Instead, he enters
into our suffering. Jesus did it in the Incarnation, and his Spirit
does it in us now. God will never leave us on our own. Refuse to give up.


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Be patient and persistent. The Bible says,
“Let the process go on until your endurance is fully developed, and
you will find that you have become men of mature character . .


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. with
no weak spots.”
30
Character building is a slow process. Whenever we try to avoid
or escape the difficulties in life, we short-circuit the process,
delay our growth, and actually end up with a worse kind of
pain—the worthless type that accompanies denial and avoidance. When you grasp the eternal consequences of your character
development, you’ll pray fewer “Comfort me” prayers (“Help me
feel good”) and more “Conform me” prayers (“Use this to make
me more like you”). You know you are maturing when you begin to see the hand of
God in the random, baffling, and seemingly pointless
circumstances of life. If you are facing trouble right now, don’t ask, “Why me?”
Instead ask, “What do you want me to learn?” Then trust God
and keep on doing what’s right. “You need to stick it out, staying
with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.”
31
Don’t give up—grow up! PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 199
DAY TWENTY-FIVE:
TRANSFORMED
BY TROUBLE
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 200
Day Twenty-five
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: There is a purpose behind every
problem. Verse to Remember: “And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28 (NIV)
Question to Consider: What problem in my life has
caused the greatest growth in me?


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26
Growing through T emptation
Happy is the man who doesn’ t give in and 
do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards 
he will get as his reward the crown of life that
God has promised those who love him. James 1:12 (LB) 
My temptations have been 
my masters in divinity. Martin Luther 
Every temptation is an opportunity to do good. On the path to spiritual maturity, even temptation becomes a
stepping-stone rather than a stumbling block when you realize
that it is just as much an occasion to do the right thing as it is to
do the wrong thing. Temptation simply provides the choice. While temptation is Satan’s primary weapon to destroy you, God
wants to use it to develop you. Every time you choose to do good
instead of sin, you are growing in the character of Christ.


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To understand this, you must first identify the character
qualities of Jesus. One of the most concise descriptions of his
character is the fruit of the Spirit: “When the Holy Spirit controls
our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace,
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 201
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-
control.”1
These nine qualities are an expansion of the Great
Commandment and portray a beautiful description of Jesus
Christ. Jesus is perfect love, joy, peace, patience, and all the other
fruit embodied in a single person. To have the fruit of the Spirit is
to be like Christ. How, then, does the Holy Spirit produce these nine fruit in
your life? Does he create them instantly?


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Fruit always matures and ripens slowly. This next sentence is one of the most important spiritual truths
you will ever learn: God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life
by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re
tempted to express the exact opposite
quality! Character development
always involves a choice, and
temptation provides that
opportunity. For instance, God teaches us love
by putting some unlovely people
around us.


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It takes no character to
love people who are lovely and
loving to you. God teaches us real
joy in the midst of sorrow, when we
turn to him. Happiness depends on external circumstances, but
joy is based on your relationship to God. God develops real peace within us, not by making things go the
way we planned, but by allowing times of chaos and confusion. Anyone can be peaceful watching a beautiful sunset or relaxing on
vacation. We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in
circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid. Likewise, patience is developed in circumstances in which we’re
forced to wait and are tempted to be angry or have a short fuse. The Purpose-Driven Life 202
God develops the fruit of the
Spirit by allowing you to
experience circumstances in
which you’ re tempted to express
the exact opposite quality! Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a
choice. You can’t claim to be good if you’ve never been tempted
to be bad.


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You can’t claim to be faithful if you’ve never had the
opportunity to be unfaithful. Integrity is built by defeating the
temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be
prideful; and endurance develops every time you reject the
temptation to give up. Every time you defeat a
temptation, you become more like Jesus! How Temptation Works
It helps to know that Satan is entirely
predictable. He has used the same strategy and old
tricks since Creation. All temptations follow the
same the pattern. That’s why Paul said, “We are very
familiar with his evil schemes.”
2 From the Bible we learn that
temptation follows a four-step process, which Satan used both on
Adam and Eve and on Jesus. In step one, Satan identifies a desire inside of you. It may be a
sinful desire, like the desire to get revenge or to control others, or
it may be a legitimate, normal desire, like the desire to be loved
and valued or to feel pleasure. Temptation starts when Satan
suggests (with a thought) that you give in to an evil desire, or
that you fulfill a legitimate desire in a wrong way or at the wrong
time. Always beware of shortcuts. They are often temptations! Satan whispers, “You deserve it! You should have it now!


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. or make you feel better.”
We think temptation lies around us, but God says it begins
within us. If you didn’t have the internal desire, the temptation
could not attract you. Temptation always starts in your mind, not
in circumstances. Jesus said, “For from within, out of a person’s
heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander,
pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within.”
3 James
tells us that there is “a whole army of evil desires within you.”4
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 203
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Step two is doubt. Satan tries to get you to doubt what God has
said about the sin: Is it really wrong? Did God really say not to do
it? Didn’t God mean this prohibition for someone else or some
other time? Doesn’t God want me
to be happy?


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The Bible warns,
“Watch out! Don’t let evil thoughts or
doubts make any of you turn from the
living God.”
5
Step three is deception. Satan is
incapable of telling the truth and is
called “the Father of lies.”
6 Anything
he tells you will be untrue or just half-true. Satan offers his lie to
replace what God has already said in his Word. Satan says, “You
will not die. You’ll be wiser like God. You can get away with it.


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Besides,
everyone else is doing it. It is only a little sin.” But a little sin is
like being a little pregnant: It will eventually show itself. Step four is disobedience. You finally act on the thought you’ve
been toying with in your mind. What began as an idea gets
birthed into behavior.


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You give in to whatever got your attention. You believe Satan’s lies and fall into the trap that James warns
about: “We are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by
our own evil desires. Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to
sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Do not be
deceived, my dear friends!”
7
Overcoming Temptation
Understanding how temptation works is in itself helpful, but
there are specific steps you need to take to overcome it. Refuse to be intimidated. Many Christians are frightened and
demoralized by tempting thoughts, feeling guilty that they aren’t
“beyond” temptation. They feel ashamed just for being tempted. This is a misunderstanding of maturity. You will never outgrow
temptation. The Purpose-Driven Life 204
We think temptation lies 
around us, but God says 
it begins within us. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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In one sense you can consider temptation a compliment. Satan
does not have to tempt those who are already doing his evil will;
they are already his. Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you, not
a sign of weakness or worldliness. It is also a normal part of being
human and living in a fallen world. Don’t be surprised or shocked
or discouraged by it. Be realistic about the inevitability of
temptation; you will never be able to avoid it completely. The
Bible says, “When you’re tempted, .


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.” not if. Paul advises,
“Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no
different from what others experience.”
8
It is not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted, yet he never
sinned.9 Temptation only becomes a sin when you give in to it. Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your
head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”
You can’t keep the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can
choose not to dwell or act on them. For example, many people don’t know the difference between
physical attraction or sexual arousal, and lust.


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They are not the
same. God made every one of us a
sexual being, and that is good. Attraction and arousal are the
natural, spontaneous, God-given
responses to physical beauty, while
lust is a deliberate act of the will. Lust is a choice to commit in your
mind what you’d like to do with
your body. You can be attracted or even aroused without
choosing to sin by lusting. Many people, especially Christian men,
feel guilty that their God-given hormones are working. When
they automatically notice an attractive woman, they assume it is
lust and feel ashamed and condemned. But attraction is not lust
until you begin to dwell on it.


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Actually, the closer you grow to God, the more Satan will try
to tempt you. The moment you became God’s child, Satan, like a
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 205
Temptation is a sign that 
Satan hates you, not a sign 
of weakness or worldliness. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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mobster hit man, put out a “contract” on you. You are his enemy,
and he’s plotting your downfall. Sometimes while you are praying, Satan will suggest a bizarre or
evil thought just to distract you and shame you. Don’t be alarmed
or ashamed by this, but realize that Satan fears your prayers and
will try anything to stop them. Instead of condemning yourself
with “How could I think such a thought?” treat it as a distraction
from Satan and immediately refocus on God. Recognize your pattern of temptation and be prepared for
it. There are certain situations that make you more vulnerable to
temptation than others. Some circumstances will cause you to
stumble almost immediately, while others don’t bother you much. These situations are unique to your weaknesses, and you need to
identify them because Satan surely knows them! He knows
exactly what trips you up, and he is constantly
working to get you into those circumstances. Peter
warns, “Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and
would like nothing better than to catch you 
napping.”
10
Ask yourself, “When am I most tempted? What
day of the week? What time of day?” Ask, “Where am I
most tempted? At work?


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At a
sports bar? In an airport or motel out of town?”
Ask, “Who is with me when I’m most tempted? Friends?


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A crowd of strangers? When I’m alone?” Also ask,
“How do I usually feel when I am most tempted?” It may be when
you are tired or lonely or bored or depressed or under stress. It
may be when you’ve been hurt or angry or worried, or after a big
success or spiritual high. You should identify your typical pattern of temptation and then
prepare to avoid those situations as much as possible. The Bible
tells us repeatedly to anticipate and be ready to face temptation. 11
Paul said, “Don’t give the Devil a chance.”12 Wise planning reduces
temptation. Follow the advice of Proverbs: “Plan carefully what
The Purpose-Driven Life 206
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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. Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don’t go one step off
the right way.”13 “God’s people avoid evil ways, and they protect
themselves by watching where they go.”14
Request God’s help.Heaven has a twenty-four-hour
emergency hot line. God wants you to ask him for assistance in
overcoming temptation. He says, “Call on me in
times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will
honor me.”
15
I call this a “microwave” prayer because it is
quick and to the point: Help! SOS!


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Mayday! When temptation strikes, you don’t have time
for a long conversation with God; you simply cry out. David,
Daniel, Peter, Paul, and millions of others have prayed this kind
of instant prayer for help in trouble. The Bible guarantees that our cry for help will be heard
because Jesus is sympathetic to our struggle. He faced the same
temptations we do. He “understands our weaknesses, for he faced
all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.”
16
If God is waiting to help us defeat temptation, why don’t we
turn to him more often? Honestly, sometimes we don’t want to
be helped!


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We want to give in to temptation even though we
know it’s wrong. At that moment we think we know what’s best
for us more than God does. At other times we’re embarrassed to ask God for help because
we keep giving in to the same temptation over and over. But God
never gets irritated, bored, or impatient when we keep coming
back to him. The Bible says, “Let us have confidence, then, and
approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive
mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.”
17
God’s love is everlasting, and his patience endures forever. If
you have to cry out for God’s help two hundred times a day to
defeat a particular temptation, he will still be eager to give mercy
and grace, so come boldly. Ask him for the power to do the right
thing and then expect him to provide it. PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 207
DAY TWENTY-SIX:
GROWING
THROUGH
TEMPTATION
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 208
Temptations keep us dependent upon God. Just as the roots
grow stronger when wind blows against a tree, so every time you
stand up to a temptation you become more like Jesus. When you
stumble—which you will—it is not fatal.


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Instead of giving in or
giving up, look up to God, expect him to help you, and
remember the reward that is waiting for you: “When people are
tempted and still continue strong, they should be happy. After they
have proved their faith, God will reward them with life forever.”
18
Day Twenty-six
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Every temptation is an opportunity to
do good. Verse to Remember: “God blesses the people who
patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the
crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” 
James 1:12 (NLT)
Question to Consider: What Christlike character
quality can I develop by defeating the most common
temptation I face? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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but stay close to anything 
that makes you want to do right. 2 Timothy 2:22 (LB)
Remember that the temptations that come 
into your life are no different from what others
experience. And God is faithful. He will keep
the temptation from becoming so strong 
that you can’ t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you 
a way out so that you will not give in to it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
There is always a way out. You may sometimes feel that a temptation is too overpowering
for you to bear, but that’s a lie from Satan. God has promised
never to allow more on you than he puts within you to handle it. He will not permit any temptation that you could not overcome. However, you must do your part too by practicing four biblical
keys to defeating temptation. PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 209
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Refocus your attention on something else. It may surprise
you that nowhere in the Bible are we told to “resist temptation.”
We are told to “resist the devil,”1 but that is very different, as I’ll
explain later. Instead, we are advised to refocus our attention
because resisting a thought doesn’t work.


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It only intensifies our
focus on the wrong thing and strengthens its allure. Let me
explain:
Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you
drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually
reinforce it. This is especially true with temptation. You don’t
defeat temptation by fighting the feeling of it. The more you fight
a feeling, the more it consumes and
controls you. You strengthen it
every time you think it. Since temptation always begins
with a thought, the quickest way to
neutralize its allure is to turn your
attention to something else. Don’t
fight the thought, just change the
channel of your mind and get interested in another idea. This is
the first step in defeating temptation. The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets
your attention will get you. That’s why Job said, “I made a
covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.”
2
And David prayed, “Keep me from paying attention to what is
worthless.”3
Have you ever watched a food advertisement on television and
suddenly felt you were hungry? Have you ever heard someone
cough and immediately felt the need to clear your throat?


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Ever
watched someone release a big yawn and felt the urge to yawn
yourself? (You may be yawning right now as you read this!) That
is the power of suggestion. We naturally move toward whatever
we focus our attention on.


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The more you think about something,
the stronger it takes hold of you. The Purpose-Driven Life 210
The battle for sin is won or lost
in your mind. Whatever gets
your attention will get you.


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. or stop lusting” is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps
you focused on what you don’t want. It’s like announcing, “I’m
never going to do what my mom did.” You are setting yourself up
to repeat it. Most diets don’t work because they keep you thinking about
food all the time, guaranteeing that you’ll be hungry. In the same
way, a speaker who keeps repeating to herself, “Don’t be
nervous!” sets herself up to be nervous! Instead she should focus
on anything except her feelings—on God, on the importance of
her speech, or on the needs of those listening. Temptation begins by capturing your attention.


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Then your emotions
activate your behavior, and you act on what you felt. The more
you focus on “I don’t want to do this,” the stronger it draws 
you into its web. Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once your mind is on something else, the temptation loses its
power. So when temptation calls you on the phone, don’t argue
with it, just hang up! Sometimes this means physically leaving a tempting situation. This is one time it is okay to run away. Get up and turn
off the television set. Walk away from a group that
is gossiping. Leave the theater in the middle of
the movie. To avoid being stung, stay away from
the bees.


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Do whatever is necessary to turn your
attention to something else. Spiritually, your mind is your most vulnerable
organ. To reduce temptation, keep your mind
occupied with God’s Word and other good
thoughts. You defeat bad thoughts by thinking of
something better. This is the principle of replacement. You
overcome evil with good. 4 Satan can’t get your attention when
your mind is preoccupied with something else. That’s why the
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 211
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Bible repeatedly tells us to keep our minds focused: “Fix your
thoughts on Jesus.” 5 “Always think about Jesus Christ.”6
“Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve
praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and
honorable.” 7
If you’re serious about defeating temptation you must manage
your mind and monitor your media intake. The wisest man who
ever lived warned, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by
your thoughts.”
8 Don’t allow trash into your mind indiscriminately. Be selective. Choose carefully what you think about. Follow Paul’s
model: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey
Christ.”
9 This takes a lifetime of practice, but with the help of the
Holy Spirit you can reprogram the way you think. Reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group.


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You don’t have to broadcast it to the whole world, but you need
at least one person you can honestly share your struggles with. The Bible says, “You are better off to have a friend than to be all
alone. .


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. If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall
without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble.”
10
Let me be clear: If you’re losing the battle against a persistent
bad habit, an addiction, or a temptation, and you’re stuck in a
repeating cycle of good intention-failure-guilt, you will not get
better on your own! You need the help of other people. Some
temptations are only overcome with the help of
a partner who prays for you, encourages you,
and holds you accountable. God’s plan for your growth and freedom
includes other Christians. Authentic, honest
fellowship is the antidote to your lonely struggle against those
sins that won’t budge. God says it is the only way you’re going to
break free: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed.”
11
Do you really want to be healed of that persistent temptation
that keeps defeating you over and over? God’s solution is plain:
The Purpose-Driven Life 212
DAY TWENTY-SEVEN:
DEFEATING
TEMPTATION
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Don’t repress it; confess it! Don’t conceal it; reveal it. Revealing
your feeling is the beginning of healing. Hiding your hurt only intensifies it. Problems grow in the 
dark and become bigger and bigger, but when exposed to the
light of truth, they shrink. You are only as sick as your secrets. So take off your mask, stop pretending you’re perfect, and walk
into freedom. At Saddleback Church we have seen the awesome power of this
principle to break the grip of seemingly hopeless addictions and
persistent temptations through a
program we developed called
Celebrate Recovery. It is a biblical,
eight-step recovery process based
on the Beatitudes of Jesus and built
around small support groups. In
the past ten years over 5,000 lives
have been set free from all kinds of
habits, hurts, and addictions. Today the program is used in
thousands of churches.


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I highly recommend it for your church. Satan wants you to think that your sin and temptation are
unique so you must keep them a secret. The truth is, we’re all in
the same boat. We all fight the same temptations,
12 and “all of us
have sinned.”13 Millions have felt what you’re feeling and have
faced the same struggles you’re facing right now. The reason we hide our faults is pride. We want others to think
we have everything “under control.” The truth is, whatever you
can’t talk about is already out of control in your life: problems
with your finances, marriage, kids, thoughts, sexuality, secret
habits, or anything else. If you could handle it on your own, you
would have already done so.


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Some problems are too ingrained, too habitual, and too big to
solve on your own. You need a small group or an accountability
partner who will encourage you, support you, pray for you, love
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 213
The truth is, whatever you can’ t
talk about is already out 
of control in your life. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Then you can do
the same for them. Whenever someone confides to me, “I’ve never told this to
anyone until now,” I get excited for that person because I know
they are about to experience great relief and liberation. The
pressure valve is going to be released, and for the first time they
are going to see a glimmer of hope for their future. It always
happens when we do what God tells us to do by admitting our
struggles to a godly friend. Let me ask you a tough question: What are you pretending
isn’t a problem in your life?


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You’re not going to solve it on your own. Yes, it is humbling to
admit our weaknesses to others, but lack of humility is the very
thing that is keeping you from getting better. The Bible says,
“God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. So humble yourselves before God.”
14
Resist the Devil. After we have humbled ourselves and
submitted to God, we are then told to defy the Devil. The rest of
James 4:7 says, “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.”We
don’t passively resign ourselves to his attacks. We are to fight back. The New Testament often describes the Christian life as a
spiritual battle against evil forces, using war terms such as fight,
conquer, strive, and overcome. Christians are often compared to
soldiers serving in enemy territory. How can we resist the Devil? Paul tells us, “Put on salvation as
your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God.”
15 The first step is to accept God’s salvation. You won’t be
able to say no to the Devil unless you’ve said yes to Christ. Without Christ we are defenseless against the Devil, but with “the
helmet of salvation” our minds are protected by God. Remember
this: If you are a believer, Satan cannot force you to do anything.


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He can only suggest. Second, you must use the Word of God as your weapon
against Satan. Jesus modeled this when he was tempted in the
The Purpose-Driven Life 214
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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wilderness. Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus
countered by quoting Scripture. He didn’t argue with Satan. He
didn’t say, “I’m not hungry,” when tempted to use his power to
meet a personal need. He simply quoted Scripture from memory. We must do the same. There is power in God’s Word, and Satan
fears it. Don’t ever try to argue with the Devil. He’s better at arguing
than you are, having had thousands of years to practice. You can’t
bluff Satan with logic or your opinion, but you can use the
weapon that makes him tremble—the truth of God. This is why
memorizing Scripture is absolutely essential to defeating
temptation. You have quick access to it whenever you’re tempted. Like Jesus, you have the truth stored in your heart, ready to be
remembered. If you don’t have any Bible verses memorized, you’ve got 
no bullets in your gun! I challenge you to memorize one verse 
a week for the rest of your life. Imagine how much stronger 
you’ll be.


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Realize your vulnerability. God
warns us never to get cocky and
overconfident; that is the recipe for
disaster. Jeremiah said, “The heart is
deceitful above all things and beyond
cure.”
16 That means we are good at
fooling ourselves. Given the right circumstances, any of us are
capable of any sin.


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We must never let down our guard and think
we’re beyond temptation. Don’t carelessly place yourself in tempting situations. Avoid
them. 17 Remember that it is easier to stay out of temptation than
to get out of it. The Bible says, “Don’t be so naive and self-
confident.


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Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.”
18
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 215
Don’ t ever try to argue with the
Devil. He’ s better at arguing
than you are, having had
thousands of years to practice.


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The Purpose-Driven Life 216
Day Twenty-seven
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: There is always a way out. Verse to Remember: “God is faithful.


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He will keep the
temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand
up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a
way out so that you will not give in to it.” 
1 Corinthians 10:13b (NLT)
Question to Consider: Who could I ask to be a
spiritual partner to help me defeat a persistent
temptation by praying for me? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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28
It T akes Time
Everything on earth has its own time 
and its own season. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (CEV)
I am sure that God who began the good work
within you will keep right on helping you grow
in his grace until his task within you is finally
finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns. Philippians.


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1:6 (LB)
There are no shortcuts to maturity. It takes years for us to grow to adulthood, and it takes a full
season for fruit to mature and ripen. The same is true for the fruit
of the Spirit. The development of Christlike character cannot be
rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time. When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavor.


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In
America, tomatoes are usually picked unripened so they won’t
bruise during shipping to the stores. Then, before they are sold,
these green tomatoes are sprayed with CO
2 gas to turn them red
instantly. Gassed tomatoes are edible, but they are no match to
the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato that is allowed to mature
slowly. PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 217
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned
about how strong we grow. God views our lives from and for
eternity, so he is never in a hurry. Lane Adams once compared the process of spiritual growth to
the strategy the Allies used in World War II to liberate islands in
the South Pacific. First they would
“soften up” an island, weakening
the resistance by shelling the
enemy strongholds with bombs
from offshore ships.


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Next, a small
group of Marines would invade the
island and establish a
“beachhead”—a tiny fragment of
the island that they could control. Once the beachhead was
secured, they would begin the long process of liberating the rest
of the island, one bit of territory at a time.


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Eventually the entire
island would be brought under control, but not without some
costly battles. Adams drew this parallel: Before Christ invades our lives at
conversion, he sometimes has to “soften us up” by allowing
problems we can’t handle. While some open their lives to Christ
the first time he knocks on the door, most of us are resistant and
defensive. Our pre-conversion experience is Jesus saying, “Behold
I stand at the door and bomb!”
The moment you open yourself to Christ, God gets a
“beachhead” in your life. You may think you have surrendered all
your life to him, but the truth is, there is a lot to your life that
you aren’t even aware of.


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You can only give God as much of you
as you understand at that moment. That’s okay. Once Christ is
given a beachhead, he begins the campaign to take over more and
more territory until all of your life is completely his. There will be
struggles and battles, but the outcome will never be in doubt. God has promised that “he who began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion.”
1
The Purpose-Driven Life 218
While we worry about how 
fast we grow, God is concerned
about how strong we grow. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Discipleship is the process of conforming to Christ. The Bible
says, “We arrive at real maturity—that measure of development
which is meant by ‘the fullness of Christ.’”2 Christlikeness is your
eventual destination, but your journey will last a lifetime. So far we have seen that this journey involves believing
(through worship), belonging (through fellowship), and
becoming (through discipleship). Every day God wants you to
become a little more like him: “You have begun to live the new
life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the
One who made you.” 3
Today we’re obsessed with speed, but God is more interested
in strength and stability than swiftness. We want the quick fix, the
shortcut, the on-the-spot solution.


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We want a sermon, a seminar,
or an experience that will instantly resolve all problems, remove
all temptation, and release us from all growing pains. But real
maturity is never the result of a single experience, no matter how
powerful or moving.


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Growth is gradual. The Bible says, “Our lives
gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our
lives and we become like him.”
4
Why Does It Take So Long? Although God could instantly transform us, he has chosen to
develop us slowly. Jesus is deliberate in developing his disciples. Just as God allowed the Israelites to take over the Promised Land
“little by little”
5 so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed, he
prefers to work in incremental steps in our lives. Why does it take so long to change and grow
up?


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There are several reasons. We are slow learners. We often have to
relearn a lesson forty or fifty times to really get
it. The problems keep recurring, and we think,
“Not again! I’ve already learned that!”—but
God knows better. The history of Israel illustrates
how quickly we forget the lessons God teaches us and
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 219
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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We have a lot to unlearn. Many people go to a counselor with
a personal or relational problem that took years to develop and
say, “I need you to fix me. I’ve got an hour.” They naïvely expect
a quick solution to a long-standing, deep-rooted difficulty. Since
most of our problems—and all of our bad habits—didn’t develop
overnight, it’s unrealistic to expect them to go away immediately. There is no pill, prayer, or principle that will instantly undo the
damage of many years. It requires the hard work of removal and
replacement. The Bible calls it “taking off the old self ”and
“putting on the new self.”
6 While you were given a brand new
nature at the moment of conversion, you still have old habits,
patterns, and practices that need to be removed and replaced. We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves.


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I
have already pointed out that the truth will set us free but it often
makes us miserable first. The fear of what we might discover if we
honestly faced our character defects keeps us living in the prison
of denial. Only as God is allowed to shine the light of his truth on
our faults, failures, and hang-ups
can we begin to work on them. This is why you cannot grow
without a humble, teachable
attitude. Growth is often painful and
scary. There is no growth without
change; there is no change without
fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change
involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order
to experience the new. We fear these losses, even if our old ways
were self-defeating, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they
were at least comfortable and familiar. People often build their identity around their defects. We say,
“It’s just like me to be .


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. .” and “It’s just the way I am.” The
The Purpose-Driven Life 220
There is no growth without
change, no change without fear
or loss, and no loss without pain. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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unconscious worry is that if I let go of my habit, my hurt, or my
hang-up, who will I be? This fear can definitely slow down your
growth.


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Remember that your character is
the sum total of your habits. You can’t claim to be kind unless
you are habitually kind—you show kindness without even
thinking about it. You can’t claim to have integrity unless it is
your habit to always be honest. A husband who is faithful to his
wife most of the time is not faithful at all! Your
habits define your character. There is only one way to develop the habits of
Christlike character: You must practice them—
and that takes time! There are no instant habits. Paul urged Timothy, “Practice these things. Devote your life to them
so that everyone can see your progress.”
7
If you practice something over time, you get good at it. Repetition is the mother of character and skill. These character-
building habits are often called “spiritual disciplines,” and there
growth. Don’t Get in a Hurry
As you grow to spiritual maturity, there are several ways to
cooperate with God in the process. Believe God is working in your life even when you don’t
feel it. Spiritual growth is sometimes tedious work, one small step
at a time. Expect gradual improvement. The Bible says,
“Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.”
8 There
are seasons in your spiritual life, too. Sometimes you will have a
short, intense burst of growth (springtime) followed by a period
of stabilizing and testing (fall and winter).


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What about those problems, habits, and hurts you would like
miraculously removed? It’s fine to pray for a miracle, but don’t be
PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 221
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT:
IT TAKES
TIME
are dozens of great books that can teach you how to do these. See
appendix 2 for a recommended reading list of books for spiritual
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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disappointed if the answer comes through a gradual change. Over
time, a slow, steady stream of water will erode the hardest rock
and turn giant boulders into pebbles. Over time, a little sprout
can turn into a giant redwood tree towering 350 feet tall.


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This is not a
diary of events, but a record of what you are learning. Write down
the insights and life lessons God teaches you about him, about
yourself, about life, relationships, and everything else. Record
these so you can review and remember them and pass them on to
the next generation. 9 The reason we must relearn lessons is that
we forget them. Reviewing your spiritual journal regularly can
spare you a lot of unnecessary pain and heartache. The Bible says,
“It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we
don’t drift off.”
10
Be patient with God and with yourself. One of life’s
frustrations is that God’s timetable is rarely the same as ours. We
are often in a hurry when God isn’t. You may feel frustrated with
the seemingly slow progress you’re making in life. Remember that
God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time. He will use your
entire lifetime to prepare you for your role in eternity. The Bible is filled with examples of how God uses a long
process to develop character, especially in leaders. He took eighty
years to prepare Moses, including forty in the wilderness. For
14,600 days Moses kept waiting
and wondering, “Is it time yet?”
But God kept saying, “Not yet.”
Contrary to popular book titles,
there are no Easy Steps to Maturity
or Secrets of Instant Sainthood. When God wants to make a
mushroom, he does it overnight, but when he wants to make a
giant oak, he takes a hundred years. Great souls are grown
through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering.


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Be patient
with the process. James advised, “Don’t try to get out of anything
The Purpose-Driven Life 222
God is never in a hurry, 
but he is always on time. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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PURPOSE #3: Y ou W ere Created to Become Like Christ 223
prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-
developed.”11
Don’t get discouraged.When Habakkuk became depressed
because he didn’t think God was acting quickly enough, God had
this to say: “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly,
steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled.


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If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to
pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!”
12 A
delay is not a denial from God. Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to
go.


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You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where
you used to be. Years ago people wore a popular button with the
letters PBPGINFWMY. It stood for “Please Be Patient, God Is
Not Finished With Me Yet.” God isn’t finished with you, either,
so keep on moving forward. Even the snail reached the ark by
persevering! Day Twenty-eight
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: There are no shortcuts to maturity. Verse to Remember: “God began doing a good work in
you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished
when Jesus Christ comes again.”  Philippians 1:6 (NCV)
Question to Consider: In what area of my spiritual
growth do I need to be more patient and persistent? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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E ach one of 
us does the work which the Lord gave him to do:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant,
but it was God who made the plant grow. 1 Corinthians 3:5–6 (TEV) 
PURPOSE #4
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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29
Accepting Y our Assignment
It is God himself who has made us what 
we are and given us new lives 
from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago 
he planned that we should spend 
these lives in helping others. Ephesians 2:10 (LB)
I glorified you on earth by completing down 
to the last detail what you assigned me to do. John 17:4 (Msg)
You were put on earth to make a contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources—to eat, breathe,
and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with
your life. While many best-selling books offer advice on how to
“get” the most out of life, that’s not the reason God made you. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it.


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God wants you to give something back. This is God’s fourth
purpose for your life, and it is called your “ministry,” or service. The Bible gives us the details.


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You were created to serve God. The Bible says, “[God] has
created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 227
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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us to do.”1 These “good deeds” are your service. Whenever you
serve others in any way, you are actually serving God2 and
fulfilling one of your purposes. In the next two chapters you will
see how God has carefully shaped you for this purpose. What God
told Jeremiah is also true for you: “Before I made you in your
mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for
a special work.”
3 You were placed on this planet for a special
assignment. You were saved to serve God. The Bible says, “It is he who
saved us and chose us for his holy work, not because we deserved it
but because that was his plan.”
4 God redeemed you so you could
do his “holy work.” You’re not saved by service, but you are
saved for service. In God’s kingdom, you have a place, a purpose,
a role, and a function to fulfill. This gives your life great
significance and value. It cost Jesus his own life to purchase your salvation. The Bible
reminds us, “God paid a great price for you. So use your body to
honor God.”
5 We don’t serve God out of guilt or fear or even
duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what he’s done for us. We owe him our lives.


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Through salvation our past has been
forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured. In light of these incredible benefits Paul concluded, “Because of
God’s great mercy . .


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. Offer yourselves as a living
sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service.”
6
The apostle John taught that our loving
service to others shows that we are truly saved. He said, “Our love for each other proves that we
have gone from death to life.”
7 If I have no love
for others, no desire to serve others, and I’m only concerned
about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my
life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.


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Another term for serving God that’s misunderstood by most
people is the word ministry. When most people hear “ministry,”
they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says
The Purpose-Driven Life 228
DAY TWENTY-NINE:
ACCEPTING
YOUR
ASSIGNMENT
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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every member of his family is a minister. In the Bible, the words
servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If
you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you’re serving,
you’re ministering. When Peter’s sick mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, she
instantly “stood up and began to serve Jesus,”
8 using her new gift of
health. This is what we’re to do.


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We are healed to help others. We
are blessed to be a blessing. We are
saved to serve, not to sit around
and wait for heaven. Have you ever wondered why
God doesn’t just immediately take
us to heaven the moment we accept
his grace? Why does he leave us in a
fallen world? He leaves us here to
fulfill his purposes. Once you are
saved, God intends to use you for his goals. God has a ministry
for you in his church and a mission for you in the world. You are called to serve God. Growing up, you may have
thought that being “called” by God was something only
missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other “full-time” church workers
experienced, but the Bible says every Christian is called to
service. 9 Your call to salvation included your call to service. They
are the same.


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A “non-serving Christian” is a
contradiction in terms. The Bible says, “He saved us and called us to be his own people,
not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose.”
10
Peter adds, “You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of
God, who called you.”11 Anytime you use your God-given abilities
to help others, you are fulfilling your calling. The Bible says, “Now you belong to him ...


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in order that we
might be useful in the service of God.” 12 How much of the time are
you being useful in the service of God? In some churches in
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 229
If I have no love for others, 
no desire to serve others, 
I should question whether
Christ is really in my life. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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China, they welcome new believers by saying “Jesus now has a
new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to
help with, and a new heart to love others with.” 
One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is
to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The
Bible says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you
is a separate and necessary part of it.”
13 Your service is desperately
needed in the Body of Christ—just ask any local church. Each of
us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small
service to God; it all matters. Likewise, there are no insignificant ministries in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are
valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest
difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large
chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps
me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. There is no
correlation between size and significance.


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Every ministry
matters because we are all dependent on each other to
function. What happens when one part of your body fails to
function? You get sick.


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The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for itself:
“I’m tired! I don’t want to serve the body anymore! I want
a year off just to be fed. I’ve got to do what’s best for me!


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Your body
would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because
of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines
as spectators, and the Body suffers. You are commanded to serve God. Jesus was
unmistakable: “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the
Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my
life.”
14 For Christians, service is not optional, something to be
tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the
heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to
The Purpose-Driven Life 230
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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give”—and those two verbs should define your life on earth,
too. Serving and giving sum up God’s fourth purpose for your
life. Mother Teresa once said, “Holy living consists in doing
God’s work with a smile.”
Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry!


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We must act on what we
know and practice what we claim to
believe. Impression without
expression causes depression. Study
without service leads to spiritual
stagnation. The old comparison
between the Sea of Galilee and the
Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in
water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead
Sea because, with no outflow, the lake has stagnated. The last thing many believers need today is to go to another
Bible study.


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They already know far more than they are putting
into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which
they can exercise their spiritual muscles. Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the
time we’re more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m
looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not
“I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.” We expect
others to serve us, not vice versa. But as we mature in Christ, the
focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of
service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who’s going
to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet?”
Do you ever ask that question? Preparing for Eternity
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and
he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 231
Spiritual maturity is never 
an end in itself. W e grow up 
in order to give out.


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The Bible says, “Each of us will have to give a personal account to
God.”15 Think about the implications of that. One day God will
compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves
compared with what we invested in serving others. At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound
hollow: “I was too busy” or “I had my own goals” or “I was
preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for
retirement.” To all excuses God will respond, “Sorry, wrong
answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to
live a life of service. What part did you not understand?” The
Bible warns unbelievers, “He will pour out his anger and wrath on
those who live for themselves,”
16 but for Christians it will mean a
loss of eternal rewards. We are only fully alive when we’re helping others.


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Jesus said,“If
you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw
away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will
ever know what it means to really live.”
17 This truth is so important
that it is repeated five times in the Gospels. If you aren’t serving,
you’re just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants
you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly. Service and Significance
You are going to give your life for something. What will it be—
a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have
lasting significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is
through ministry that we discover
the meaning of our lives. The Bible
says, “Each of us finds our meaning
and function as a part of his body.”
18
As we serve together in God’s
family, our lives take on eternal
importance. Paul said, “I want you
to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less .


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. because of what you are a part of.”
19
The Purpose-Driven Life 232
Service is the pathway 
to real significance. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 233
God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He
wants to work through you.


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What matters is not the duration of
your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how
you lived.


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If you’re not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse
have you been using? Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah
was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was
poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had
an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal,
Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a
widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was
impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan
woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular,
Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was
timid. That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of
them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making
excuses. Day Twenty-nine
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Service is not optional. Verse to Remember: “For we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.”  Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
Question to Consider: What is holding me back from
accepting God’s call to serve him? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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30
Shaped for Serving God
Your hands shaped me and made me. Job 10:8 (NIV)
The people I have shaped for myself 
will broadcast my praises. Isaiah 43:21 (NJB)
You were shaped to serve God. God formed every creature on this planet with a special area of
expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some
burrow, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on
the way they were shaped by God. The same is true with humans. Each of us was uniquely designed, or “shaped,” to do certain
things. Before architects design any new building they first ask, “What
will be its purpose? How will it be used?” The intended function
always determines the form of the building. Before God created
you, he decided what role he wanted you to play on earth.


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You are the way you are because you
were made for a specific ministry. The Purpose-Driven Life 234
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Bible says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works.”1 Our English word poem comes from the
Greek word translated “workmanship.” You are God’s
handcrafted work of art. You are not an assembly-line product,
mass produced without thought.


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You are a custom-designed,
one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece. God deliberately shaped and
formed you to serve him in a way
that makes your ministry unique. He carefully mixed the DNA
cocktail that created you. David
praised God for this incredible personal attention to detail: “You
made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together
in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully
complex! Your workmanship is marvelous.”
2 As Ethel Waters said,
“God doesn’t make junk.” 
Not only did God shape you before your birth, he planned
every day of your life to support his shaping process. David
continues, “Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every
moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”
3 This means
that nothing that happens in your life is insignificant. God uses all
of it to mold you for your ministry to others and shape you for
your service to him.


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God never wastes anything. He would not give you abilities,
interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless
he intended to use them for his glory. By identifying and
understanding these factors you can discover God’s will for
your life.


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The Bible says you are “wonderfully complex .” You are a
combination of many different factors. To help you remember
five of these factors, I have created a simple acrostic: SHAPE. In this chapter and the next we will look at these five factors,
and following that, I will explain how to discover and use your
shape. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 235
God never wastes anything. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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How God Shapes You for Your Ministry
Whenever God gives us an assignment, he always equips us
with what we need to accomplish it. This custom combination of
capabilities is called your SHAPE:
Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience
SHAPE: Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts
God gives every believer spiritual gifts to be used in ministry.4
These are special God-empowered abilities for serving him that
are given only to believers. The Bible says, “Whoever does not have
the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit.”
5
You can’t earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them—that’s why
they are called gifts!


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They are an expression of God’s grace to you. “Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us.”6 Neither do you
get to choose which gifts you’d like to have; God determines that. Paul explained, “It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes
these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”
7
Because God loves variety and he wants us to be special, no
single gift is given to everyone.8 Also, no individual receives all
the gifts. If you had them all, you’d have no need of
anyone else, and that would defeat one of God’s
purposes—to teach us to love and depend on each
other.


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Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own
benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other
people were given gifts for your benefit. The Bible
says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the
entire church.”
9 God planned it this way so we would need each
The Purpose-Driven Life 236
DAY THIRTY:
SHAPED
FOR
SERVING
GOD
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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other. When we use our gifts together, we all benefit. If others
don’t use their gifts, you get cheated, and if you don’t use your
gifts, they get cheated. This is why we’re commanded to discover
and develop our spiritual gifts.


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Whenever we forget these basic truths about gifts, it always
causes trouble in the church. Two common problems are “gift-
envy” and “gift-projection.” The first occurs when we compare our
gifts with others’, feel dissatisfied
with what God gave us, and
become resentful or jealous of how
God uses others. The second
problem happens when we expect
everyone else to have our gifts, do
what we are called to do, and feel as
passionate about it as we do. The Bible says, “There are different
kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are
serving.”
10
Sometimes spiritual gifts are overemphasized to the neglect of
the other factors God uses to shape you for service. Your gifts
reveal one key to discovering God’s will for your ministry, but your
spiritual gifts are not the total picture.


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God has shaped you in four
other ways, too. SHAPE: Listening to Your Heart
The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desires,
hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your
heart represents the source of all your motivations—what you
love to do and what you care about most. Even today we still use
the word in this way when we say, “I love you with all my heart.”
The Bible says, “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart
reflects the person.”
11 Your heart reveals the real you—what you
truly are, not what others think you are or what circumstances
force you to be. Your heart determines why you say the things
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 237
An unopened gift 
is worthless. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way
you do.12
Physically, each of us has a unique heartbeat. Just as we each
have unique thumbprints, eye prints, and voice prints, our hearts
beat in slightly different patterns. It’s amazing that out of all the
billions of people who have ever lived, no one has had a heartbeat
exactly like yours. In the same way, God has given each of us a unique emotional
“heartbeat” that races when we think about the subjects,
activities, or circumstances that interest us. We instinctively care
about some things and not about others. These are clues to where
you should be serving. Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects
you feel passionate about and others you couldn’t care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention while
others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature
of your heart. When you were growing up, you may have discovered that you
were intensely interested in some subjects that no one else in your
family cared about. Where did those interests come from? They
came from God.


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God had a purpose in giving you these
inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat is the
second key to understanding your shape for service. Don’t ignore your interests.


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Consider how they
might be used for God’s glory. There is a reason that
you love to do these things. Repeatedly the Bible says to “serve the Lord with all your
heart.”
13 God wants you to serve him passionately, not dutifully. People rarely excel at tasks they don’t enjoy doing or feel
passionate about.


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God wants you to use your natural interests to
serve him and others. Listening for inner promptings can point to
the ministry God intends for you to have. How do you know when you are serving God from your heart?


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The first telltale sign is enthusiasm. When you are doing what you
The Purpose-Driven Life 238
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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love to do, no one has to motivate you or challenge you or check
up on you. You do it for the sheer enjoyment. You don’t need
rewards or applause or payment, because you love serving in this
way.


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The opposite is also true: When you don’t have a heart for
what you’re doing, you are easily discouraged. The second characteristic of serving God from your heart is
effectiveness. Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do,
you get good at it.


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Passion drives perfection. If you don’t care
about a task, it is unlikely that you
will excel at it. In contrast, the
highest achievers in any field are
those who do it because of passion,
not duty or profit. We have all heard people say, “I
took a job I hate in order to make a
lot of money, so someday I can quit
and do what I love to do.” That’s a big mistake. Don’t waste your
life in a job that doesn’t express your heart. Remember, the
greatest things in life are not things. Meaning is far more
important than money. The richest man in the world once said,
“A simple life in the fear-of-God is better than a rich life with a ton
of headaches.”
14
Don’t settle for just achieving “the good life,” because the
good life is not good enough. Ultimately it doesn’t satisfy.


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You
can have a lot to live on and still have nothing to live for. Aim
instead for “the better life”— serving God in a way that expresses
your heart. Figure out what you love to do—what God gave you
a heart to do—and then do it for his glory. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 239
When you are doing what 
you love to do, no one 
has to motivate you. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 240
Day Thirty
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: I was shaped for serving God. Verse to Remember: “God works through different men
in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his
purposes through them all.” 
1 Corinthians 12:6 (Ph)
Question to Consider: In what way can I see myself
passionately serving others and loving it?


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31
Understanding Y our Shape
You shaped me first inside, then out; 
you formed me in my mother’ s womb. Psalm 139:13 (Msg)
Only you can be you. God designed each of us so there would be no duplication in
the world. No one has the exact same mix of factors that make
you unique. That means no one else on earth will ever be able to
play the role God planned for you. If you don’t make your unique
contribution to the Body of Christ, it won’t be made. The Bible
says, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts . .


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. [and] different abilities to perform service.”
1 In the last
chapter we looked at the first two of these: your spiritual gifts and
your heart. Now we will look at the rest of your SHAPE for
serving God. SHAPE: Applying Your Abilities
Your abilities are the natural talents you were born with. Some
people have a natural ability with words: They came out of the
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 241
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Still others are good at
mathematics or music or mechanics. When God wanted to create the Tabernacle and all the utensils
for worship, he provided artists and craftsmen who were shaped
with the “skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make
artistic designs . .


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. and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
2
Today God still bestows these abilities and thousands of others, so
people can serve him. All of our abilities come from God. Even abilities used to sin
are God-given; they are just being misused or abused. The Bible
says, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things
well.”
3 Since your natural abilities are from God, they are just as
important and as “spiritual” as your spiritual gifts. The only
difference is that you were given them at birth. One of the most common excuses people give for not serving is
“I just don’t have any abilities to offer.” This is ludicrous. You
have dozens, probably hundreds, of untapped, unrecognized, and
unused abilities that are lying dormant inside you. Many studies
have revealed that the average person possesses from 500 to 700
different skills and abilities—far more than you realize. For instance, your brain can store 100 trillion facts. Your mind
can handle 15,000 decisions a second, as is the case when your
digestive system is working. Your nose can smell up to 10,000
different odors. Your touch can detect an item 1/25,000th of an
inch thick, and your tongue can taste one part of quinine in 2
million parts of water. You are a bundle of incredible abilities, an
amazing creation of God.


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Part of the church’s responsibility is to
identify and release your abilities for serving God. Every ability can be used for God’s glory.Paul said,
“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
4 The Bible is filled
with examples of different abilities that God uses for his glory. Here are just a few of those mentioned in Scripture: artistic
ability, architectural ability, administering, baking, boat making,
The Purpose-Driven Life 242
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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candy making, debating, designing, embalming, embroidering,
engraving, farming, fishing, gardening, leading, managing,
masonry, making music, making weapons, needle work, painting,
planting, philosophizing, machinability, inventing, carpentry,
sailing, selling, being a soldier, tailoring, teaching, writing
literature and poetry. The Bible says, “There are different abilities
to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their
particular service.”
5 God has a place in his church where your
specialties can shine and you can make a difference. It’s up to you
to find that place.


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God gives some people the ability to make a lot of money. Moses told the Israelites, “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he
who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”
6 People with this
ability are good at building a business, making deals or sales, and
reaping a profit. If you have this business ability, you should be
using it for God’s glory.


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How? First, realize your ability came
from God and give him the credit. Second, use your business to
serve a need of others and to share your faith with unbelievers. Third, return at least a tithe (10 percent) of the profit to God as
an act of worship. 7 Finally, make your goal to be a Kingdom
Builder rather than just a Wealth Builder. I will explain this in
chapter 34.


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What I’m able to do, God wants me to do. You are the only
person on earth who can use your abilities. No one else can play
your role, because they don’t have the unique shape that God has
given you. The Bible says that God
equips you “with all you need for
doing his will.”
8 To discover God’s
will for your life, you should
seriously examine what you are
good at doing and what you’re not
good at. If God hasn’t given you the ability to carry a tune, he isn’t
going to expect you to be an opera singer. God will never ask you
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 243
What I’ m able to do, 
God wants me to do. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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to dedicate your life to a task you have no talent for. On the other
hand, the abilities you do have are a strong indication of what
God wants you to do with your life. They are clues to knowing
God’s will for you. If you’re good at designing or recruiting or
drawing or organizing, it is a safe assumption that God’s plan for
your life includes that skill somehow. God doesn’t waste abilities;
he matches our calling and our capabilities. Your abilities were not given just to
make a living; God gave them to you for
your ministry. Peter said, “God has given
each of you some special abilities; be sure to
use them to help each other, passing on to
others God’s many kinds of blessings.”
9
At this writing, nearly 7,000 people are using their abilities in
ministry at Saddleback Church, providing every kind of service
you could imagine: repairing donated cars to be given to the
needy; finding the best deal for church purchases; landscaping;
organizing files; designing art, programs, and buildings; providing
health care; preparing meals; composing songs; teaching music;
writing grant proposals; coaching teams; doing research for
sermons or translating them; and hundreds of other specialized
tasks. New members are told, “Whatever you’re good at, you
should be doing for your church!”
SHAPE: Using Your Personality
We don’t realize how truly unique each of us is. DNA
molecules can unite in an infinite number of ways.


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That number is the likelihood
that you’d ever find somebody just like you. If you were to write
out that number with each zero being one inch wide, you’d need
a strip of paper 37,000 miles long! To put this in perspective, some scientists have guessed that all
the particles in the universe are probably less than 10 with 76
zeros behind it, far less than the possibilities of your DNA. Your
The Purpose-Driven Life 244
DAY THIRTY-ONE:
UNDERSTANDING
YOUR SHAPE
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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uniqueness is a scientific fact of life. When God made you, he
broke the mold. There never has been, and never will be, anybody
exactly like you. It is obvious that God loves variety—just look around!


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He
created each of us with a unique combination of personality
traits. God made introverts and extroverts. He made people who
love routine and those who love variety. He made some people
“thinkers” and others “feelers.” Some people work best when
given an individual assignment while others work better with a
team. The Bible says, “God works through different people in
different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purpose
through them all.”
10
The Bible gives us plenty of proof that God uses all types of
personalities. Peter was a sanguine.


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Paul was a choleric. Jeremiah
was a melancholy. When you look at the personality differences in
the twelve disciples, it’s easy to see why they sometimes had
interpersonal conflict. There is no “right” or “wrong” temperament for ministry. We
need all kinds of personalities to balance the church and give
it flavor. The world would be a very boring place if we
were all plain vanilla. Fortunately, people come in
more than thirty-one flavors. Your personality will affect how and where you use
your spiritual gifts and abilities. For instance, two people may
have the same gift of evangelism, but if one is introverted and the
other is extroverted, that gift will be expressed in different ways. Woodworkers know that it’s easier to work with the grain
rather than against it. In the same way, when you are forced to
minister in a manner that is “out of character” for your
temperament, it creates tension and discomfort, requires extra
effort and energy, and produces less than the best results. This is
why mimicking someone else’s ministry never works.


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Besides, God made you to be you! You can
learn from the examples of others, but you must filter what you
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 245
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learn through your own shape. Today there are many books and
tools that can help you understand your personality so you can
determine how to use it for God. Like stained glass, our different personalities reflect God’s light
in many colors and patterns. This blesses the family of God with
depth and variety.


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It also blesses us
personally. It feels good to do what
God made you to do. When you
minister in a manner consistent
with the personality God gave you,
you experience fulfillment,
satisfaction, and fruitfulness. SHAPE: Employing Your Experiences
You have been shaped by your experiences in life, most of
which were beyond your control. God allowed them for his
purpose of molding you. 11 In determining your shape for serving
God, you should examine at least six kinds of experiences from
your past: 
• Family experiences: What did you learn growing up in your
family? • Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in
school?


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• Vocational experiences: What jobs have you been most
effective in and enjoyed most? • Spiritual experiences: What have been your most meaningful
times with God? • Ministry experiences: How have you served God in the past? • Painful experiences: What problems, hurts, thorns, and trials
have you learned from? It is this last category, painful experiences, that God uses the
most to prepare you for ministry. God never wastes a hurt!


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In fact,
your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest
The Purpose-Driven Life 246
It feels good to do what 
God made you to do. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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hurt. Who could better minister to the parents of a Down
syndrome child than another couple who have a child afflicted in
the same way? Who could better help an alcoholic recover than
someone who fought that demon and found freedom?


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Who could
better comfort a wife whose husband has left her for an affair than
a woman who went through that agony herself? God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences to
equip you for ministry to others. The Bible says, “He comforts us in
all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled,
we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
12
If you really desire to be used by God, you must understand a
powerful truth: The very experiences that you have resented or
regretted most in life—the ones you’ve wanted to hide and
forget—are the experiences God wants to use to help others. They are your ministry!


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For God to use your painful experiences, you must be willing
to share them. You have to stop covering them up, and you must
honestly admit your faults, failures, and fears. Doing this will
probably be your most effective ministry. People are always more
encouraged when we share how
God’s grace helped us in weakness
than when we brag about our
strengths. Paul understood this truth, so he
was honest about his bouts with
depression. He admitted, “I think
you ought to know, dear brothers,
about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really
crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through
it.


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We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to
help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the
hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the
dead. And he did help us and saved us from a terrible death; yes,
and we expect him to do it again and again.”
13
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 247
For God to use your 
painful experiences, you must 
be willing to share them. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 248
If Paul had kept his experience of doubt and depression a
secret, millions of people would never have benefited from it. Only shared experiences can help others.


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Aldous Huxley said,
“Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with
what happens to you.” What will you do with what you’ve been
through?


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Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others. As we’ve looked at these five ways God has shaped you for
service, I hope you have a deeper appreciation for God’s
sovereignty and a clearer idea of how he has prepared you for the
purpose of serving him. Using your shape is the secret of both
fruitfulness and fulfillment in ministry. 14 You will be most effective
when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your
heart’s desire,and in a way that best expresses your personality and
experiences. The better the fit, the more successful you will be. Day Thirty-one
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Nobody else can be me. Verse to Remember: “God has given each of you some
special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other,
passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.” 
1 Peter 4:10 (LB)
Question to Consider: What God-given ability or
personal experience can I offer to my church? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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32
Using What God Gave Y ou
Since we find ourselves fashioned into 
all these excellently formed and marvelously
functioning parts in Christ’ s body, let’ s just 
go ahead and be what we were made to be. Romans 12:5 (Msg)
What you are is God’ s gift to you; 
what you do with yourself is your gift to God. Danish proverb
God deserves your best.


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He doesn’t want you to worry
about or covet abilities you don’t have. Instead he wants you to
focus on talents he has given you to use. When you attempt to serve God in ways you’re not shaped to
serve, it feels like forcing a square peg into a round hole. It’s
frustrating and produces limited results. It also wastes your time,
your talent, and your energy. The best use of your life is to serve
God out of your shape. To do this you must discover your shape,
learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest
potential. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 249
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Discover Your Shape
The Bible says, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and
do whatever the Lord wants you to.”1 Don’t let another day go by. Start finding out and clarifying what God intends for you to be
and do. Begin by assessing your gifts and abilities.


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Take a long,
honest look at what you are good at and what you’re not good at. Paul advised, “Try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities.”
2
Make a list. Ask other people for their candid opinion.


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Tell them
you’re searching for the truth, not fishing for a compliment. Spiritual gifts and natural abilities are always confirmed by others. If you think you are gifted to be a teacher or a singer and no one
else agrees, guess what? If you want to know if you have the gift
of leadership, just look over your shoulder! If no one is following
you, you’re not a leader. Ask questions like these: Where have I seen fruit in my life that
other people confirmed?


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Where have I already been successful? Spiritual gift tests and ability inventories can have
some value, but they are limited in their usefulness. In the first place, they are standardized, so they
don’t take into account your uniqueness. Second, there
are no definitions of the spiritual gifts given in the Bible,
so any definitions are arbitrary and usually represent a
denominational bias. Another problem is that the more mature
you become, the more likely you are to manifest the
characteristics of a number of the gifts. You may be serving or
teaching or giving generously out of maturity rather than because
it is your spiritual gift. The best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to experiment
with different areas of service. I could have taken a hundred gift
and ability tests as a young man and would have never discovered
that I was gifted at teaching because I had never done it! It was
only after I began accepting opportunities to speak that I saw the
The Purpose-Driven Life 250
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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results, received confirmation from others, and realized, “God has
gifted me to do this!”
Many books get the discovery process backwards. They say,
“Discover your spiritual gift and then you’ll know what ministry
you’re supposed to have.” It actually works the exact opposite
way. Just start serving, experimenting with different ministries,
and then you’ll discover your gifts. Until you’re actually involved in
serving, you’re not going to know
what you’re good at. You have dozens of hidden
abilities and gifts you don’t know
you’ve got because you’ve never
tried them out. So I encourage you to try doing some things
you’ve never done before. No matter how old you are, I urge you
to never stop experimenting. I have met many people who
discovered hidden talents in their seventies and eighties. I know a
woman in her nineties who runs and wins 10K races and didn’t
discover that she enjoyed running until she was seventy-eight! Don’t try to figure out your gifts before volunteering to serve
somewhere.


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Just start serving. You discover your gifts by getting
involved in ministry. Try teaching or leading or organizing or
playing an instrument or working with teenagers. You will never
know what you’re good at until you try. When it doesn’t work
out, call it an “experiment,” not a failure. You will eventually
learn what you’re good at.


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Consider your heart and your personality. Paul advised,
“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have
been given, and then sink yourself into that.”
3 Again, it helps to
get feedback from those who know you best. Ask yourself
questions: What do I really enjoy doing most?


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When do I feel
the most fully alive? What am I doing when I lose track of
time? Do I like routine or variety? Do I prefer serving with a
team or by myself?


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Am I more introverted or extroverted? Am I
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 251
You will never know what you’ re
good at until you try. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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more a thinker or a feeler? Which do I enjoy more—competing
or cooperating? Examine your experiences and extract the lessons you have
learned.


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Review your life and think about how it has shaped you. Moses told the Israelites, “Remember today what you have learned
about the Lord through your experiences with him.”4 Forgotten
experiences are worthless; that’s a good reason to keep a spiritual
journal. Paul worried that the believers in Galatia would waste the
pain they had been through.


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He said, “Were all your experiences
wasted? I hope not!”
5
We rarely see God’s good purpose in pain or failure or
embarrassment while it is happening. When Jesus washed Peter’s
feet, he said, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later
you will understand.”
6 Only in hindsight do we understand how
God intended a problem for good. Extracting the lessons from your experiences takes time.


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I
recommend that you take an entire weekend for a life review
retreat, where you pause to see how God has worked in the
various defining moments of your life and consider how he wants
to use those lessons to help others. There are resources that can
help you do this. 7
Accept and Enjoy Your Shape
Since God knows what’s best for you, you should gratefully
accept the way he has fashioned you. The Bible says, “What right
have you, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no
right to say to the potter: ‘Why did you make me this shape?’ Surely a
potter can do what he likes with the clay!”
8
Your shape was sovereignly determined by God for his purpose,
so you shouldn’t resent it or reject it. Instead of trying to reshape
yourself to be like someone else, you should celebrate the shape
God has given only to you. “Christ has given each of us special
abilities—whatever he wants us to have out of his rich storehouse of
gifts.”
9
The Purpose-Driven Life 252
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Part of accepting your shape is recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at everything, and no one is called to be
everything.


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We all have defined roles. Paul understood that his
calling was not to accomplish everything or please everyone but
to focus only on the particular ministry God had shaped him
for. 10 He said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s
plan for us.”11
The word boundaries refers to the fact that God assigns each of
us a field or sphere of service. Your shape determines your
specialty.


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When we try to overextend our ministry reach beyond
what God shaped us for, we experience stress. Just as each runner
in a race is given a different lane to run in, we must individually
“run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.”
12
Don’t be envious of the runner in the lane next to you; just focus
on finishing your race. God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you. The
Bible says, “Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the
personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won’t
need to compare yourself to anyone else.”
13 Satan will try to steal the
joy of service from you in a couple of ways: by tempting you to
compare your ministry with others, and by tempting you to
conform your ministry to the expectations of others. Both are
deadly traps that will distract you from serving in the ways God
intended. Whenever you lose your joy in ministry, start by
considering if either one of these
temptations is the cause. The Bible warns us never to
compare ourselves with others: “Do
your own work well, and then you
will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with
others.”
14 There are two reasons why you should never compare
your shape, ministry, or the results of your ministry with anyone
else. First, you will always be able to find someone who seems to
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 253
God wants you to enjoy using 
the shape he has given you. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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be doing a better job than you and you will become discouraged. Or you will always be able to find someone who doesn’t seem as
effective as you and you will get full of pride.


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Either attitude will
take you out of service and rob you of your joy. Paul said it is foolish to compare ourselves with others. He said,
“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who
commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves with themselves, they are
not wise.”
15 The Message paraphrase says, “In all
this comparing and grading and competing, they
quite miss the point.”
16
You will find that people who do not
understand your shape for ministry will criticize
you and try to get you to conform to what they think you should
be doing. Ignore them.


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Paul often had to deal with critics who
misunderstood and maligned his service. His response was always
the same: Avoid comparisons, resist exaggerations, and seek only
God’s commendation. 17
One of the reasons Paul was used so greatly by God was that he
refused to be distracted by criticism or by comparing his ministry
with others or by being drawn into fruitless debates about his
ministry. As John Bunyan said, “If my life is fruitless, it doesn’t
matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn’t matter
who criticizes me.”
Keep Developing your Shape
Jesus’ parable of the talents illustrates that God expects us to
make the most of what he gives us. We are to cultivate our gifts
and abilities, keep our hearts aflame, grow our character and
personality, and broaden our experiences so we will be
increasingly more effective in our service. Paul told the
Philippians to “keep on growing in your knowledge and
understanding,”
18 and he reminded Timothy, “Kindle afresh the
gift of God which is in you.”19
The Purpose-Driven Life 254
DAY THIRTY-TWO:
USING WHAT
GOD GAVE
YOU
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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If you don’t exercise your muscles, they weaken and atrophy. In
the same way, if you don’t utilize the abilities and skills God has
given you, you will lose them. Jesus taught the parable of the
talents to emphasize this truth. Referring to the servant who
failed to use his one talent, the master said, “Take the talent from
him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.”
20 Fail to use
what you’ve been given and you’ll lose it. Use the ability you’ve
got and God will increase it. Paul told Timothy, “Be sure to use the
abilities God has given you. .


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. Put these abilities to work.”
21
Whatever gifts you have been given can be enlarged and
developed through practice. For instance, no one gets the gift of
teaching fully developed. But with study, feedback, and practice, a
“good” teacher can become a better teacher, and with time, grow
to be a master teacher. Don’t settle for a half-developed gift.


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Stretch yourself and learn all you can. “Concentrate on doing your
best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of.”
22 Take advantage of
every training opportunity to develop your shape and
sharpen your serving skills. In heaven we are going to serve God forever. Right
now, we can prepare for that eternal service by
practicing on earth. Like athletes preparing for the Olympics,
we keep training for that big day: “They do it for a gold medal
that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.”
23
We’re getting ready for eternal responsibilities and rewards. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 255
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 256
Day Thirty-two
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: God deserves my best. Verse to Remember: “Do your best to present yourself to
God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 
2T imothy 2:15 (NIV)
Question to Consider: How can I make the best use of
what God has given me?


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33
How Real Servants Act
Whoever wants to be great 
must become a servant.”
Mark 10:43 (Msg) 
You can tell what they are by what they do. Matthew 7:16 (CEV)
We serve God by serving others.


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If you can demand service from others,
you’ve arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first
mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not
status. God determines your greatness by how many people you
serve, not how many people serve you. This is so contrary to the
world’s idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding
it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who
deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later,
Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in
churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries. Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few
on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 257
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servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even
Christians want to be “servant-leaders,” not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant.


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That’s what he called
himself. While knowing your shape is important for serving God,
having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember,
God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a
servant’s heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for
personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to
exempt yourself from meeting some needs. God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we’re
not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to
help him out, not say, “I don’t have the gift of mercy or service.”
While you may not be gifted for a particular task, you may be
called to do it if no one gifted at it is around. Your primary
ministry should be in the area of
your shape, but your secondary
service is wherever you’re needed at
the moment. Your shape reveals your ministry,
but your servant’s heart will reveal
your maturity. No special talent or
gift is required to stay after a
meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant.


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All it requires is character. It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever
being a servant. You must have a servant’s heart.


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How can you
know if you have the heart of a servant? Jesus said, “You can tell
what they are by what they do.”
1
Real servants make themselves available to serve. Servants
don’t fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their
availability.


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They want to be ready to jump into service when
called on. Much like a soldier, a servant must always be standing
by for duty: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the
The Purpose-Driven Life 258
Your shape reveals your
ministry, but your servant’ s
heart will reveal your maturity. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted
him.”2 If you only serve when it’s convenient for you, you’re not
a real servant. Real servants do what’s needed, even when it’s
inconvenient. Are you available to God anytime? Can he mess up your plans
without you becoming resentful? As a servant, you don’t get to
pick and choose when or where you will serve. Being a servant
means giving up the right to control your schedule and allowing
God to interrupt it whenever he needs to. If you will remind yourself at the start of every day that you are
God’s servant, interruptions won’t frustrate you as much, because
your agenda will be whatever God wants to bring into your life. Servants see interruptions as divine appointments for ministry and
are happy for the opportunity to practice serving. Real servants pay attention to needs. Servants are always on
the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they
seize the moment to meet it, just as the Bible commands us:
“Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for
everyone, especially for the family of believers.”
3 When God puts
someone in need right in front of you, he is giving you the
opportunity to grow in servanthood. Notice that God says the
needs of your church family are to be given preference, not put at
the bottom of your “things to do” list. We miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity
and spontaneity.


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You may only
get one chance to serve that person, so take advantage of
the moment. “Never tell your neighbors to wait until
tomorrow if you can help them now.”
4
John Wesley was an incredible servant of God. His
motto was “Do all the good you can, by all the means you
can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the
times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”
That is greatness. You can begin by looking for small tasks that no
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 259
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one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great
things, because God is watching. Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants
don’t make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better
circumstances. Servants never say, “One of these days” or “When
the time is right.” They just do what needs to be done. The Bible
says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything
done.”
5 God expects you to do what you can, with what you have,
wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than
the best intention. One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are
not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving
God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this myth
by making “excellence” an idol, which makes people of average
talent hesitant to get involved. You may have heard it said, “If it can’t be done with excellence,
don’t do it.” Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost
everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it—
that’s how we learn. At Saddleback Church, we practice the “good
enough” principle: It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use
and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in
ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.


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Real servants do every task with equal dedication. Whatever
they do, servants “do it with all their heart.”
6 The size of the task
is irrelevant. The only issue is, does it need to be done?


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You will never arrive at the state in life where you’re too
important to help with menial tasks. God will never exempt you
from the mundane. It’s a vital part of your character curriculum. The Bible says, “If you think you are too important to help someone
in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.”
7 It is
in these small services that we grow like Christ. Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to
avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving
lepers.


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It
The Purpose-Driven Life 260
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wasn’t in spite of his greatness that he did these things, but because
of it, and he expects us to follow his example.8
Small tasks often show a big heart. Your servant’s heart is
revealed in little acts that others don’t think of doing, as when
Paul gathered brushwood for a fire to warm everyone after a
shipwreck.9 He was just as exhausted as everyone else, but he did
what everyone needed. No task is beneath you when you have a
servant’s heart. Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks. The little things in life determine the big things. Don’t look for
great tasks to do for God. Just do the not-so-great stuff, and God
will assign you whatever he wants you to do. But before
attempting the extraordinary, try serving in ordinary ways. 10
There will always be more people willing to do “great” things
for God than there are people willing to do the little things. The
race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those
willing to be servants. Sometimes you serve upward to those in
authority, and sometimes you serve
downward to those in need. Either
way, you develop a servant’s heart
when you’re willing to do anything
needed. Real servants are faithful to
their ministry.


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Servants finish their
tasks, fulfill their responsibilities, keep their promises, and
complete their commitments. They don’t leave a job half undone,
and they don’t quit when they get discouraged.


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They are
trustworthy and dependable. Faithfulness has always been a rare quality. 11 Most people don’t
know the meaning of commitment.


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They make commitments
casually, then break them for the slightest reason without any
hesitation, remorse, or regret. Every week, churches and other
organizations must improvise because volunteers didn’t prepare,
didn’t show up, or didn’t even call to say they weren’t coming. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 261
Great opportunities often
disguise themselves in small tasks. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need
to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to
honor? This is a test.


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God is testing your faithfulness. If you pass
the test, you’re in good company: Abraham, Moses, Samuel,
David, Daniel, Timothy, and Paul were all called faithful servants
of God. Even better, God has promised to reward your
faithfulness in eternity. Imagine what it will feel like one day
to have God say to you, “Well done, my good and
faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling
this small amount, so now I will give you many more
responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”
12
By the way, faithful servants never retire. They serve
faithfully as long as they’re alive.


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You can retire from your
career, but you will never retire from serving God. Real servants maintain a low profile. Servants don’t promote
or call attention to themselves. Instead of acting to impress and
dressing for success, they “put on the apron of humility, to serve one
another.”
13 If recognized for their service, they humbly accept it
but don’t allow notoriety to distract them from their work. Paul exposed a kind of service that appears to be spiritual but is
really just a put-on, a show, an act to get attention. He called it
“eyeservice”14— serving in order to impress people with how
spiritual we are. This was a sin of the Pharisees.


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They turned
helping others, giving, and even prayer into a performance for
others. Jesus hated this attitude and warned, “When you do good
deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from
your Father in heaven.”
15
Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix. Real servants don’t
serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an
audience of One. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men,
I would not be a servant of Christ.”
16
You won’t find many real servants in the limelight; in fact, they
avoid it when possible. They are content with quietly serving in
the shadows.


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Joseph is a great example. He didn’t draw attention
The Purpose-Driven Life 262
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to himself, but quietly served Potiphar, then his jailer, then
Pharaoh’s baker and wine taster, and God blessed that attitude. When Pharaoh promoted him to prominence, Joseph still
maintained a servant’s heart, even with his brothers, who had
betrayed him. Unfortunately, many leaders today start off as servants but end
up as celebrities. They become addicted to attention, unaware
that always being in the spotlight blinds you. You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling
unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are
for a purpose! He has every hair on your head numbered, and he
knows your address. You had better stay put until he chooses to
move you.


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He will let you know if he wants you somewhere else. Your ministry matters to the kingdom of God. “When Christ . .


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. shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the
glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity.”
17
There are more than 750 “Halls of Fame” in America and
more than 450 “Who’s Who” publications, but you won’t find
many real servants in these places. Notoriety
means nothing to real servants because they
know the difference between prominence and
significance. You have several prominent
features on your body that you could live
without.


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It is the hidden parts of your body
that are indispensable. The same is true in the Body of Christ. The most significant service is often the service that is unseen. 18
In heaven God is going to openly reward some of his most
obscure and unknown servants—people we have never heard of
on earth, who taught emotionally disturbed children, cleaned up
after incontinent elderly, nursed AIDS patients, and served in
thousands of other unnoticed ways. Knowing this, don’t be discouraged when your service is
unnoticed or taken for granted.


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Keep on serving God! “Throw
yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 263
DAY THIRTY-THREE:
HOW REAL
SERVANTS ACT
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 264
for him is a waste of time or effort.” 19 Even the smallest service is
noticed by God and will be rewarded. Remember the words of
Jesus: “If, as my representatives, you give even a cup of cold water to
a little child, you will surely be rewarded.”20
Day Thirty-three
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: I serve God by serving others.


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Verse to Remember: “If you give even a cup of cold
water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be
rewarded.”  Matthew 10:42 (NLT)
Question to Consider: Which of the six characteristics
of real servants offers the greatest challenge to me? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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34
Thinking Like a Servant
My servant Caleb thinks differently 
and follows me completely. Numbers 14:24 (NCV) 
Think of yourselves the way 
Christ Jesus thought of himself. Philippians. 2:5 (Msg)
Service starts in your mind. To be a servant requires a mental shift, a change in your
attitudes. God is always more interested in why we do something
than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements. King Amaziah lost God’s favor because “he did what was right in
the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart.”
1 Real servants serve
God with a mindset of five attitudes. Servants think more about others than about themselves.


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Servants focus on others, not themselves. This is true humility:
not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.


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They
are self-forgetful. Paul said, “Forget yourselves long enough to lend a
helping hand.”
2 This is what it means to “lose your life”—
forgetting yourself in service to others. When we stop focusing on
our own needs, we become aware of the needs around us. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 265
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Jesus “emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant.”3
When was the last time you emptied yourself for someone else’s
benefit? You can’t be a servant if you’re full of yourself.


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It’s only
when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be
remembered. Unfortunately, a lot of our service is often self-serving.


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We
serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our
own goals. That is manipulation, not ministry. The whole time
we’re really thinking about ourselves and how noble and
wonderful we are. Some people try to use service as a bargaining
tool with God: “I’ll do this for you God, if you’ll do something
for me.” Real servants don’t try to
use God for their purposes. They
let God use them for his purposes.


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The quality of self-forgetfulness,
like faithfulness, is extremely rare. Out of all the people Paul knew,
Timothy was the only example he
could point to. 4 Thinking like a
servant is difficult because it challenges the basic problem of my
life: I am, by nature, selfish. I think most about me. That’s why
humility is a daily struggle, a lesson I must relearn over and over. The opportunity to be a servant confronts me dozens of times a
day, in which I’m given the choice to decide between meeting my
needs or the needs of others. Self-denial is the core of servanthood. We can measure our servant’s heart by how we respond when
others treat us like servants. How do you react when you’re taken
for granted, bossed around, or treated as an inferior? The Bible
says, “If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to
practice the servant life.”
5
Servants think like stewards, not owners. Servants
remember that God owns it all. In the Bible, a steward was a
servant entrusted to manage an estate. Joseph was this kind of
servant as a prisoner in Egypt. Potiphar entrusted Joseph with his
The Purpose-Driven Life 266
Real servants don’ t try to use
God for their purposes. They let
God use them for his purposes.


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home. Then the jailer entrusted Joseph with his jail. Eventually
Pharaoh entrusted the entire nation to him. Servanthood and
stewardship go together,
6 since God expects us to be trustworthy
in both. The Bible says, “The one thing required of such servants is
that they be faithful to their master.”7 How are you handling the
resources God has entrusted to you? To become a real servant you are going to have to settle the
issue of money in your life. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two
masters. .


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. You cannot serve both God and Money.”8 He didn’t say,
“You should not,” but “You cannot.” It is impossible. Living for
ministry and living for money are mutually exclusive goals. Which
one will you choose? If you’re a servant of God, you can’t
moonlight for yourself. All your time belongs to God.


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He insists
on exclusive allegiance, not part-time faithfulness. Money has the greatest potential to replace God in your life. More people are sidetracked from serving by materialism than by
anything else. They say, “After I achieve my financial goals, I’m
going to serve God.” That is a foolish decision they will regret for
eternity. When Jesus is your Master, money serves you, but if
money is your master, you become its slave. Wealth is certainly
not a sin, but failing to use it for God’s glory is. Servants of God
are always more concerned about ministry than money. The Bible is very clear: God uses money to test your
faithfulness as a servant. That is why Jesus talked more about
money than he did about either heaven or hell. He said, “If you
have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust
you with true riches?”
9 How you manage your money affects how
much God can bless your life. In chapter 31, I mentioned two kinds of people: Kingdom
Builders and Wealth Builders.


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Both are gifted at making a
business grow, making deals or sales, and making a profit. Wealth
Builders continue to amass wealth for themselves no matter how
much they make, but Kingdom Builders change the rules of the
game. They still try to make as much money as they can, but they
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 267
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do it in order to give it away. They use the wealth to fund God’s
church and its mission in the world. At Saddleback Church, we have a group of CEOs and business
owners who are trying to make as much as they can so they can
give as much as they can to further the kingdom of God. I
encourage you to talk with your pastor and begin a Kingdom
Servants think about their work, not what others are
doing. They don’t compare, criticize, or compete with other
servants or ministries.


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They’re too busy doing the
work God has given them. Competition between God’s servants is illogical
for many reasons: We’re all on the same team; our
goal is to make God look good, not ourselves;
we’ve been given different assignments; and we’re
all uniquely shaped. Paul said, “We will not
compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and
another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our
lives. Each of us is an original.”
10
There’s no place for petty jealousy between servants. When
you’re busy serving, you don’t have time to be critical.


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Any time
spent criticizing others is time that could be spent ministering. When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping
with the work, she lost her servant’s heart. Real servants don’t
complain of unfairness, don’t have pity-parties, and don’t resent
those not serving. They just trust God and keep serving. It is not our job to evaluate the Master’s other servants. The
Bible says, “Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord
will determine whether his servant has been successful.”
11 It is also
not our job to defend ourselves against criticism. Let your Master
handle it. Follow the example of Moses, who showed true
humility in the face of opposition, as did Nehemiah, whose
response to critics was simply, “My work is too important to stop
now and . .


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. visit with you.”
12
The Purpose-Driven Life 268
DAY THIRTY-
FOUR:
THINKING
LIKE A
SERVANT
Builders’ group in your church. For help see appendix 2.


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If you serve like Jesus, you can expect to be criticized. The
world, and even much of the church, does not understand what
God values. One of the most beautiful acts of love shown to Jesus
was criticized by the disciples. Mary took the most valuable thing
she owned, expensive perfume, and poured it over Jesus. Her
lavish service was called “a waste” by the disciples, but Jesus called
it “significant,”
13 and that’s all that mattered. Your service for
Christ is never wasted regardless of what others say. Servants base their identity in Christ. Because they
remember they are loved and accepted by grace, servants don’t
have to prove their worth. They willingly accept jobs that insecure
people would consider “beneath” them. One of the most
profound examples of serving from a secure self-image is Jesus’
washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was the equivalent
of being a shoeshine boy, a job devoid of status. But Jesus knew
who he was, so the task didn’t threaten his self-image. The Bible
says, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,
and that he had come from God . .


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. so he got up from the meal,
took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around
his waist.”
14
If you’re going to be a servant, you must settle
your identity in Christ. Only secure people can serve.


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Insecure people are always worrying about how they appear
to others. They fear exposure of their weaknesses and hide
beneath layers of protective pride and pretensions. The more
insecure you are, the more you will want people to serve you, and
the more you will need their approval. Henri Nouwen said, “In order to be of service to others we
have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our
meaning and value with the yardstick of others. .


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. thus we
become free to be compassionate.” When you base your worth
and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from
the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve
them best. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 269
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Servants don’t need to cover their walls with plaques and
awards to validate their work. They don’t insist on being
addressed by titles, and they don’t wrap themselves in robes of
superiority.


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Servants find status symbols unnecessary, and they
don’t measure their worth by their achievements. Paul said, “You
may brag about yourself, but the only approval that counts is the
Lord’s approval.”
15
If anyone had the chance of a lifetime to flaunt his connections
and “name-drop,” it was James, the half-brother of Jesus. He had
the credentials of growing up with Jesus as his brother. Yet, in
introducing his letter, he simply referred to himself as “a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
16 The closer you get to Jesus,
the less you need to promote yourself. Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an
obligation. They enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and
doing ministry. They “serve the Lord with gladness.” 17 Why do
they serve with gladness? Because they love the Lord, they’re
grateful for his grace, they know serving is the highest use of
life, and they know God has promised a reward. Jesus promised,
“The Father will honor and reward
anyone who serves me.”
18 Paul said,
“He will not forget how hard you
have worked for him and how you
have shown your love to him by
caring for other Christians.”
19
Imagine what could happen if
just 10 percent of all Christians in
the world got serious about their role as real servants. Imagine all
the good that could be done.


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Are you willing to be one of those
people? It doesn’t matter what your age is, God will use you if
you will begin to act and think like a servant. Albert Schweitzer
said, “The only really happy people are those who have learned
how to serve.”
The Purpose-Driven Life 270
The closer you get to Jesus, 
the less you need 
to promote yourself. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 271
Day Thirty-four
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: To be a servant I must think like a
servant. Verse to Remember: “Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 2:5 (NIV)
Question to Consider: Am I usually more concerned
about being served or finding ways to serve others?


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. yet by God’ s power we will
live with him to serve you. 2 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV) 
I am with you; that is all you need. My power
shows up best in weak people. 2 Corinthians 12:9a (LB)
God loves to use weak people. Everyone has weaknesses. In fact, you have a bundle of flaws
and imperfections: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. You may also have uncontrollable circumstances that weaken you,
such as financial or relational limitations. The more important
issue is what you do with these. Usually we deny our weaknesses,
defend them, excuse them, hide them, and resent them. This
prevents God from using them the way he desires. God has a different perspective on your weaknesses. He says,
“My thoughts and my ways are higher than yours,”
1 so he often acts
in ways that are the exact opposite of what we expect. We think
that God only wants to use our strengths, but he also wants to
use our weaknesses for his glory. The Bible says, “God purposely chose .


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. what the world considers
weak in order to shame the powerful.”
2 Your weaknesses are not an
The Purpose-Driven Life 272
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accident. God deliberately allowed them in your life for the
purpose of demonstrating his power through you. God has never been impressed with strength or self-sufficiency.


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In fact, he is drawn to people who are weak and admit it. Jesus
regarded this recognition of our need as being “poor in spirit.” It’s
the number one attitude he blesses. 3
The Bible is filled with examples of how God loves to use
imperfect, ordinary people to do extraordinary things in spite of
their weaknesses. If God only used perfect people, nothing would
ever get done, because none of us is flawless. That God uses
imperfect people is encouraging news for all of us. A weakness, or “thorn” as Paul called it,
4 is not a sin or a vice or
a character defect that you can change, such as overeating or
impatience. A weakness is any limitation that you inherited or
have no power to change. It may be a physical limitation, like a
handicap, a chronic illness, naturally low energy, or a disability. It
may be an emotional limitation, such as a trauma scar, a hurtful
memory, a personality quirk, or a hereditary disposition. Or it
may be a talent or intellectual limitation.


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We’re not all super
bright or talented. When you think of the limitation in your life, you may be
tempted to conclude, “God could never use me.” But God is
never limited by our limitations. In
fact, he enjoys putting his great
power into ordinary containers. The Bible says, “We are like clay jars
in which this treasure is stored. The
real power comes from God and not
from us.”
5 Like common pottery,
we are fragile and flawed and break easily. But God will use us if
we allow him to work through our weaknesses. For that to
happen, we must follow the model of Paul. Admit your weaknesses.


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Stop
pretending to have it all together, and be honest about yourself. PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 273
If God only used perfect people,
nothing would ever get done. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Instead of living in denial or making excuses, take the time to
identify your personal weaknesses. You might make a list of
them. Two great confessions in the New Testament illustrate what we
need for healthy living. The first was Peter’s, who said to Jesus,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
6 The second
confession was Paul’s, who said to an idolizing crowd, “We are
only human beings like you.” 7 If you want God to use you, you
must know who God is and know who you are. Many Christians,
especially leaders, forget the second truth: We’re only human!


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If it
takes a crisis to get you to admit this, God won’t hesitate to allow
it, because he loves you. Be content with your weaknesses. Paul said, “I am glad to
boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work
through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite
content with my weaknesses.”
8 At first this doesn’t make sense. We
want to be freed from our weaknesses, not be content with
them! But contentment is an expression of faith in the goodness
of God. It says, “God, I believe you love me and know what’s
best for me.”
Paul gives us several reasons to be content with our inborn
weaknesses. First, they cause us to depend on God. Referring to
his own weakness, which God refused to take away, Paul said, “I
am quite happy about ‘the thorn,’ . .


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. for when I am weak, then I am
strong—the less I have, the more I depend on him.”
9 Whenever you
feel weak, God is reminding you to depend on him. Our weaknesses also prevent arrogance.


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They keep us humble. Paul said, “So I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a
handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.”10 God
often attaches a major weakness to a major strength to keep our
egos in check. A limitation can act as a governor to keep us from
going too fast and running ahead of God. When Gideon recruited an army of 32,000 to fight the
Midianites, God whittled it down to just 300, making the odds
The Purpose-Driven Life 274
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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450 to 1 as they went out to fight 135,000 enemy troops. It
appeared to be a recipe for disaster, but God did it so Israel
would know it was God’s power, not their own strength, that
saved them. Our weaknesses also encourage fellowship between believers.


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While strength breeds an independent spirit (“I don’t need
anyone else”), our limitations show
how much we need each other. When we weave the weak strands of
our lives together, a rope of great
strength is created. Vance Havner
quipped, “Christians, like
snowflakes, are frail, but when they
stick together they can stop traffic.” 
Most of all, our weaknesses increase our capacity for sympathy
and ministry. We are far more likely to be compassionate and
considerate of the weaknesses of others.


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God wants you to have a
Christlike ministry on earth. That means other people are going
to find healing in your wounds. Your greatest life messages and
your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts. The things you’re most embarrassed about, most ashamed of, and
most reluctant to share are the very tools God can use most
powerfully to heal others. The great missionary Hudson Taylor said, “All God’s giants
were weak people.” Moses’ weakness was his temper. It caused
him to murder an Egyptian, strike the rock he was supposed to
speak to, and break the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Yet
God transformed Moses into “the humblest man on earth.”
11
Gideon’s weakness was low self-esteem and deep insecurities,
but God transformed him into a “mighty man of valor.”12
Abraham’s weakness was fear. Not once, but twice, he claimed his
wife was his sister to protect himself.


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But God transformed
Abraham into “the father of those who have faith.”
13 Impulsive,
weak-willed Peter became “a rock,”14 the adulterer David became
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 275
Your most effective ministry 
will come out of your 
deepest hurts. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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“a man after my own heart,”15 and John, one of the arrogant
“Sons of Thunder,” became the “Apostle of Love.”
The list could go on and on. “It would take too long to recount
the stories of the faith of .


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. their weakness was turned to
strength.”
16 God specializes in turning weaknesses into
strengths. He wants to take your greatest weakness and
transform it. Honestly share your weaknesses. Ministry begins with
vulnerability. The more you let down your guard, take off your
mask, and share your struggles, the more God will be able to use
you in serving others. Paul modeled vulnerability in all his letters. He openly shared
• His failures: “When I want to do good, I don’t, and when I try
not to do wrong, I do it anyway.”
17
• His feelings: “I have told you all my feelings.”18
• His frustrations: “We were crushed and completely over-
whelmed, and we thought we would never live through it.”19
•H is fears: “When I came to you, I was weak and fearful and
trembling.”20
Of course, vulnerability is risky. It can be scary to lower your
defenses and open up your life to others. When you reveal your
failures, feelings, frustrations, and fears, you risk rejection. But the
benefits are worth the risk. Vulnerability is emotionally liberating. Opening up relieves stress, defuses your fears, and is the first
step to freedom. We have already seen that God “gives grace to the
humble,” but many misunderstand humility. Humility is not putting yourself down or denying your
strengths; rather, it is being honest about your
weaknesses. The more honest you are, the more of God’s grace
you get. You will also receive grace from others. Vulnerability is
an endearing quality; we are naturally drawn to humble people. The Purpose-Driven Life 276
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Pretentiousness repels but authenticity attracts, and vulnerability
is the pathway to intimacy. This is why God wants to use your weaknesses, not just your
strengths. If all people see are your strengths, they get
discouraged and think, “Well, good for her, but I’ll never be able
to do that.” But when they see God using you in spite of your
weaknesses, it encourages them to think, “Maybe God can use
me!” Our strengths create competition, but our
weaknesses create community. At some point in your life you must decide
whether you want to impress people or influence
people.


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You can impress people from a distance,
but you must get close to influence them, and
when you do that, they will be able to see your
flaws. That’s okay. The most essential quality for
leadership is not perfection, but credibility. People must be able
to trust you, or they won’t follow you. How do you build
credibility? Not by pretending to be perfect, but by being honest.


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Glory in your weaknesses. Paul said, “I am going to boast only
about how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness for
his glory.”
21 Instead of posing as self-confident and invincible, see
yourself as a trophy of grace. When Satan points out your
weaknesses, agree with him and fill your heart with praise for Jesus,
who “understands every weakness of ours,”
22 and for the Holy
Spirit, who “helps us in our weakness.”23
Sometimes, however, God turns a strength into a weakness
in order to use us even more. Jacob was a manipulator who
spent his life scheming and then running from the
consequences.


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One night he wrestled with God and said, “I’m
not letting go until you bless me.” God said, “All right,” but
then he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and dislocated his hip. What is
the significance of that? God touched Jacob’s strength (the thigh muscle is the
strongest in the body) and turned it into a weakness. From that
PURPOSE #4: Y ou W ere Shaped for Serving God 277
DAY THIRTY-
FIVE:
GOD’S
POWER IN
YOUR
WEAKNESS
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 278
day forward, Jacob walked with a limp so he could never run
away again. It forced him to lean on God whether he liked it or
not. If you want God to bless you and use you greatly, you must
be willing to walk with a limp the rest of your life, because God
uses weak people. Day Thirty-five
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: God works best when I admit my
weakness. Verse to Remember: “My grace is sufficient for you, my
power is made perfect in weakness.” 
2C orinthians 12:9a (NIV)
Question to Consider: Am I limiting God’s power in
my life by trying to hide my weaknesses? What do I
need to be honest about in order to help others?


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YOU WERE MADE 
FOR A MISSION
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, 
and he who wins souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30 (NIV)
PURPOSE #5
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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36
Made for a Mission
In the same way that you gave me 
a mission in the world, 
I give them a mission in the world. John 17:18 (Msg)
The most important thing is 
that I complete my mission, 
the work that the Lord Jesus gave me. Acts 20:24 (NCV)
You were made for a mission. God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him.


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This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have
both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. Your ministry is your service to believers,1 and your mission is your
service to unbelievers. Fulfilling your mission in the world is God’s
fifth purpose for your life. Your life mission is both shared and specific. One part of it is a
responsibility you share with every other Christian, and the other
part is an assignment that is unique to you.


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We will look at both
parts in the chapters ahead. Our English word mission comes from the Latin word for
“sending.” Being a Christian includes being sent into the world as
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 281
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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a representative of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent
me, I am sending you.”2
Jesus clearly understood his life mission on earth. At age twelve
he said, “I must be about my Father’s business,”3 and twenty-one
years later, dying on the cross, he said, “It is finished.”4 Like
bookends, these two statements frame a well-lived, purpose-
driven life. Jesus completed the mission the Father gave him.


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The mission Jesus had while on earth is now our mission
because we are the Body of Christ. What he did in his physical
body we are to continue as his spiritual body, the church. What is
that mission?


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Introducing people to God! The Bible says, “Christ
changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of
making others his friends also.”
5
God wants to redeem human beings from Satan and reconcile
them to himself so we can fulfill the five purposes he created us
for: to love him, to be a part of his family, to become like him, to
serve him, and to tell others about him. Once we are his, God
uses us to reach others.


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He saves us and then sends us out. The
Bible says, “We have been sent to speak for Christ.”
6 We are the
messengers of God’s love and purposes to the world. The Importance of Your Mission
Fulfilling your life mission on earth is an essential part of living
for God’s glory. The Bible gives several reasons why your mission
is so important. Your mission is a continuation of Jesus’ mission on earth. As his followers, we are to continue what Jesus started. Jesus calls
us not only to come to him, but to go for him. Your
mission is so significant that Jesus repeated it five
times, in five different ways, in five different books
of the Bible. 7 It is as if he was saying, “I really want
you to get this!” Study these five commissions of
Jesus and you will learn the details of your mission on earth—the
when, where, why, and how. The Purpose-Driven Life 282
DAY THIRTY-SIX:
MADE FOR
A MISSION
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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In the Great Commission Jesus said, “Go to the people of all
nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do
everything I have told you.”
8 This commission was given to every
follower of Jesus, not to pastors and missionaries alone. This is
your commission from Jesus, and it is not optional.


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These words
of Jesus are not the Great Suggestion. If you are a part of God’s
family, your mission is mandatory. To ignore it would be disobedience. You may have been unaware that
God holds you responsible for the
unbelievers who live around you. The Bible says, “You must warn
them so they may live. If you don’t
speak out to warn the wicked to stop
their evil ways, they will die in their sin. But I will hold you
responsible for their death.”
9 You are the only Christian some
people will ever know, and your mission is to share Jesus with
them. Your mission is a wonderful privilege.


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Although it is a big
responsibility, it is also an incredible honor to be used by God. Paul said, “God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come
into his favor and be reconciled to him.”
10 Your mission involves
two great privileges: working with God and representing him. We
get to partner with God in the building of his kingdom. Paul calls
us “co-laborers” and says, “We are workers together with God.”
11
Jesus has secured our salvation, put us in his family, given us his
Spirit, and then made us his agents in the world. What a privilege!


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The Bible says, “We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to
persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into
God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for
Christ himself now: Become friends with God.”
12
Telling others how they can have eternal life is the greatest
thing you can do for them. If your neighbor had cancer or
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 283
Jesus calls us not only 
to come to him, 
but to go for him. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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AIDS and you knew the cure, it would be criminal to withhold
that lifesaving information. Even worse is to keep secret the way
to forgiveness, purpose, peace, and eternal life. We have the
greatest news in the world, and sharing it is the greatest kindness
you can show to anyone. One problem long-term Christians have is that they forget how
hopeless it felt to be without Christ.


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We must remember that no
matter how contented or successful people appear to be, without
Christ they are hopelessly lost and headed for eternal separation
from God. The Bible says, “Jesus is the only One who can save
people.”
13 Everybody needs Jesus. Your mission has eternal significance.


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It will impact the
eternal destiny of other people, so it’s more important than any
job, achievement, or goal you will reach during your life on earth. The consequences of your mission
will last forever; the consequences
of your job will not. Nothing else
you do will ever matter as much as
helping people establish an eternal
relationship with God. This is why we must be urgent
about our mission. Jesus said, “All of us must quickly carry out the
tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, because there is little time
left before the night falls and all work comes to an end.”
14 The clock
is ticking down on your life mission, so don’t delay another day. Get started on your mission of reaching out to others now!


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We
will have all of eternity to celebrate with those we have brought to
Jesus, but we only have our lifetime in which to reach them. This does not mean you should quit your job to become a full-
time evangelist. God wants you to share the Good News where
you are. As a student, mother, preschool teacher, salesman, or
manager or whatever you do, you should continually look for
people God places in your path with whom you can share the
gospel. The Purpose-Driven Life 284
The Great Commission was
given to every follower of Jesus. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Your mission gives your life meaning. William James said,
“The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.”
The truth is, only the kingdom of God is going to last. Everything
else will eventually vanish. That is why we must live purpose-
driven lives—lives committed to worship, fellowship, spiritual
growth, ministry, and fulfilling our mission on earth. The results
of these activities will last—forever! If you fail to fulfill your God-given mission on earth, you will
have wasted the life God gave you. Paul said, “My life is worth
nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord
Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s
wonderful kindness and love.”
15 There are people on this planet
whom only you will be able to reach, because of where you live and
what God has made you to be. If just one person will be in heaven
because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity. Start looking around at your personal mission field and pray,
“God, who have you put in my life for me to tell about Jesus?” 
God’s timetable for history’s conclusion is connected to the
completion of our commission. Today there’s a growing interest
in the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.


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Just before Jesus ascended to heaven the disciples
asked him this same question, and his response was quite revealing. He said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set
by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
16
When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus
quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. He wanted them
to concentrate on their mission in the world.


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He said in essence,
“The details of my return are none of your business. What is your
business is the mission I’ve given you. Focus on that!”
Speculating on the exact timing of Christ’s return is futile,
because Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
17 Since Jesus
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 285
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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said he didn’t know the day or hour, why should you try to figure
it out? What we do know for sure is this: Jesus will not return
until everyone God wants to hear the Good News has heard it. Jesus said, “The Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached
in all the world, to every nation. Then the end will come.”
18 If you
want Jesus to come back sooner,
focus on fulfilling your mission, not
figuring out prophecy. It is easy to get distracted and
sidetracked from your mission
because Satan would rather have
you do anything besides sharing
your faith. He will let you do all kinds of good things as long as
you don’t take anyone to heaven with you. But the moment you
become serious about your mission, expect the Devil to throw all
kinds of diversions at you. When that happens, remember the
words of Jesus: “Anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work
I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
19
What It Costs to Fulfill Your Mission
To fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your
agenda and accept God’s agenda for your life. You can’t just “tack
it on” to all the other things you’d like to do with your life.


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You
must say, like Jesus, “Father,... I  want your will, not mine.”
20 You
yield your rights, expectations, dreams, plans, and ambitions to
him. You stop praying selfish prayers like “God bless what I want
to do.” Instead you pray, “God help me to do what you’re
blessing!” You hand God a blank sheet with your name signed at
the bottom and tell him to fill in the details. The Bible says, “Give
yourselves completely to God—every part of you .


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. to be tools in the
hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.”
21
If you will commit to fulfilling your mission in life no matter
what it costs, you will experience the blessing of God in ways that
The Purpose-Driven Life 286
It is easy to get distracted,
because Satan would rather 
have you do anything 
besides sharing your faith. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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few people ever experience. There is almost nothing God won’t
do for the man or woman who is committed to serving the
kingdom of God. Jesus has promised, “[God] will give you all you
need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of
God your primary concern.”
22
One More for Jesus
My father was a minister for over fifty years, serving mostly in
small, rural churches. He was a simple preacher, but he was a man
with a mission.


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His favorite activity was taking teams of volunteers
overseas to build church buildings for small congregations. In his
lifetime, Dad built over 150 churches around the world. In 1999, my father died of cancer.


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In the final week of his life
the disease kept him awake in a semi-conscious state nearly
twenty-four hours a day. As he dreamed, he’d talk out loud about
what he was dreaming. Sitting by his bedside, I learned a lot
about my dad by just listening to his dreams. He relived one
church building project after another. One night near the end, while my wife, my niece, and I
were by his side, Dad suddenly became very active
and tried to get out of bed. Of course, he was too
weak, and my wife insisted he lay back down. But he persisted in trying to get out of bed, so
my wife finally asked, “Jimmy, what are you
trying to do?” He replied, “Got to save one
more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus!” He began to repeat that
phrase over and over. During the next hour, he said the phrase probably a hundred
times. “Got to save one more for Jesus!” As I sat by his bed with
tears flowing down my cheeks, I bowed my head to thank God
for my dad’s faith.


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At that moment Dad reached out and placed
his frail hand on my head and said, as if commissioning me, “Save
one more for Jesus! Save one more for Jesus!”
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 287
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 288
I intend for that to be the theme of the rest of my life. I invite
you to consider it as a focus for your life, too, because nothing will
make a greater difference for eternity. If you want to be used by
God, you must care about what God cares about; what he cares
about most is the redemption of the people he made. He wants
his lost children found!


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Nothing matters more to God; the Cross
proves that. I pray that you will always be on the lookout to reach
“one more for Jesus” so that when you stand before God one day,
you can say, “Mission accomplished!”
Day Thirty-six
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: I was made for a mission. Verse to Remember: “Go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.” 
Matthew 28:19–20 (NIV)
Question to Consider: What fears have kept me from
fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the Good News?


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37
Sharing Y our Life Message
Those who believe in the Son of God 
have the testimony of God in them. 1 John 5:10a (GWT) 
Your lives are echoing the 
Master’ s W ord. .


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. .The news of your faith 
in God is out. We don’ t even have to say
anything anymore—you’re the message! 1 Thessalonians 1:8 (Msg)
God has given you a Life Message to share. When you became a believer, you also became God’s
messenger.


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God wants to speak to the world through you. Paul
said, “We speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.”
1
You may feel you don’t have anything to share, but that’s the
Devil trying to keep you silent. You have a storehouse of
experiences that God wants to use to bring others into his family. The Bible says, “Those who believe in the Son of God have the
testimony of God in them.”
2 Your Life Message has four parts to it:
•Y our testimony: the story of how you began a relationship
with Jesus
•Y our life lessons: the most important lessons God has taught
you
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 289
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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•Y our godly passions: the issues God shaped you to care about
most
• The Good News: the message of salvation
Your Life Message includes your testimony. Your testimony
is the story of how Christ has made a difference in your life. Peter
tells us that we were chosen by God “to do his work and speak out
for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for
you.”
3 This is the essence of witnessing—simply sharing your
personal experiences regarding the Lord. In a courtroom, a
witness isn’t expected to argue the case, prove the truth, or press
for a verdict; that is the job of
attorneys.


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Witnesses simply report
what happened to them or what
they saw. Jesus said, “You will be my
witnesses,”
4 not “You will be my
attorney.” He wants you to share
your story with others. Sharing
your testimony is an essential part
of your mission on earth because it is unique. There is no other
story just like yours, so only you can share it.


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If you don’t share it,
it will be lost forever. You may not be a Bible scholar, but you are
the authority on your life, and it’s hard to argue with personal
experience. Actually, your personal testimony is more effective
than a sermon, because unbelievers see pastors as professional
salesmen, but see you as a “satisfied customer,” so they give you
more credibility. Personal stories are also easier to relate to than principles, and
people love to hear them. They capture our attention, and we
remember them longer. Unbelievers would probably lose interest if
you started quoting theologians, but they have a natural curiosity
about experiences they’ve never had. Shared stories build a relational
bridge that Jesus can walk across from your heart to theirs.


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The Purpose-Driven Life 290
Shared stories build a relational
bridge that Jesus can walk across
from your heart to others. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Another value of your testimony is that it bypasses intellectual
defenses. Many people who won’t accept the authority of the
Bible will listen to a humble, personal story. That
is why on six different occasions Paul used his
testimony to share the gospel instead of quoting
Scripture. 5
The Bible says, “Be ready at all times to answer
anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in
you, but do it with gentleness and respect.”
6 The best way to “be
ready” is to write out your testimony and then memorize the
main points. Divide it into four parts:
1.


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What my life was like before I met Jesus
2. How I realized I needed Jesus
3. How I committed my life to Jesus
4. The difference Jesus has made in my life
Of course, you have many other testimonies besides your
salvation story. You have a story for every experience in which
God has helped you.


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You should make a list of all the problems,
circumstances, and crises that God has brought you through. Then be sensitive and use the story that your unbelieving friend
will relate to best. Different situations call for different
testimonies. Your Life Message includes your life lessons. The second
part of your life message is the truths that God has taught you
from experiences with him. These are lessons and insights you
have learned about God, relationships, problems, temptations,
and other aspects of life. David prayed, “God, teach me lessons for
living so I can stay the course.”
7 Sadly, we never learn from a lot
that happens to us. Of the Israelites, the Bible says, “Over and
over God rescued them, but they never learned—until finally their
sins destroyed them.”
8 You have probably met people like that.


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While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn
from the experiences of others. There isn’t enough time to learn
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 291
DAY THIRTY-SEVEN:
SHARING
YOUR LIFE
MESSAGE
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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everything in life by trial and error. We must learn from the life
lessons of one another. The Bible says, “A warning given by an
experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than
... jewelry made of the finest gold.”
9
Write down the major life lessons you have learned so you can
share them with others. We should be grateful Solomon did
this, because it gave us the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes,
which are filled with practical
lessons on living. Imagine how
much needless frustration could be
avoided if we learned from each
other’s life lessons.


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Mature people develop the habit
of extracting lessons from everyday
experiences. I urge you to make a
list of your life lessons.


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You haven’t really thought about them
unless you have written them down. Here are a few questions to
jog your memory and get your started:
10
•W hat has God taught me from failure? •W hat has God taught me from a lack of money? •W hat has God taught me from pain or sorrow 
or depression? •W hat has God taught me through waiting? •W hat has God taught me through illness? •W hat has God taught me from disappointment?


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• What have I learned from my family, my church, my
relationships, my small group, and my critics? Your Life Message includes sharing your godly passions. God is a passionate God. He passionately loves some things and
passionately hates other things. As you grow closer to him, he will
give you a passion for something he cares about deeply so you can
be a spokesman for him in the world. It may be a passion about a
problem, a purpose, a principle, or a group of people. Whatever it
The Purpose-Driven Life 292
While it is wise to learn from
experience, it is wiser to learn
from the experiences of others. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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You cannot keep yourself from talking about what you care
about most. Jesus said, “A man’s heart determines his speech.”11
Two examples are David, who said, “My zeal for God and his work
burns hot within me,”12 and Jeremiah, who said, “Your message
burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent.” 13
God gives some people a godly passion to champion a cause. It’s often a problem they personally experienced such as abuse,
addiction, infertility, depression, a disease, or some other
difficulty.


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Sometimes God gives people a passion to speak up for a
group of others who can’t speak for themselves: the unborn, the
persecuted, the poor, the imprisoned, the mistreated, the
disadvantaged, and those who are denied justice. The Bible is
filled with commands to defend the defenseless. God uses passionate people to further his kingdom. He may
give you a godly passion for starting new churches, strengthening
families, funding Bible translations, or training Christian leaders. You may be given a godly passion for reaching a particular group
of people with the gospel: businessmen, teenagers, foreign
exchange students, young mothers, or those with a particular
hobby or sport. If you ask God, he
will burden your heart for a specific
country or ethnic group that
desperately needs a strong Christian
witness. God gives us different passions so
that everything he wants done in
the world will get done. You should
not expect everyone else to be passionate about your passion. Instead, we must listen to and value each other’s life message
because nobody can say it all. Never belittle someone else’s godly
passion. The Bible says, “It is fine to be zealous, provided the
purpose is good.”
14
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 293
God gives us different passions 
so that everything he wants done
in the world will get done. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Your Life Message includes the Good News. What is the
Good News? “The Good News shows how God makes people right
with himself—that it begins and ends with faith.” 15 “For God was in
Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s
sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell
others.”
16 The Good News is that when we trust God’s grace to
save us through what Jesus did, our sins are forgiven, we get a
purpose for living, and we are promised a future home in heaven. There are hundreds of great books on how to share the Good
News. I can provide a list of books that have been helpful to me
you to witness for Christ until you internalize the eight
convictions covered in the previous chapter. Most important, you
must learn to love lost people the way God does.


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Everybody
matters to him. When Jesus stretched his arms out wide on the
cross, he was saying, “I love you this much!” The Bible says, “For
Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one
died for all.”
17 Whenever you feel apathetic about your
mission in the world, spend some time thinking
about what Jesus did for you on the cross. We must care about unbelievers because God
does.


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Love leaves no choice. The Bible says,
“There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all
fear.”18 A parent will run into a burning building to
save a child because their love for that child is greater than their
fear. If you’ve been afraid to share the Good News with those
around you, ask God to fill your heart with his love for them. The Bible says, “[God] does not want anyone to be lost, but he
wants all people to change their hearts and lives.”
19 As long as you
know one person who doesn’t know Christ, youmust keep
praying for them, serving them in love, and sharing the Good
News. And as long as there is one person in your community who
isn’t in the family of God, your church must keep reaching out. The Purpose-Driven Life 294
(see appendix 2). But all the training in the world won’t motivate
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The church that doesn’t want to grow is saying to the world,
“You can go to hell.”
What are you willing to do so that the people you know will go
to heaven? Invite them to church?


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Take them a meal? Pray for them every day until they
are saved? Your mission field is all around you. Don’t miss the
opportunities God is giving you.


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The Bible says, “Make the most of
your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts
with them.”
20
Is anyone going to be in heaven because of you? Will anyone in
heaven be able to say to you, “I want to thank you. I’m here
because you cared enough to share the Good News with me”? Imagine the joy of greeting people in heaven whom you helped
get there. The eternal salvation of a single soul is more important
than anything else you will ever achieve in life. Only people are
going to last forever. In this book you have learned God’s five purposes for your life
on earth: He made you to be a member of his family, a model of
his character, a magnifier of his glory, a minister of his grace, and
a messenger of his Good News to others. Of these five purposes,
the fifth can only be done on earth. The other four you will keep
doing in eternity in some way. That’s why spreading the Good
News is so important; you only have a short time to share your
life message and fulfill your mission. PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 295
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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The Purpose-Driven Life 296
Day Thirty-seven
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: God wants to say something to the
world through me. Verse to Remember: “Be ready at all times to answer
anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you,
but do it with gentleness and respect.” 
1 Peter 3:15b–16 (TEV)
Question to Consider: As I reflect on my personal
story, who does God want me to share it with?


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38
Becoming a 
World-Class Christian
Jesus said to his followers, 
“Go everywhere in the world, 
and tell the Good News to everyone.”
Mark 16:15 (NCV) 
Send us around the world with 
the news of your saving power 
and your eternal plan for all mankind. Psalm 67:2 (LB)
The Great Commission is your commission. You have a choice to make. You will be either a world-class
Christian or a worldly Christian.1
Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal
fulfillment. They are saved, but self-centered.


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They love to attend
concerts and enrichment seminars, but you would never find
them at a missions conference because they aren’t interested. Their prayers focus on their own needs, blessings, and happiness. It’s a “me-first” faith: How can God make my life more
comfortable? They want to use God for their purposes instead of
being used for his purposes.


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In contrast, world-class Christians know they were saved to
serve and made for a mission. They are eager to receive a personal
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 297
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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assignment and excited about the privilege of being used by God. World-class Christians are the only fully alive people on the
planet. Their joy, confidence, and enthusiasm are contagious
because they know they’re making a difference. They wake up
each morning expecting God to work through them in fresh
ways. Which type of Christian do you want to be? God invites you to participate in the greatest, largest, most
diverse, and most significant cause in history—his kingdom. History is his story.


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He’s building his family for eternity. Nothing matters more, and nothing will last as
long. From the book of Revelation we know that
God’s global mission will be accomplished. Someday the Great Commission will be the Great
Completion. In heaven an enormous crowd of
people from “every race, tribe, nation, and language”
2
will one day stand before Jesus Christ to worship him. Getting involved as a world-class Christian will allow you to
experience a little of what heaven will be like in advance. When Jesus told his followers to “go everywhere in the world,
and tell the Good News to everyone,” that small band of poor,
Middle Eastern disciples were overwhelmed. Were they supposed
to walk or ride slow animals?


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That’s all they had for
transportation, and there were no ocean-crossing ships, so there
were real physical barriers to going to the whole world. Today we have airplanes, ships, trains, buses, and automobiles. It’s a small world after all, and it’s shrinking daily.


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You can fly
across the ocean in a matter of hours and be home the next day if
you need to be. The opportunities for normal, everyday
Christians to become involved in short-term international
missions are now literally limitless. Every corner of the world is
available to you—just ask the travel industry. We have no excuse
not to spread the Good News.


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Now, with the Internet, the world has gotten even smaller. In
addition to phones and faxes, any believer with Internet access
The Purpose-Driven Life 298
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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can personally communicate with people in virtually every
country on earth. The whole world is at your fingertips! Even many remote villages get email, so you can now carry on
“e-vangelistic” conversations with people on the other side of the
world, without even leaving your home! It has never been easier
in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world.


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The great barriers are no longer distance, cost, or transportation. The only barrier is the way we think. To be a world-class Christian
you must make some mental shifts. Your perspective and attitudes
must change. How to Think Like a World-Class Christian
Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered
thinking. The Bible says, “My friends, stop thinking like children. Think like mature people.”3 This is the first step to becoming a
world-class Christian. Children only think of themselves; grown-
ups think of others. God commands, “Don’t think only about your
own affairs, but be interested in others, too.”
4
Of course, this is a difficult mental shift because we’re naturally
self-absorbed and almost all advertising encourages us to think of
ourselves. The only way we can
make this paradigm switch is by a
moment-by-moment dependence
on God.


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“God has given us his Spirit. That’s
why we don’t think the same way that
the people of this world think.”
5
Begin asking the Holy Spirit to
help you to think of the spiritual need of unbelievers whenever
you talk to them. With practice you can develop the habit of
praying silent “breath prayers” for those you encounter. Say,
“Father, help me to understand what is keeping this person from
knowing you.” 
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 299
It has never been easier 
in history to fulfill 
your commission to go 
to the whole world. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Your goal is to figure out where others are in their spiritual
journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to
knowing Christ. You can learn how to do this by adopting the
mind-set of Paul, who said, “I don’t think about what would be
good for me but about what would be good for many people so that
they might be saved.”
6
Shift from local thinking to global thinking. God is a global
God.


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. .”7 From the beginning he has wanted family
members from every nation he created. The Bible says, “From one
person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when
and where every nation would be. God has done all this, so that we
will look for him and reach out and find him.”
8
Much of the world already thinks globally. The largest media
and business conglomerates are all multinational. Our lives are
increasingly intertwined with those in other nations as we share
fashions, entertainment, music, sports, and even fast food. Probably most of the clothes you are wearing and
much of what you ate today were produced in
another country. We are more connected than we
realize.


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These are exciting days to be alive. There are
more Christians on earth right now than ever
before. Paul was right: “This same Good News that
came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives
everywhere, just as it changed yours.”
9
The first way to start thinking globally is to begin praying for
specific countries. World-class Christians pray for the world. Get a
globe or map and pray for nations by name. The Bible says, “If
you ask me, I will give you the nations; all the people on earth will be
yours.”
10
Prayer is the most important tool for your mission in the world. People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are
defenseless against our prayers. Like an intercontinental missile,
The Purpose-Driven Life 300
DAY THIRTY-EIGHT:
BECOMING
A WORLD-
CLASS
CHRISTIAN
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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you can aim a prayer at a person’s heart whether you are ten feet
or 10,000 miles away. What should you pray for? The Bible tells us to pray for
opportunities to witness, 11 for courage to speak up, 12 for those
who will believe, 13 for the rapid spread of the message, 14 and 
for more workers. 15 Prayer makes
you a partner with others around
the world. You should also pray for
missionaries and everyone else
involved in the global harvest. Paul
told his prayer partners, “You are
also joining to help us when you pray
for us.”
16 If you would like
suggestions for praying intelligently for the world and Christian
Another way to develop global thinking is to read and watch
the news with “Great Commission eyes.” Wherever there is change
or conflict, you can be sure that God will use it to bring people to
him. People are most receptive to God when they are under
tension or in transition. Because the rate of change is increasing in
our world, more people are open to hearing the Good News now
than ever before. The best way to switch to global thinking is to just get up and
go on a short-term mission project to another country! There’s
simply no substitute for hands-on, real life experience in another
culture. Quit studying and discussing your mission and just do it!


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I dare you to dive into the deep end. In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave us a
pattern for involvement: “You will tell everyone about me in
Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the
world.”
17 His followers were to reach out to their community
(Jerusalem), to their country (Judea), to other cultures (Samaria),
and to other nations (everywhere in the world). Note that our
commission is simultaneous, not sequential.


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While not everyone
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 301
People may refuse our love 
or reject our message, 
but they are defenseless 
against our prayers. workers, see appendix 2.


key: original_content
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has the missionary gift, every Christian is called to be on a mission
to all four groups in some way. Are you an Acts 1:8 Christian? Set a goal to participate in a mission project to each of these
four targets. I urge you to save and do whatever it takes to
participate in a short-term mission trip overseas as soon as possible. Nearly every mission agency can help you do this. It will enlarge
your heart, expand your vision, stretch your faith, deepen your
compassion, and fill you with a kind of joy you have never
experienced. It could be the turning point in your life.


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Shift from “here and now” thinking to eternal thinking. To
make the most of your time on earth, you must maintain an eternal
perspective. This will keep you from majoring on minor issues and
help you distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s ultimate. Paul said, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
18
So much of what we waste our energy on will not matter even a
year from now, much less for eternity. Don’t trade your life for
temporary things. Jesus said, “Anyone who lets himself be distracted
from the work I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
19
Paul warned, “Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world
thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.”20
What are you allowing to stand in the way of your mission? What’s keeping you from being a world-class Christian?


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Whatever
it is, let it go. “Let us strip off
anything that slows us down or holds
us back.”
21
Jesus told us to “store up your
treasures in heaven.”22 How can we
do this? In one of his most
misunderstood statements Jesus
said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to
gain friends for yourselves, so that
when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
23 Jesus
did not mean for you to “buy” friends with money. What he
The Purpose-Driven Life 302
“You can’ t take it with you”—
but the Bible says you can 
send it on ahead by investing 
in people who are going there!


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meant was that you should use the money God gives you to bring
people to Christ. They will then be friends for eternity who will
welcome you when you get to heaven! It’s the best financial
investment you’ll ever make. You’ve probably heard the expression “You can’t take it with
you”—but the Bible says you can send it on ahead by investing in
people who are going there! The Bible says, “By doing this they
will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the
only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful
Christian life down here as well.”
24
Shift from thinking of excuses to thinking of creative ways
to fulfill your commission.


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Here are
some common excuses:
• “I only speak English.” This is actually an advantage in many
countries where millions of people want to learn English and
are eager to practice it. • “I don’t have anything to offer.”Yes, you do.


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Every ability
and experience in your shape can be used somewhere. • “I’m too old (or too young).” Most mission agencies have 
age-appropriate short term projects. Whether it was Sarah claiming she was too old to be used by
God or Jeremiah claiming he was too young, God rejected their
excuses. “‘Don’t say that,’ the Lord replied, ‘for you must go
wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid
of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you.’”
25
Maybe you have believed that you needed a special “call” from
God, and you’ve been waiting for some supernatural feeling or
experience. But God has already stated his call repeatedly. We are
all called to fulfill God’s five purposes for our lives: to worship, to
fellowship, to grow like Christ, to serve, and to be on mission
with God in the world. God doesn’t want to use just some of his
people; he wants to use all of his people. We are all called to be
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 303
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The Purpose-Driven Life 304
on-mission for God. He wants his whole church to take the whole
gospel to the whole world.26
Many Christians have missed God’s plan for their lives because
they have never even asked God if he wanted them to serve as a
missionary somewhere. Whether out of fear or ignorance, they
have automatically closed their minds to the possibility of serving
as a resident missionary in a cross-cultural location. If you are
tempted to say no, you ought to check out all the different ways
and possibilities that are now available (this will surprise you), and
you ought to seriously pray and ask God what he wants from you
in the years ahead. Untold thousands of resident missionaries are
desperately needed at this critical point in history, when so many
doors are opening wide like never before. If you want to be like Jesus, you must have a heart for the
whole world.


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There are over 6 billion people on
earth, and Jesus wants all his lost children found. Jesus said,
“Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of
the Good News will ever know what it means to really live!”
27 The
Great Commission is your commission, and doing your part is the
secret to living a life of significance. Day Thirty-eight
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: The Great Commission is my
commission. Verse to Remember: “Send us around the world with the
news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all
mankind.”  Psalm 67:2 (LB)
Question to Consider:What steps can I take to prepare
to go on a short-term missions experience in the next year? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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39
Balancing Y our Life
Live life with a due sense of responsibility, 
not as those who do not know 
the meaning of life but as those who do. Ephesians 5:15 (Ph)
Don’ t let the errors of evil people 
lead you down the wrong path 
and make you lose your balance.


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2 Peter 3:17 (CEV)
Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone. One of the events in the summer Olympics is the pentathlon. It
is composed of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, horseback
riding, running, and swimming. The pentathlete’s goal is to
succeed in all five areas, not just one or two. Your life is a pentathlon of five purposes, which you must keep
in balance. These purposes were practiced by the first Christians
in Acts 2, explained by Paul in Ephesians 4, and modeled by Jesus
in John 17, but they are summarized in the Great Commandment
and the Great Commission of Jesus. These two statements sum
up what this book is all about—God’s five purposes for your life:
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 305
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1. “Love God with all your heart”: You were planned for
God’s pleasure, so your purpose is to love God through
worship. 2. “Love your neighbor as yourself”: You were shaped for
serving, so your purpose is to show love for others through
ministry. 3. “Go and make disciples”: You were made for a mission, so
your purpose is to share God’s message throughevangelism. 4.


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. .”: You were formed for God’s
family, so your purpose is to identify with his church
through fellowship. 5.


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. .”: You were created to
become like Christ, so your purpose is to grow to maturity
through discipleship. A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the
Great Commission will make you a great Christian. Keeping these five purposes in balance is not easy. We all tend
to overemphasize the purposes we feel most passionate about and
neglect the others. Churches do the same thing. But you can keep
your life balanced and on track by joining a small group for
accountability, by regularly evaluating your spiritual health, by
recording your progress in a
personal journal, and by passing on
what you learn to others. These are
four important activities for
purpose-driven living. If you are
serious about staying on track, you
will need to develop these habits. Talk it through with a spiritual
partner or small group. The best
way to internalize the principles in this book is to discuss them
with others in a small-group setting. The Bible says, “As iron
sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.”
1 We learn best in
The Purpose-Driven Life 306
A great commitment to 
the Great Commandment and
the Great Commission will
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community. Our minds are sharpened and our convictions are
deepened through conversation. I strongly urge you to gather a small group of friends and form
a Purpose-Driven Life Reading Group to review these chapters on
a weekly basis. Discuss the implications and the applications of
each chapter. Ask “So what?” and “What now?” What
does this mean for me, my family, and our church? What am I going to do about it? Paul said, “Put
into practice what you learned.”
2
I have prepared a list of discussion questions for
your small group or Sunday school class to use. A small reading group provides many benefits that
a book by itself cannot.


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You can discuss real-life examples. You can
pray for, encourage, and support each other as you begin to live
out these purposes. Remember, we are meant to grow together,
not separately. The Bible says, “Encourage each other and give each
other strength.”
3 After you have gone through this book together
as a group, you might consider studying other purpose-driven life
I also encourage you to do personal Bible study. I have
footnoted over a thousand Scriptures used in this book for you to
this book uses so many different translations and paraphrases.


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To
keep these chapters to a size for daily reading, I was unable to
explain the fascinating context of most of the verses used. But the
Bible is intended to be studied by paragraphs, chapters, and even
entire books. My book Personal Bible Study Methods can show you
how to do inductive studies. Give yourself a regular spiritual check-up. The best way to
balance the five purposes in your life is to evaluate yourself
periodically. God places a high value on the habit of self-
evaluation. At least five times in Scripture we are told to test and
examine our own spiritual health. 4 The Bible says, “Test yourselves
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 307
In appendix 1,
studies that are available for classes and groups (see appendix 2). study in their context.


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Please read appendix 3, which explains why
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking
everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. .


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Test it
out. If you fail the test, do something about it.”
5
To maintain your physical health, you need regular check-ups
with a doctor who can assess your vital signs—blood pressure,
temperature, weight, and so on. For your spiritual health you
need to regularly check the five vital signs of worship, fellowship,
growth in character, ministry, and mission. Jeremiah advised,
“Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and
reorder our lives under God.”
6
At Saddleback Church we have developed a
simple personal evaluation tool that has helped
thousands of people stay on-purpose for God. If
you would like a copy of this purpose-driven life spiritual health
amazed at how much this little tool will help you balance your life
for health and growth. Paul urged, “Let your enthusiastic idea at
the start be equaled by your realistic action now.”
7
Write down your progress in a journal. The best way to
reinforce your progress in fulfilling God’s purposes for your life is
to keep a spiritual journal. This is not a diary of events, but a
record of the life lessons you don’t want to forget. The Bible says,
“It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we
don’t drift off.”
8 We remember what we record. Writing helps clarify what God is doing in your life. Dawson
Trotman used to say, “Thoughts disentangle themselves when
they pass through your fingertips.” The Bible has several examples
of God telling people to keep a spiritual journal. It says, “At the
Lord’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress.”
9
Aren’t you glad Moses obeyed God’s command to record Israel’s
spiritual journey? If he had been lazy, we would be robbed of the
powerful life lessons of the Exodus. While it’s unlikely that your spiritual journal will be as widely
read as Moses’ was, yours is still important. The New
The Purpose-Driven Life 308
DAY THIRTY-NINE:
BALANCING
YOUR LIFE
assessment, you can email me (see appendix 2). You will be
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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International Version says, “Moses recorded the stages in their
journey.” Your life is a journey, and a journey deserves a journal. I
hope you will write about the stages of your spiritual journey in
living a purpose-driven life.


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Don’t just write down the pleasant things. As David did, record
your doubts, fears, and struggles with God. Our greatest lessons
come out of pain, and the Bible says God keeps a record of our
tears. 10 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. In the middle of a painful experience, the psalmist wrote,
“Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so
that people not yet born will praise him.”
11 You owe it to future
generations to preserve the testimony of how God helped you
fulfill his purposes on earth. It is a witness that will continue to
speak long after you’re in heaven.


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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. Proverbs tells us, “The one who blesses others is
abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.”
12 Those who
pass along insights get more from God. Now that you understand the purpose of life, it is your
responsibility to carry the message to others.


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God is calling you to
be his messenger. Paul said, “Now I
want you to tell these same things to
followers who can be trusted to tell
others.”
13 In this book I have passed
on to you what others taught me
about the purpose of life; now it’s
your duty to pass that on to others. You probably know hundreds of
people who do not know the
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 309
You owe it to future generations
to preserve the testimony 
of how God helped you fulfill 
his purposes on earth. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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purpose of life. Share these truths with your children, your
friends, your neighbors, and those you work with. If you give this
book to a friend, add your personal note on the dedication page.


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The more you know, the more God expects you to use that
knowledge to help others. James said, “Anyone who knows the right
thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning.”
14 Knowledge increases
responsibility. But passing along the purpose of life is more than
an obligation; it’s one of life’s greatest privileges.


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Imagine how
different the world would be if everyone knew their purpose. Paul
said, “If you teach these things to other followers, you will be a good
servant of Christ Jesus.”
15
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. The night before he was
crucified, Jesus reported to his Father, “I have brought you glory on
earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
16 When Jesus
prayed these words, he had not yet died for our sins, so
what “work” had he completed? In this instance he
was referring to something other than the
atonement. The answer lies in what he said in the
next twenty verses of his prayer.17
Jesus told his Father what he had been doing
for the last three years: preparing his disciples to
live for God’s purposes. He helped them to know and
love God (worship), taught them to love each other (fellowship),
gave them the Word so they could grow to maturity
(discipleship), showed them how to serve (ministry), and sent
them out to tell others (mission). Jesus modeled a purpose-driven
life, and he taught others how to live it, too. That was the “work”
that brought glory to God. Today God calls each of us to the same work.


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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
The Purpose-Driven Life 310
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PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 311
them into his fellowship, help them grow to maturity and
discover their place of service, and then send them out to reach
others, too. This is what purpose-driven living is all about.


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Regardless of
your age, the rest of your life can be the best of your life, and you
can start living on purpose today. Day Thirty-nine
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Blessed are the balanced. Verse to Remember: “Live life with a due sense of
responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of
life but as those who do.”  Ephesians 5:15 (Ph)
Question to Consider: Which of the four activities will
I begin in order to stay on track and balance God’s five
purposes for my life? Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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40
Living with Purpose
Many are the plans in a man’ s heart, 
but it is the Lord’ s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) 
For David . .


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. served the purpose of God 
in his own generation. Acts 13:36 (NASB)
Living on purpose is the only way to really live. Everything else
is just existing. Most people struggle with three basic issues in life. The first is
identity: “Who am I?” The second is importance: “Do I matter?”
The third is impact: “What is my place in life?” The answers to all
three questions are found in God’s five purposes for you. In the Upper Room, as Jesus was concluding his last day of
ministry with his disciples, he washed their feet as an example and
said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do
them.”1 Once you know what God wants you to do, the blessing
comes in actually doing it. As we come to the end of our forty-
day journey together, now that you know God’s purposes for your
life, you will be blessed if you do them!


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This probably means you will have to stop doing some other
things. There are many “good” things you can do with your life,
The Purpose-Driven Life 312
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but God’s purposes are the five essentials you must do. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get distracted and forget what is most
important.


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It’s easy to drift away from what matters most and
slowly get off course. To prevent this, you should develop a
purpose statement for your life and then review it regularly. What Is a Life Purpose Statement? It’s a statement that summarizes God’s purposes for your
life. In your own words you affirm your commitment to God’s
five purposes for your life. A purpose statement is not a list of
goals. Goals are temporary; purposes are eternal. The Bible says,
“His plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally.”
2
It’s a statement that points the direction of your life. Writing down your purposes on paper will force you to think
specifically about the path of your life. The Bible says, “Know
where you are headed, and you will stay on solid ground.”3 A life
purpose statement not only spells out what you intend to do with
your time, life, and money, but also implies what you aren’tgoing
to do. Proverbs says, “An intelligent person aims at wise action,
but a fool starts off in many directions.”
4
It’s a statement that defines “success” for you. It states what
you believe is important, not what the world says is important.


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It
clarifies your values. Paul said, “I want you to understand what
really matters.”
5
It’s a statement that clarifies your roles.You will
have different roles at different stages in life, but
your purposes will never change. They are greater
than any role you will have.


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It’s a statement that expresses your shape. It reflects the unique ways God made you to
serve him. Take your time writing out your life purpose statement. Don’t
try to complete it in a single setting, and don’t aim for perfection
in your first draft; just write down your thoughts as fast as they
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 313
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It is always easier to edit than to create. Here are
five questions you should consider as you prepare your statement:
Life’s Five Greatest Questions
What will be thecenter of my life?This is the question of
worship. Who are you going to live for? What are you going to
build your life around? You can center your life around your career,
your family, a sport or hobby, money, having fun, or many other
activities. These are all good things, but they don’t belong at the
center of your life. None is strong enough to hold you together
when life starts breaking apart. You need an unshakable center. King Asa told the people of Judah to “center their lives in
God.”
6 Actually, whatever is at the center of your life is your god. When you committed your life to Christ, he moved into the
center, but you must keep him
there through worship. Paul says, “I
pray that Christ will be more and
more at home in your hearts.”
7
How do you know when God is
at the center of your life? When
God’s at the center, you worship. When he’s not, you worry. Worry is
the warning light that God has been shoved to the sideline. The
moment you put him back at the center, you will have peace
again. The Bible says, “A sense of God’s wholeness . .


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will come and
settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces
worry at the center of your life.”
8
What will be the character of my life? This is the question of
discipleship. What kind of person will you be? God is far more
interested in what you are than what you do. Remember, you will
take your character into eternity, but not your career. Make a list
of the character qualities you want to work on and develop in
your life. You might begin with the fruit of the Spirit
9 or the
Beatitudes.10
The Purpose-Driven Life 314
When God’ s at the center 
of your life, you worship. When he’ s not, you worry.


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Peter said, “Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been
given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual
understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent
wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love.”
11 Don’t get
discouraged and give up when you stumble. It takes a
lifetime to build Christlike character. Paul told
Timothy, “Keep a firm grasp on both your character
and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it.”
12
What will be the contribution of my life? This is
the question of service. What will be your ministry in
the Body of Christ? Knowing your combination of
spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences
(SHAPE), what would be your best role in the family of God? How can you make a difference?


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Is there a specific group in the
Body that I am shaped to serve? Paul pointed out two wonderful
benefits when you fulfill your ministry: “This service you perform
not only meets the needs of God’s people, but also produces an
outpouring of gratitude to God.”
13
While you are shaped to serve others, even Jesus didn’t meet
the needs of everyone while on earth. You have to choose whom
you can best help, based on your shape. You need to ask, “Who
do I have a desire to help most?” Jesus said, “I commissioned you
to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
14 Each of us bears
different fruit. What will be the communication of my life?


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This is the
question of your mission to unbelievers. Your mission statement is
a part of your life purpose statement. It should include your
commitment to share your testimony and the Good News with
others. You should also list the life lessons and godly passions you
feel God has given you to share with the world. As you grow in
Christ, God may give you a special target group of people to
focus on reaching.


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    "How might God influence your target group for sharing the Good News?",
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Be sure to add this to your statement. If you are a parent, part of your mission is to raise your
children to know Christ, to help them understand his purposes
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 315
DAY FORTY:
LIVING
WITH
PURPOSE
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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for their lives, and to send them out on their mission in the
world. You might include Joshua’s statement in yours: “As for me
and my family, we will serve the Lord.”15
Of course, our lives must support and validate the message we
communicate. Before most unbelievers accept the Bible as
credible they want to know that we are credible. That is why the
Bible says. “Be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to the
Good News of Christ.”
16
What will be the community of my life? This is the question
of fellowship. How will you demonstrate your commitment to
other believers and connection to the family of God? Where will
you practice the “one another” commands with other Christians? To which church family will you be joined as a functioning
member? The more you mature, the more you will love the Body
of Christ and want to sacrifice for it. The Bible says, “Christ loved
the church and gave his life for it.”
17 You should include an
expression of your love for God’s church in your statement. As you consider your answers to these questions, include any
Scriptures that speak to you about each of these purposes.


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There
are many in this book. It may take you weeks or months to craft
your life purpose statement just the way you want it. Pray, think
about it, talk with close friends, and reflect on Scripture. You may
go through several rewrites before
you get to your final form.


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Even
then, you will probably make minor
changes as time goes by and God
gives you more insight into your
own shape. If you would like to see
some examples from other people,
In addition to writing a detailed life purpose statement, it is
also helpful to have a shorter statement or slogan that summarizes
the five purposes for your life in a way that’s memorable and
inspires you. Then you can remind yourself daily. Solomon
The Purpose-Driven Life 316
Before most unbelievers accept
the Bible as credible they want 
to know that we are credible. just email me (see appendix 2).


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advised, “It will be good to keep these things in mind so that you are
ready to repeat them.”18 Here are a few examples: 
•“ My life purpose is to worship Christ with my heart, serve
him with my shape, fellowship with his family, grow like him
in character, and fulfill his mission in the world so he receives
glory.”
•“ My life purpose is to be a member of Christ’s family, a
model of his character, a minister of his grace, a messenger
of his word, and a magnifier of his glory.”
•“ My life purpose is to love Christ, grow in Christ, share
Christ, and serve Christ through his church, and to lead my
family and others to do the same. •“ My life purpose is to make a great commitment to the
Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”
•“ My goal is Christlikeness; my family is the church; my
ministry is _______________; my mission is ____________;
my motive is the glory of God.”
You may wonder, “What about God’s will for my job or
marriage or where I’m supposed to live or go to school?”
Honestly, these are secondary issues in your life, and there may be
multiple possibilities that would all be in God’s will for you. What
matters most is that you fulfill God’s eternal purposes regardless
of where you live or work or whom you marry. Those decisions
should support your purposes. The Bible says, “Many are the
plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
19
Focus on God’s purposes for your life, not your plans, since that’s
what will last forever. I once heard the suggestion that you develop your life
purpose statement based on what you would like other people
to say about you at your funeral.


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    "What are the key components of a life purpose according to the excerpt?",
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At
the end of your life it isn’t going to matter at all what other
people say about you. The only thing that will matter is what
PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 317
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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God says about you. The Bible says, “Our purpose is to please God,
not people.” 20
One day God will review your answers to these life questions. Did you put Jesus at the center of your life?


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Did you develop his
character? Did you devote your life to serving others? Did you
communicate his message and fulfill his mission? Did you love and
participate in his family?


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These are the only issues that will count. As Paul said, “Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us.”
21
God Wants to Use You
About thirty years ago, I noticed a little phrase in Acts 13:36
that forever altered the direction of my life. It was only seven
words but, like the stamp of a searing hot branding iron, my life
was permanently marked by these words: “David served God’s
purpose in his generation.”
22 Now I understood why God called
David “a man after my own heart.”23 David dedicated his life to
fulfilling God’s purposes on earth. There is no greater epitaph than that statement!


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    "What phrase from Acts 13:36 influenced the author's life?",
    "How did the author interpret David's dedication to God?",
    "What does the author consider to be a great epitaph?"
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Imagine it
chiseled on your tombstone: Thatyou served God’s purpose in your
generation. My prayer is that people will be able to say that about
me when I die.


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    "What is the main aspiration expressed in the excerpt regarding one's legacy after death?",
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It is also my prayer that people will say it
about you, too. That is why I wrote this book for you. This phrase is the ultimate definition of a life
well lived. You do the eternal and timeless (God’s
purpose) in a contemporary and timely way (in
your generation). That is what the purpose-driven
life is all about. Neither past nor future generations
can serve God’s purpose in this generation. Only we can. Like Esther, God created you “for such a time as this.”24
God is still looking for people to use. The Bible says, “The eyes
of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed to him.”
25 Will you be a person God can
use for his purposes? Will you serve God’s purpose in your
generation? The Purpose-Driven Life 318
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What is the ultimate definition of a life well lived according to the excerpt?",
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Paul lived a purpose-driven life. He said, “I run straight to the goal
with purpose in every step.”26 His only reason for living was to fulfill
the purposes God had for him. He said, “For to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain.”27 Paul was not afraid of either living or dying. Either way, he would fulfill God’s purposes. He couldn’t lose! One day history will come to a
close, but eternity will go on
forever. William Carey said, “The
future is as bright as the promises of
God.” When fulfilling your
purposes seems tough, don’t give in
to discouragement. Remember your
reward, which will last forever. The Bible says, “For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all.”
28
Imagine what it is going to be like one day, with all of us
standing before the throne of God presenting our lives in deep
gratitude and praise to Christ. Together we will say, “Worthy, Oh
Master! Yes, our God! Take the glory! the honor!


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the power! You
created it all; It was created because you wanted it!”
29 We will
praise him for his plan and live for his purposes forever! Day Forty
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: Living with purpose is the only way
to really live. Verse to Remember: “For David .


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. served the purpose
of God in his own generation.”  Acts 13:36 (NASB)
Question to Consider: When will I take the time to
write down my answers to life’s five great questions? When will I put my purpose on paper? PURPOSE #5: Y ou W ere Made for a Mission 319
You can start living 
on purpose today. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Appendix 1:
D ISCUSSION 
Q UESTIONS
In addition to the questions at the end of each chapter, you can use
these discussion questions in your small group or Sunday school class
setting. What on Earth Am I Here For?


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• What do you think are implications of the first sentence of this
book, “It’s not about you”? • What do you feel most people’s lives are driven by?


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What has been
the driving force in your life? • Up to this point, what image or metaphor has best described your
life? A race, a circus, something else? • If everyone understood that life on earth is really preparation for
eternity, how would we act differently? • What do people get attached to on earth that keeps them from
living for God’s purposes? • What have you been attached to that could keep you from living
for God’s purposes? You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure
• How is “living your whole life for God’s pleasure”different from the
way most people understand “worship”? • How is a friendship with God similar to any other friendship, and
how is it different?


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    "What metaphor has been suggested to describe a person's life?",
    "How is 'living your whole life for God's pleasure' different from the common understanding of 'worship'?",
    "In what ways are the attachments people have on earth said to hinder them from living for God's purposes?"
]


key: original_content
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• Share something you learned from a time when God seemed
distant. • Which is easier for you—public or private worship? In which do
you usually feel closer to God? • When is it appropriate to express anger to God? • What fears surface when you think of surrendering your complete
life to Christ? The Purpose-Driven Life 320
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What are the two types of worship mentioned in the excerpt?",
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    "What concern is raised regarding surrendering one's life to Christ?"
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You Were Formed for God’s Family
• How is “being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ”
different from the way most people understand “fellowship”? •W hat are the barriers that keep us from loving and caring for other
believers?


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    "What is meant by being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ?",
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• What would make it easier for you to be able to share your needs,
hurts, fears, and hopes with others? •W hat are the most common excuses people give for not joining a
church, and how would you answer them? • What could our group do to protect and promote the unity in our
church? • Is there someone you need to restore a relationship with that we
could pray for you about? You Were Created to Be Become Like Christ
• How is “becoming like Jesus Christ” different from the way most
people understand “discipleship”? •W hat are some of the changes you have seen in your life since you
became a believer?


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    "What are the most common excuses people give for not joining a church?",
    "How is 'becoming like Jesus Christ' different from the way most people understand 'discipleship'?",
    "What are some of the changes you have seen in your life since you became a believer?"
]


key: original_content
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What have others noticed? •A  year from now, how would you like to be more Christlike? What
can you do today to move toward that goal? •W here in your spiritual growth are you having to be patient
because there seems to be little progress? • How has God used pain or trouble to help you grow? •W hen are you most vulnerable to temptation? Which of the steps
to defeating temptation could help you most? You Were Shaped for Serving God
• How is “using your shape to serve others” different from the way
most people understand “ministry”? • What do you love to do that you could use to serve others in the
family of God?


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    "What is one question that prompts reflection on becoming more Christlike in the next year?",
    "How does the excerpt suggest individuals can use their personal interests to serve others?",
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]


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• Think of a painful experience you have gone through that God
could use to help others who are going through the same kind of
situation. Appendix 1: Discussion Questions 321
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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• How does comparing ourselves with others keep us from fully
developing our unique shape? • How have you seen God’s power demonstrated through you when
you felt weak? •H ow can we help every member of our small group or class find a
place of ministry?


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    "How does comparing ourselves with others affect our unique development?",
    "In what ways can we observe God's power in our moments of weakness?",
    "What strategies can we employ to assist every member of a group in finding their ministry?"
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What can our group do to serve our church
family? You Were Made for a Mission
•W hat are some typical fears and stereotypes that people have when
they hear the word “evangelism”? What keeps you from sharing
the Good News with others?


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    "What are some typical fears and stereotypes associated with evangelism?",
    "What might prevent individuals from sharing the Good News with others?"
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• What do you feel might be a part of the Life Message that God
has given you to share with the world? • Share the name of a unbelieving friend that everyone in your
group can begin praying for. • What can our group do together to help fulfill the Great
Commission? • How has reading through this book together refocused or
redirected your life purpose? What have been some of the most
helpful insights to you? • Who does God bring to mind that you could share the life-
changing message of this book with? Email us the story of your group: stories@purposedrivenlife.com
The Purpose-Driven Life 322
•W hat are we going to study next? (See appendix 2 for
suggestions.)
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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]


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Appendix 2:
RESOURCES
Resources for the Purpose-Driven® Life 
1. The Purpose-Driven® Life Journal. The companion to this book. (Zondervan/Inspirio)
2. The Purpose-Driven® Life Scripture Keepers Plus. 40 Scripture and
daily affirmation cards that match the book. Mahogany holder
included.


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    "What is the title of the journal that accompanies 'The Purpose-Driven® Life'?",
    "How many Scripture and daily affirmation cards are included in 'The Purpose-Driven® Life Scripture Keepers Plus'?",
    "What type of holder is included with 'The Purpose-Driven® Life Scripture Keepers Plus'?"
]


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(Zondervan/Inspirio)
3. The Purpose-Driven® Life Album. Twelve new songs about God’s
purposes, by top Christian artists. (Maranatha Music)
4. The Purpose-Driven® Life Video Curriculum. Six sessions taught
by Rick Warren and used in churches during a 40 Days of Purpose
spiritual growth emphasis. Study guides available.


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    "What is the title of the album mentioned in the excerpt?",
    "How many sessions are included in The Purpose-Driven® Life Video Curriculum?",
    "Who teaches the sessions in The Purpose-Driven® Life Video Curriculum?"
]


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5. The Purpose-Driven® Church. This award-winning book shows
how your church can help people live God’s five purposes for our
lives. Available in book and DVD in 20 languages. Millions of
people have studied this in churches and groups.


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    "What are the five purposes for our lives that the book 'The Purpose-Driven® Church' aims to help people live?",
    "In how many languages is 'The Purpose-Driven® Church' available?",
    "What formats is 'The Purpose-Driven® Church' available in?"
]


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(Zondervan and
Purpose Driven Ministries)
6. Foundations: 11 Core Truths to Build Your Life on. A popular
Saddleback Church curriculum on the biblical foundation of
purpose-driven living. This 24-week study for small groups or
adult classes includes extensive teachings notes, teacher’s guide,
learner’s guide, small-group discussion questions, and
PowerPoint slides.


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    "What is the title of the curriculum mentioned in the excerpt?",
    "How long is the study designed for small groups or adult classes?",
    "What materials are included in the Saddleback Church curriculum?"
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(Zondervan)
7. Doing Life Together. A 30-week small group curriculum that
focuses on applying God’s purposes to your life. (Zondervan)
Appendix 2: Resources 323
At your bookstore or www.purposedrivenlife.com:
(www.purposedrivenlife.com)
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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8. Planned for God’s Pleasure.This beautiful book and inspirational
music CD take the groundbreaking message of The Purpose-
Driven Life and apply it in a way that encourages every one to
find meaning and significance through reflection on God’s
purposes for one’s life. (Zondervan/Inspirio)
For People in Full-Time Ministry
Ministry Toolbox, a weekly email newsletter for pastors and others in full-
time ministry. For information on the many different Purpose Driven® Seminars,
contact Purpose Driven, 1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, CA 92630.


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    "What type of content does the book mentioned in the excerpt combine with the message of The Purpose-Driven Life?",
    "Who is the intended audience for the Ministry Toolbox newsletter?",
    "Where can one find information about Purpose Driven® Seminars?"
]


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Telephone: (800) 633-8876. Free Resources
weekly Purpose-Driven Life Devotional. Let us know which of these free items you would like by writing
Your First Steps for Spiritual Growth booklet
A personal daily Bible reading plan
A list of recommended books on each purpose
How to pray for missionaries
The Purpose-Driven
® Life Health Assessment
Information on Celebrate Recovery
Information on Kingdom Builders
Information on 40 Days of Purpose, a spiritual growth emphasis for
your church
The Purpose-Driven Life 324
Email toolbox@pastors.com for a free subscription to Rick Warren’s
Email devotional@purposedrivenlife.com for a free subscription to the
free@purposedrivenlife.com. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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    "What is the telephone number provided in the excerpt?",
    "What is one of the free resources mentioned for spiritual growth?",
    "How can someone subscribe to Rick Warren's email devotional?"
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Appendix 3:
WHY USE SO MANY
TRANSLATIONS? This book contains nearly a thousand quotations from Scripture. I
have intentionally varied the Bible translations used for two important
reasons. First, no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has
limitations. The Bible was originally written using 11,280 Hebrew,
Aramaic, and Greek words, but the typical English translation uses only
around 6,000 words. Obviously, nuances and shades of meaning can be
missed, so it is always helpful to compare translations.


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    "What are the two important reasons for using multiple translations of the Bible as mentioned in the excerpt?",
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    "What limitation of Bible translations is highlighted in the excerpt?"
]


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Second, and even more important, is the fact that we often miss the
full impact of familiar Bible verses, not because of poor translating, but
simply because they have become so familiar! We think we know what a
verse says because we have read it or heard it so many times. Then when
we find it quoted in a book, we skim over it and miss the full meaning. Therefore I have deliberately used paraphrases in order to help you see
God’s truth in new, fresh ways. English-speaking people should thank
God that we have so many different versions to use for devotional
reading. Also, since the verse divisions and number were not included in the
Bible until 1560 A.D., I haven’t always quoted the entire verse, but
rather focused on the phrase that was appropriate. My model for this is
Jesus and how he and the apostles quoted the Old Testament.


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    "Why do we often miss the full impact of familiar Bible verses according to the excerpt?",
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    "What historical detail about verse divisions in the Bible is mentioned in the excerpt?"
]


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They
often just quoted a phrase to make a point. AMP The Amplified Bible
Grand Rapids: Zondervan (1965)
CEV Contemporary English Version
New York: American Bible Society (1995)
GWT God’s Word Translation
Grand Rapids: World Publishing, Inc. (1995)
KJV King James Version
Appendix 3: Why Use So Many Translations?


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    "What is the publication year of the Contemporary English Version?",
    "Which publisher released the Amplified Bible?",
    "What does the acronym GWT stand for in the context of Bible translations?"
]


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LB Living Bible
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers (1979)
Msg The Message
Colorado Springs: Navpress (1993)
NAB New American Bible
Chicago: Catholic Press (1970)
NASB New American Standard Bible
Anaheim, CA: Foundation Press (1973)
NCV New Century Version
Dallas: Word Bibles (1991)
NIV New International Version
Colorado Springs: International Bible Society 
(1978, 1984)
NJB New Jerusalem Bible
Garden City, NY: Doubleday (1985)
NLT New Living Translation
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers (1996)
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
Grand Rapids: Zondervan (1990)
Ph New Testament in Modern English by J. B.


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    "Which publisher released the New Living Translation?",
    "In which city was the New Revised Standard Version published?"
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Phillips
New York: Macmillan (1958)
TEV Today’s English Version
New York: American Bible Society (1992)
(Also called Good News Translation)
The Purpose-Driven Life 326
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Hugh S. Moorhead,
comp., The Meaning of
Life According to Our
Century’s Greatest
Writers and Thinkers
(Chicago: Chicago
Review Press, 1988). 5.


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David Friend, ed., The
Meaning of Life
(Boston: Little, Brown,
1991), 194. Day 2: You Are Not an
Accident
1. Psalm 138:8a (NIV).


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Psalm 139:15 (Msg). 3. Psalm 139:16 (LB). 4. Acts 17:26 (NIV). 5. Ephesians 1:4a (Msg). 6. James 1:18 (NCV).


key: original_content
string_value:
7. Michael Denton,
Nature’s Destiny: How
the Laws of Biology
Reveal Purpose in the
Universe (New York:
Free Press, 1998), 389. 8.


key: original_content
string_value:
Genesis 4:12 (NIV). 2. Psalm 32:1 (LB). 3. Job 5:2 (TEV). 4. 1 John 4:18 (Msg). 5. Matthew 6:24 (NLT). 6. Isaiah 49:4 (NIV). 7. Job 7:6 (LB). 8. Job 7:16 (TEV). 9. Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV). 10. Ephesians 3:20 (LB). 11. Proverbs 13:7 (Msg). 12. Isaiah 26:3 (TEV). 13. Ephesians 5:17 (Msg). 14. Philippians 3:13 (NLT). 15. Philippians 3:15 (Msg). 16. Romans 14:10b, 12
(NLT). 17.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 2 Corinthians 5:1 (TEV). 3. Philippians 3:7 (NLT). 4. 1 Corinthians 2:9 (LB). 5. Matthew 25:34 (NIV). 6.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 2 Chronicles 32:31
(NLT). 3. 1 Corinthians 10:13
(TEV). 4. James 1:12 (GWT). 5. Psalm 24:1 (TEV). 6. Genesis 1:28 (TEV). 7. 1 Corinthians 4:7b
(NLT). 8. 1 Corinthians 4:2
(NCV). 9. Matthew 25:14–29. 10. Matthew 25:21 (NIV). 11. Luke 16:11 (NLT). 12.


key: original_content
string_value:
6. James 4:4 (Msg). 7. 2 Corinthians 5:20
(NLT). 8. 1 Peter 2:11 (Msg). 9. 1 Corinthians 7:31
(NLT). 10. 2 Corinthians 4:18b
(Msg). 11. John 16:33; 16:20;
15:18–19. 12. 2 Corinthians 4:18
(
NIV). 13. 1 Peter 2:11 (GWT). 14.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Genesis 3:8; Exodus
33:18–23; 40:33–38;
1 Kings 7:51; 8:10–13;
John 1:14; Ephesians
2:21–22; 2 Corinthians
4:6–7. 3. Exodus 24:17; 40:34;
Psalm 29:1; Isaiah 6:3–4;
60:1; Luke 2:9. 4. Revelation 21:23 (NIV). 5. Hebrews 1:3 (NIV); also
2 Corinthians 4:6b (LB). 6. John 1:14 (GWT). 7. 1 Chronicles 16:24;
Psalm 29:1; 66:2; 96:7;
2 Corinthians 3:18. 8. Revelation 4:11a (NLT). 9. Romans 3:23 (NIV). 10. Isaiah 43:7 (TEV). 11. John 17:4 (NLT). 12. Romans 6:13b (NLT). 13. 1 John 3:14 (CEV). 14. Romans 15:7 (NLT). 15. John 13:34–35 (NIV). 16. 2 Corinthians 3:18
(NLT). 17. Philippians 1:11 (NLT);
see also John 15:8
(GWT). 18. 1 Peter 4:10–11 (NLT);
see also 2 Corinthians
8:19b (NCV). 19. 2 Corinthians 4:15
(NLT). 20.


key: original_content
string_value:
John 12:27–28 (NASB). Notes 327
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Genesis 6:6; Exodus
20:5; Deuteronomy
32:36; Judges 2:20;
1 Kings 10:9; 1 Chron-
icles 16:27; Psalms 2:4;
5:5; 18:19; 35:27;
37:23; 103:13; 104:31;
Ezekiel 5:13; 1 John
4:16. 3.


key: original_content
string_value:
Psalm 147:11 (CEV). 4. John 4:23. 5. Isaiah 29:13 (NIV). 6. Psalm 105:4 (TEV). 7. Psalm 113:3 (LB). 8. Psalms 119:147; 5:3;
63:6; 119:62. 9. Psalm 34:1 (GWT). 10. 1 Corinthians 10:31
(NIV). 11. Colossians 3:23 (NIV). 12.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
[
    "What is the reference for the verse that discusses worship in John?",
    "Which Psalm is cited in the excerpt that encourages seeking God?",
    "According to the excerpt, which book of the Bible contains a verse about doing everything for the glory of God?"
]


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 5:10 (Msg). 2. Genesis 6:8 (LB). 3. Genesis 6:9b (NLT). 4. Hosea 6:6 (LB). 5. Matthew 22:37–38
(NIV). 6. Hebrews 11:7 (Msg). 7. Genesis 2:5–6. 8.


key: original_content
string_value:
Psalm 147:11 (TEV). 9. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV). 10. Genesis 6:22 (NLT); see
also Hebrews 11:7b
(NCV). 11.


key: original_content
string_value:
Hebrews 13:15 (KJV). 17. Psalm 116:17 (KJV). 18. Psalm 69:30–31 (NIV). 19. Psalm 68:3 (TEV). 20. Genesis 9:1, 3 (NIV). 21.


key: original_content
string_value:
Psalm 37:23 (NLT). 22. Psalm 33:15 (Msg). 23. Isaiah 45:9 (CEV). 24. 1 Timothy 6:17 (TEV). 25. Psalm 103:14 (GWT). 26. 2 Corinthians 5:9 (TEV). 27.


key: original_content
string_value:
Psalm 145:9. 4. Psalm 139:3. 5. Matthew 10:30. 6. 1 Timothy 6:17b. 7. Jeremiah 29:11. 8. Psalm 86:5. 9. Psalm 145:8. 10. Romans 5:8 (NRSV). 11. Genesis 3:5. 12. Luke 5:5 (NIV). 13. Psalm 37:7a (GWT). 14. Matthew 6:24. 15. Matthew 6:21
16. Mark 14:36 (NLT). 17. Job 22:21 (NLT). 18. Romans 6:17 (Msg). 19.


key: original_content
string_value:
James 4:7a (NCV). 22. Romans 12:1 (KJV). 23. Romans 12:1 (CEV). 24. 2 Corinthians 5:9 (NIV). 25. Philippians 4:13 (Amp). 26. 1 Corinthians 15:31. 27.


key: original_content
string_value:
Luke 9:23 (NCV). Day 11: Becoming Best
Friends with God
1. Psalms 95:6; 136:3;
John 13:13; Jude 1:4;
1 John 3:1; Isaiah
33:22; 47:4; Psalm
89:26.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Exodus 33:11, 17;
2 Chronicles 20:7;
Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23;
Acts 13:22; Genesis 6:8;
5:22 (NLT); Job 29:4. 3.


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 5:11 (NLT). 4. 2 Corinthians 5:18a
(TEV). 5. 1 John 1:3. 6. 1 Corinthians 1:9. 7. 2 Corinthians 13:14. 8. John 15:15 (NIV). 9. John 3:29. 10. Exodus 34:14 (NLT). 11. Acts 17:26–27 (Msg). 12. Jeremiah 9:24 (TEV).


key: original_content
string_value:
13. See “How to Have a
Meaningful Quiet
Time” in Personal Bible
Study Methods, Rick
Warren, 1981. Available
from www.pastors.com.


key: original_content
string_value:
16. Brother Lawrence, The
Practice of the Presence of
God (Grand Rapids:
Revell/Spire Books,
1967), Eighth Letter. 17.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Samuel 3:21. 20. Job 23:12 (NIV). 21. Psalm 119:97 (NIV). 22. Psalm 77:12 (NLT). 23. Genesis 18:17; Daniel
2:19; 1 Corinthians
2:7–10. 24.


key: original_content
string_value:
Psalm 142:2–3a (NLT). 7. John 15:14 (NIV). 8. John 15:9–11 (NLT). 9. 1 Samuel 15:22 (NCV). 10. Matthew 3:17 (NLT). 11. 2 Corinthians 11:2
(Msg). 12.


key: original_content
string_value:
Hebrews 13:15; Psalm
7:17; Ezra 3:11; Psalms
149:3; 150:3;
Nehemiah 8:6. The Purpose-Driven Life 328
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


key: original_content
string_value:
8. See 11-week tape series
on the names of God,
“How God Meets Your
Deepest Needs,” by
Saddleback Pastors
(1999), www. pastors.com.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
["What is the title of the tape series mentioned in the excerpt?", "Who created the 11-week tape series on the names of God?", "In what year was the tape series released?"]


key: original_content
string_value:
12. Psalm 50:14(TEV);
Hebrews 13:15 (CEV);
Psalms 51:17; 54:6
(NIV); Philippians 4:18
(NIV); Psalm 141:2
(GWT); Hebrews 13:16;
Mark 12:33 (Msg);
Romans 12:1 (NIV). 13.


key: original_content
string_value:
14. Matt Redman, “Heart
of Worship”
(Kingsway’s Thankyou
Music, 1997). Day 14: When God Seems
Distant
1. Philip Yancey, Reaching
for the Invisible God
(Grand Rapids: Zon-
dervan, 2000), 242. 2.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Samuel 13:14; Acts
13:22. 3. Psalm 10:1 (LB). 4. Psalm 22:1 (NLT). 5. Psalm 43:2 (TEV); see
also Psalms 44:23 (TEV);
74:11 (TEV); 88:14
(Msg); 89:49 (LB). 6. Deuteronomy 31:8;
Psalm 37:28; John
14:16–18; Hebrews
13:5. 7.


key: original_content
string_value:
10. Psalm 51; Ephesians
4:29–30; 1 Thessalo-
nians 5:19; Jeremiah
2:32; 1 Corinthians
8:12; James 4:4 (NLT). 11.


key: original_content
string_value:
Job 1:20–21 (NIV). 12. Job 7:11 (TEV). 13. Job 29:4 (NIV). 14. Psalm 116:10 (NCV). 15. Job 10:12. 16. Job 42:2; 37:5, 23. 17. Job 23:10; 31:4. 18. Job 34:13. 19. Job 23:14. 20. Job 19:25. 21. Job 23:12 (NIV). 22. Job 13:15 (CEV).


key: original_content
string_value:
2. James 1:18 (LB). 3. 1 Peter 1:3b (LB); see
also Romans 8:15–16
(TEV). 4. Mark 8:34; Acts 2:21;
Romans 10:13; 2 Peter
3:9. 5. Galatians 3:26 (NLT). 6. Ephesians 3:14–15 (LB). 7. 1 John 3:1; Romans
8:29; Galatians 4:6–7;
Romans 5:2; 1 Corin-
thians 3:23; Ephesians
3:12; 1 Peter 1:3–5;
Romans 8:17. 8.


key: original_content
string_value:
10. Ephesians 1:7; Romans
2:4; 9:23; 11:33;
Ephesians 3:16; 2:4. 11. Ephesians 1:18b (NLT). 12. 1 Thessalonians 5:10;
4:17. 13. 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthi-
ans 3:18. 14. Revelation 21:4. 15. Mark 9:41; 10:30;
1 Corinthians 3:8;
Hebrews 10:35;
Matthew 25:21, 23. 16. Romans 8:17;
Colossians 3:4; 2 Thes-
salonians 2:14; 2 Tim-
othy 2:12; 1 Peter 5:1. 17.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Peter 1:4 (NLT). 18. Colossians 3:23–24a
(NIV). 19. Matthew 28:19 (NLT). 20. 1 Corinthians 12:13
(NLT). 21. Acts 2:41; 8:12–13,
35–38. 22. Hebrews 2:11 (CEV). 23.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
["What version of the Bible is 1 Peter 1:4 taken from?", "Which verses are referenced in Colossians 3:23–24a?", "What does Matthew 28:19 (NLT) instruct believers to do?"]


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 1 Peter 2:17b (CEV). 3. Galatians 6:10 (NCV). 4. John 13:35 (LB). 5. 1 Corinthians 14:1a
(LB). 6. 1 Corinthians 13:3
(Msg). 7. Matthew 22:37–40
(NLT). 8. 1 Corinthians 13:13
(NCV). 9. Matthew 25:34–46. 10. Matthew 25:40 (NRSV). 11. Galatians 5:6 (NIV). 12. 1 John 3:18 (TEV). 13. Ephesians 5:2 (LB). 14. John 3:16a. 15. Galatians 6:10 (NLT). 16. Ephesians 5:16 (NCV). 17.


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 12:5 (
NIV). 4. Romans 12:4–5; 1 Co-
rinthians 6:15; 12:12–
27. 5. Romans 12:4–5 (Msg). 6. Ephesians 4:16. 7. Matthew 16:18 (NLT). 8. Ephesians 5:25 (GWT). 9. 2 Corinthians 11:2;
Ephesians 5:27;
Revelation 19:7. 10.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Peter 2:17b (Msg). 11. 1 Corinthians 5:1–13;
Galatians 6:1–5. 12. Ephesians 2:19b (LB). 13. John 13:35 (NLT). 14. Galatians 3:28 (Msg);
see also John 17:21. 15. 1 Corinthians 12:27
(NCV). 16. 1 Corinthians 12:26
(NCV). 17.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
[
    "Which biblical verses are referenced in the excerpt?",
    "What themes might be suggested by the inclusion of 1 Corinthians 12:27 and 12:26?"
]


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 4:16; Romans
12:4–5; Colossians
2:19, 1 Corinthians
12:25. Notes 329
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


key: original_content
string_value:
18. 1 John 3:16 (NIV). 19. Ephesians 4:16b (NLT). 20. 1 Corinthians 12:7
(NLT). 21. Ephesians 2:10 (Msg). 22. 1 Corinthians 10:12;
Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Tim-
othy 1:19. 23.


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 1:12 (NCV). 6. Romans 12:10 (NRSV). 7. Romans 14:19 (NIV). 8. Colossians 3:12 (GWT). 9. Philippians 3:10;
Hebrews 10:33–34. 10. Galatians 6:2 (NLT). 11. Job 6:14 (NIV).


key: chroma:document
string_value:
["What version of the Bible is referenced in Romans 1:12?", "Which book contains the verses Romans 12:10 and Romans 14:19?", "What is the reference for the verse that appears in Galatians 6:2?"]


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 1 Timothy 3:14–15
(NCV). 3. Ephesians 4:15. 4. Proverbs 24:26 (TEV). 5. Galatians 6:1–2 (NCV). 6. Ephesians 4:25 (Msg). 7. Proverbs 28:23 (NLT). 8. Ecclesiastes 8:6 (TEV). 9.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Timothy 5:1–2
(GWT). 10. 1 Corinthians 5:3–12
(Msg). 11. 1 Peter 5:5b (NIV). 12. 1 Peter 5:5c (NIV). 13. Romans 12:16 (NLT). 14. Philippians 2:3–4
(NCV). 15. Romans 15:2 (LB). 16.


key: original_content
string_value:
Titus 3:2 (Msg). 17. Romans 12:10 (GWT). 18. Proverbs 16:28 (TEV). 19. Titus 3:10 (NIV). 20. Hebrews 10:25 (TEV). 21.


key: original_content
string_value:
Philippians 2:1–2 (Msg). 3. Romans 15:5 (Msg). 4. John 13:35. 5. 1 Corinthians 6:5 (TEV). 6. 1 Corinthians 1:10
(Msg). 7. Matthew 5:9 (NLT). 8. 2 Corinthians 5:18
(Msg). 9.


key: original_content
string_value:
10. Matthew 5:23–24
(Msg). 11. 1 Peter 3:7; Proverbs
28:9. 12. Job 5:2 (TEV); 18:4
(TEV). 13. Philippians 2:4 (TEV). 14. Psalm 73:21–22 (TEV). 15. Proverbs 19:11 (NIV). 16. Romans 15:2 (LB). 17. Romans 15:3 (NJB). 18. Matthew 7:5 (NLT). 19.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 John 1:8 (Msg). 20. Proverbs 15:1 (Msg). 21. Proverbs 16:21 (TEV). 22. Ephesians 4:29 (TEV). 23. Romans 12:18 (TEV). 24. Romans 12:10;
Philippians 2:3. 25. Matthew 5:9 (Msg). 26.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Ephesians 4:3 (NIV). 3. Romans 14:19 (Ph). 4. Romans 10:12; 12:4–5;
1 Corinthians 1:10; 8:6;
12:13; Ephesians 4:4;
5:5; Philippians 2:2. 5. Romans 14:1; 2 Tim-
othy 2:23. 6. 1 Corinthians 1:10
(NLT). 7. Ephesians 4:2 (NLT).


key: chroma:document
string_value:
[
    "Which book of the Bible is referenced in Ephesians 4:3?",
    "What version of the Bible is used for Romans 14:19 in the excerpt?",
    "How many times is the book of Ephesians cited in the excerpt?"
]


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 14:13; James
4:11; Ephesians 4:29;
Matthew 5:9; James 5:9. 10. Romans 14:4 (CEV). 11. Romans 14:10 (Ph). 12. Revelation 12:10. 13. Romans 14:19 (Msg). 14.


key: original_content
string_value:
Proverbs. 17:4; 16:28;
26:20; 25:9; 20:19. 15. Proverbs 17:4 (CEV). 16. Jude 1:19 (Msg). 17. Galatians 5:15 (Amp). 18. Proverbs 20:19 (NRSV). 19. Proverbs 26:20 (LB). 20. Matthew 18:15–17a
(Msg). 21. Matthew 18:17; 1 Co-
rinthians 5:5. 22.


key: original_content
string_value:
Hebrews 13:17 (Msg). 23. Hebrews 13:17 (NIV). 24. 2 Timothy 2:14, 23–26;
Philippians 4:2; Titus
2:15–3:2, 10–11. 25. 1 Thessalonians 5:12–
13a (Msg). 26.


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 4:24 (GWT). 5. Genesis 3:5 (KJV). 6. Ephesians 4:22 (Msg). 7. Matthew 5:1–12. 8. Galatians 5:22–23. 9. 1 Corinthians 13.


key: original_content
string_value:
17. Luke 13:24; Romans
14:19; Ephesians 4:3 (all
NIV); 2 Timothy 2:15
(NCV); Hebrews 4:11;
12:14; 2 Peter 1:5;
2 Peter 3:14 (all NIV). 18.


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 4:23 (CEV). The Purpose-Driven Life 330
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


key: original_content
string_value:
20. Romans 12:2. 21. Ephesians 4:24 (NIV). 22. Ephesians 4:13 (CEV). 23. 1 John 3:2 (NLT). 24. 1 Corinthians 10:31;
16:14; Colossians 3:17,
23. 25.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 2 Peter 3:11 (NLT). 3. Philippians 2:12–13
(NIV). 4. Proverbs 4:23 (TEV). 5. Romans 12:2b (NLT). 6. Ephesians 4:23 (NLT). 7. Philppians 2:5 (CEV). 8. 1 Corinthians 14:20
(NIV). 9.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 2 Timothy 3:17 (Msg). 3. Hebrew 4:12; Acts
7:38; 1 Peter 1:23. 4. John 6:63 (NASB). 5. James 1:18 (NCV). 6. Job 23:12 (NIV).


key: original_content
string_value:
7. 1 Peter 2:2; Matthew
4:4, 1 Corinthians 3:2;
Psalm 119:103. 8. 1 Peter 2:2 (NIV). 9. John 8:31 (NASB, 1978
edition). 10. Proverbs 30:5 (NIV). 11. 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEV). 12. Acts 24:14 (NIV). 13. Luke 8:18 (NIV). 14. James 1:21b (Amp). 15. Deuteronomy 17:19a
(NCV).


key: chroma:document
string_value:
["How many languages has Rick Warren's book been translated into?", "What is the title of the book mentioned in the excerpt?", "Who is the author of the book that has been translated into six languages?"]


key: original_content
string_value:
17. James 1:25 (NCV). 18. Psalms 119:11;
119:105; 119:49–50;
Jeremiah 15:16;
Proverbs 22:18; 1 Peter
3:15. 19.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 1 Peter 4:12 (LB). 3. Psalm 34:18 (NLT). 4. Genesis 39:20–22. 5. Daniel 6:16–23. 6. Jeremiah 38:6.


key: original_content
string_value:
7. 2 Corinthians 11:25. 8. Daniel 3:1–26. 9. 2 Corinthians 1:9 (LB). 10. Psalm 139:16. 11. Romans 8:28–29 (NLT). 12. Matthew 6:10 (KJV). 13. Matthew 1:1–16. 14. Romans 5:3–4 (NCV). 15. 1 Peter 1:7a (NCV). 16. James 1:3 (Msg). 17. Hebrews 5:8–9. 18. Romans 8:17 (Msg). 19. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV). 20. Genesis 50:20 (NIV). 21. Isaiah 38:17 (CEV). 22. Hebrews 12:10b (Msg). 23. Hebrews 12:2a (LB). 24. Hebrews 11:26 (NIV). 25. 2 Corinthians 4:17
(NLT). 26. Romans 8:17–18 (NLT). 27. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
(NIV). 28. Philippians 4:4 (NIV). 29. Luke 6:23 (NCV). 30.


key: original_content
string_value:
John 8:44. 7. James 1:14–16 (TEV). 8. 1 Corinthians 10:13
(NLT). 9. Hebrews 4:15. 10. 1 Peter 5:8 (Msg). 11. Matthew 26:41;
Ephesians 6:10–18;
1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8;
1 Peter 1:13; 4:7; 5:8. 12.


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 4:27 (TEV). 13. Proverbs 4:26–27
(TEV). 14. Proverbs 16:17 (CEV). 15. Psalm 50:15 (GWT). 16. Hebrews 4:15 (NLT). 17. Hebrews 4:16 (TEV). 18.


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 12:21. 5. Hebrews 3:1 (NIV). 6. 2 Timothy 2:8 (GWT). 7. Philippians 4:8 (TEV). 8. Proverbs 4:23 (TEV). 9. 2 Corinthians 10:5
(NCV). 10. Ecclesiastes 4:9–10
(CEV). 11.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
["What is the reference for the verse that advises not to be overcome by evil?","Which version of the Bible is referenced for Hebrews 3:1?","What does Proverbs 4:23 (TEV) discuss according to the excerpt?"]


key: original_content
string_value:
James 4:6–7a (NLT). 15. Ephesians 6:17 (NLT). 16. Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV). 17. Proverbs 14:16 (TEV). 18.


key: original_content
string_value:
1 Timothy 4:15 (GWT). 8. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (CEV). 9. Psalm 102:18; 2 Tim-
othy 3:14. 10. Hebrews 2:1 (Msg). 11. James 1:4 (Msg). 12.


key: original_content
string_value:
9. Ephesians 4:4–14; see
also Romans 1:6–7;
8:28–30; 1 Corinthians
1:2, 9, 26; 7:17;
Philippians 3:14;
1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter
1:3. 10.


key: original_content
string_value:
2 Timothy 1:9 (TEV). 11. 1 Peter 2:9 (GWT). 12. Romans 7:4 (TEV). 13. 1 Corinthians 12:27
(NLT). 14.


key: original_content
string_value:
Matthew 20:28 (LB). 15. Romans 14:12 (NLT). 16. Romans 2:8 (NLT). 17. Mark 8:35 (LB); see also
Matthew 10:39; 16:25;
Luke 9:24; 17:33. 18.


key: original_content
string_value:
Romans 12:5 (Msg). 19. 1 Corinthians 12:14a,
19 (Msg). Day 30: Shaped for
Serving God
1. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV).


key: original_content
string_value:
4. Romans 12:4–8; 1 Co-
rinthians 12; Ephesians
4:8–15; 1 Corinthians
7:7. 5. 1 Corinthians 2:14
(TEV). 6.


key: original_content
string_value:
Ephesians 4:7 (CEV). 7. 1 Corinthians 12:11
(NLT). 8. 1 Corinthians 12:29–30
9. 1 Corinthians 12:7
(NLT). 10. 1 Corinthians 12:5
(NLT). 11. Proverbs 27:19 (NLT). 12. Matthew 12:34; Psalm
34:7; Proverbs 4:23. 13. Deuteronomy 11:13;
1 Samuel 12:20;
Romans 1:9; Ephesians
6:6. 14.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Exodus 31:3–5 (NIV). 3. Romans 12:6a (NLT). 4. 1 Corinthians 10:31
(NIV). 5. 1 Corinthians 12:6
(TEV). 6.


key: original_content
string_value:
10. 1 Corinthians 12:6
(Ph). 11. Romans 8:28–29. 12. 2 Corinthians 1:4
(NLT). 13. 2 Corinthians 1:8–10
(LB).


key: original_content
string_value:
14. For more help you can
order the tapes of Class
301, Discovering Your
Shape for Ministry,
which includes a Shape
identification tool. Day 32: Using What God
Gave You
1.


key: chroma:document
string_value:
[
    "What is the title of the class mentioned in the excerpt?",
    "What tool is included in Class 301?",
    "What is the focus of Day 32 in the document?"
]


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Romans 12:3b (Ph). 3. Galatians 6:4b (Msg). 4. Deuteronomy 11:2
(TEV). 5. Galatians 3:4 (NCV). 6.


key: original_content
string_value:
8. Romans 9:20–21 (JB). 9. Ephesians 4:7 (LB). 10. Galatians 2:7–8. 11. 2 Corinthians 10:13
(NLT). 12. Hebrews 12:1 (LB). 13. Galatians 6:4(NLT). 14. Galatians 6:4 (CEV). 15. 2 Corinthians 10:12
(NIV). 16. 2 Corinthians 10:12b
(Msg). 17. 1 Corinthians 10:12–18. 18. Philippians 1:9 (NLT). 19. 2 Timothy 1:6 (NASB). 20. Matthew 25:28 (NIV). 21. 1 Timothy 4:14–15
(LB). 22. 2 Timothy 2:15 (Msg). 23.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. 2 Timothy 2:4 (NASB). 3. Galatians 6:10 (GWT). 4. Proverbs 3:28 (TEV). 5. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT). 6. Colossians 3:23. 7. Galatians 6:3 (NLT). 8. John 13:15. 9. Acts 28:3. 10. Luke 16:10–12. 11. Psalm 12:1; Proverbs
20:6; Philippians 2:19–
22. 12.


key: original_content
string_value:
14. Ephesians 6:6 (KJV);
Colossians 3:22 (KJV). 15. Matthew 6:1 (CEV). 16. Galatians 1:10 (NIV). 17. Colossians 3:4 (Msg). 18. 1 Corinthians 12:22–24. 19. 1 Corinthians 15:58
(Msg). 20.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Philippians 2:4 (Msg). 3. Philippians 2:7 (GWT). 4. Philippians 2:20–21. 5. Matthew 5:41 (Msg). 6. 1 Corinthians 4:1 (NJB). 7. 1 Corinthians 4:2 (TEV). 8. Luke 16:13 (NIV). 9. Luke 16:11 (NIV). 10. Galatians 5:26 (Msg). 11. Romans 14:4 (GWT). 12. Nehemiah 6:3 (CEV). 13. Matthew 26:10 (Msg). 14. John 13:3–4 (NIV). 15. 2 Corinthians 10:18
(CEV). 16.


key: original_content
string_value:
Matthew 5:3. The Purpose-Driven Life 332
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


key: original_content
string_value:
4. 2 Corinthians 12:7. 5. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (CEV). 6. Matthew 16:16 (NIV). 7. Acts 14:15 (NCV). 8. 2 Corinthians 12:9–10a
(NLT). 9. 2 Corinthians 12:10
(LB). 10. 2 Corinthians 12:7
(Msg). 11.


key: original_content
string_value:
Numbers 12:3. 12. Judges 6:12 (KJV). 13. Romans 4:11 (NLT). 14. Matthew 16:18 (TEV). 15. Acts 13:22 (NLT). 16. Hebrews 11:32–34
(NLT). 17. Romans 7:19 (NLT). 18. 2 Corinthians 6:11 (LB). 19. 2 Corinthians 1:8 (NLT). 20. 1 Corinthians 2:3 (NCV). 21. 2 Corinthians 12:5b
(LB). 22.


key: original_content
string_value:
5. 2 Corinthians 5:18
(TEV). 6. 2 Corinthians 5:20
(NCV). 7. Matthew 28:19–20;
Mark 16:15; Luke
24:47; John 20:21; Acts
1:8. 8. Matthew 28:19–20
(CEV). 9.


key: original_content
string_value:
Ezekiel 3:18 (NCV). 10. 2 Corinthians 5:18
(LB). 11. 2 Corinthians 6:1
(NCV). 12. 2 Corinthians 5:20
(Msg). 13.


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string_value:
Acts 4:12 (NCV). 14. John 9:4 (NLT). 15. Acts 20:24 (NLT). 16. Acts 1:7–8 (NIV). 17. Matthew 24:36 (NIV). 18. Matthew 24:14 (NCV). 19.


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1 John 5:10a (GWT). 3. 1 Peter 2:9 (Msg). 4. Acts 1:8 (NIV). 5. Acts 22 to 26. 6. 1 Peter 3:15–16 (TEV). 7. Psalm 119:33 (Msg). 8. Psalm 106:43 (Msg). 9. Proverbs 25:12 (TEV).


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["What is the reference for 1 John in the given excerpt?", "Which version of the Bible is referenced for Acts 1:8?", "What verses from 1 Peter are mentioned in the excerpt?"]


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10. For some biblical
examples of each of
these, see Psalm 51;
Philippians 4:11–13;
2 Corinthians 1:4–10;
Psalm 40; Psalm
119:71; Genesis 50:20. 11.


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Matthew 12:34 (LB). 12. Psalm 69:9 (LB). 13. Jeremiah 20:9 (CEV). 14. Galatians 4:18 (NIV). 15. Romans 1:17 (NCV). 16. 2 Corinthians 5:19
(NLT). 17. 2 Corinthians 5:14
(NIV). 18. 1 John 4:18 (TEV). 19. 2 Peter 3:9 (NCV). 20.


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string_value:
Colossians 4:5 (LB). Day 38: Becoming a
World-Class
Christian
1. Paul Borthwick’s books
A Mind for Missions
(Colorado Springs:
NavPress, 1987) and
How to Be a World-Class
Christian (Colorado
Springs: Chariot Victor
Books, 1993), should
be read by every Chris-
tian. 2.


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Philippians 2:4 (NLT). 5. 1 Corinthians 2:12
(CEV). 6. 1 Corinthians 10:33
(GWT). 7. John 3:16 (KJV). 8. Acts 17:26–27 (CEV). 9. Colossians 1:6 (NLT). 10. Psalm 2:8 (NCV). 11. Colossians 4:3 (NIV);
Romans 1:10 (NLT). 12. Ephesians 6:19 (Msg). 13. John 17:20 (NIV). 14.


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string_value:
2. Philippians 4:9 (TEV). 3. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
(NCV). 4. Lamentations 3:40
(NLT); 1 Corinthians
11:28 (NLT), 31
(TEV); 13:5 (Msg);
Galatians 6:4 (NIV). 5.


key: original_content
string_value:
2 Corinthians 13:5
(Msg). 6. Lamentations 3:40
(Msg). 7. 2 Corinthians 8:11 (LB). 8. Hebrews 2:1 (Msg). 9. Numbers 33:2 (NLT). 10. Psalm 56:8 (TEV). 11. Psalm 102:18 (TEV). 12. Proverbs 11:25 (Msg). 13. 2 Timothy 2:2b (CEV). 14. James 4:17 (NCV). 15. 1 Timothy 4:6 (CEV). 16. John 17:4 (NIV). 17.


key: original_content
string_value:
2. Psalm 33:11 (TEV). 3. Proverbs 4:26 (CEV). 4. Proverbs 17:24 (TEV). 5. Philippians 1:10 (NLT). 6.


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string_value:
Galatians 5:22–23. Notes 333
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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string_value:
10. Matthew 5:3–12. 11. 2 Peter 1:5 (Msg). 12. 1 Timothy 4:16b
(Msg). 13. 2 Corinthians 9:12
(TEV). 14.


key: original_content
string_value:
John 15:16a (NJB). 15. Joshua 24:15 (NLT). 16. Philippians 1:27 (NCV). 17. Ephesians 5:25 (TEV). 18.


key: original_content
string_value:
Proverbs 22:18 (NCV). 19. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV). 20. 1 Thessalonians 2:4b
(NLT). 21. 2 Corinthians 10:13
(LB). 22.


key: original_content
string_value:
Revelation 4:11 (Msg). The Purpose-Driven Life 334
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN® CHURCH
Growth Without Compromising Your Message and Mission
/orn3flipRick Warren /orn3
E
very church is driven by something. Tradition,
finances, programs, even buildings can be the
controlling force in a church. But in order for a church to be healthy,
it must become purpose-driven. Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church, shares a proven five-part strategy
that will enable your church to grow . .


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. •W armer through fellowship
•D eeper through discipleship
• Stronger through worship
•B roader through ministry
• Larger through evangelism
Discover the same practical insights and principles for growing a healthy church that Rick
has taught to over one hundred thousand pastors and church leaders from over one hudred
countries. The Purpose-Driven Church shifts the focus away from church building programs to
emphasizing a people-building process. Warren says, “If you will concentrate on building
people, God will build the church.”
Hardcover ISBN:  0-310-20106-3 
Audio Pages
® Abridged Cassette ISBN: 0-310-20518-2
Audio Pages® Unabridged Cassette ISBN: 0-310-22901-4
THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN® LIFE
JOURNAL
F
or those who are journeying through the 40-day
spiritual adventure in The Purpose-Driven
® Life by
Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life Journal provides a
guided place to record thoughts, meditations, and prayers. Featuring Scriptures and quotes taken from the book,
each of the five sections in the journal corresponds to the
five purposes in the book and ends with a “spiritual
health assessment” related to the topic just completed. ISBN: 0-310-80306-3
Over a 
Half-Million Sold! If you enjoyed this book, please recommend 
The Purpose-Driven Church® for your pastor!


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Pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore! Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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PLANNED FOR GOD’S PLEASURE
MEDITATIONS ON THE PURPOSE-
DRIVEN® LIFE
T
his beautiful gift book takes the groundbreaking
message of Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Lifebook
and applies it in a way that encourages everyone to find meaning and
significance from understanding and fulfilling God’s purposes for putting us on earth. In addition, this gift book features a beautiful CD of inspirational music from Maranatha! designed specifically to accompany readers on their journeys as they meditate on God’s purposes
for their lives.


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    "What is the main focus of the gift book discussed in the excerpt?",
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Planned for God’s Pleasureis the perfect way to remind friends and family of God’s incredible
plan for their lives. ISBN: 0-310-80322-5
PURPOSE-DRIVEN® LIFE STANDING RESIN CROSS
T
his tabletop cross is an inspirational reminder that God has an eternal purpose for every
life. Keep this cross as a daily reminder of the wonderful things God has in store for your
purpose-driven life. ISBN: 0-310-80462-0
Purpose-Driven® Life Book and Bible Cover
B
lack canvas book and Bible cover features spine handles and pen/pencil holder. ISBN: 0-310-80460-4 Med. 0-310-80459-0 Large 0-310-80461-2 X-Large
THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN® LIFE
SCRIPTURE KEEPER PLUS
T
his decorative, wooden Scripture Keeper is a
constant reminder that God has an eternal purpose
for every life. Featuring a silver accent with the verse “Your
Word Have I Hidden in My Heart” from Psalm 119, each
of the forty cards contains a Scripture verse and promise
taken from the forty chapters in The Purpose-Driven
® Life
and is perfect to display at work or at home. ISBN: 0-310-80323-3
Pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore!


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THE PURPOSE-
DRIVEN® LIFE
AUDIO PAGES®
What on Earth Am I
Here For? A Groundbreaking Manifesto
on the Meaning of Life
T
he Purpose-Driven Life will help you understand why you are alive as well as God’s
amazing plan for you—both here and now and for eternity. Rick Warren will guide you
through a personal 40-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life’s most
important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God’s purpose for creating you
will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life,
and, most important, prepare you for eternity. This recording offers a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century—a lifestyle based
on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural values.


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Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and refer-
ences, it challenges the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry,
and evangelism. In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren offers distilled wisdom on
the essence of what life is all about. Full of hope and challenge, The Purpose-Driven Life will
be a classic treasured by generations to come. Unabridged CD Audio Pages® ISBN: 0-310-24788-8
Unabridged Cassette Audio Pages® ISBN: 0-310-20907-2
The Purpose-Driven Life has changed lives. You can also sign
up for a daily devotional through your personal email
as well as check out some of their free resources.


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Pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore! Visit www.PurposeDrivenLife.com to read stories of how 
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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Another Landmark Book 
by Rick Warren
You are not an accident. Even before the
universe was created, God had you in mind, and
he planned you for his purposes.


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You were made to last forever! Self-help books often suggest that you try to discover the meaning
and purpose of your life by looking within yourself, but Rick Warren
says that is the wrong place to start. You must begin with God, your
Creator, and his reasons for creating you. You were made by God and
for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. This book will help you understand why you are alive and God’s
amazing plan for you—both here and now, and for eternity. Rick
Warren will guide you through a personal 40-day spiritual journey that
will transform your answer to life’s most important question: What on
earth am I here for? Knowing God’s purpose for creating you will
reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give
meaning to your life, and, most important, prepare you for eternity. The Purpose-Driven
® Life is a blueprint for Christian living in the
21st century—a lifestyle based on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural
values. Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and references, it challenges
the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship,
ministry, and evangelism. In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick
Warren offers distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about. This is a book of hope and challenge that you will read and re-
read, and it will be a classic treasured by generations to come. Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake
Forest, California, one of America’s largest and best-known
churches. His previous book, The Purpose-Driven
® Church, has sold
over a million copies in 20 languages.


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Winner of the Gold
Medallion, it was selected as one of the 100 Christian Books That
Changed the 20th Century. www.purposedrivenlife.com
       Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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About the Publisher
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan based Zondervan, a division
of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communi-
cations company, producing best–selling Bibles, books, new media products,
a growing line of gift products, and award–winning children’s products. The
world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds
exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and
has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the
top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award–winning books
through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers,
specialty retailers, and the Internet.


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Zondervan has received a total of 68
Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary           NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com       


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We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this ebook
to us in care of zreview@zondervan.com. Thank you.


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[['AMP', 'The Amplified Bible', 'Grand Rapids: Zondervan (1965)'], ['CEV', 'Contemporary English Version', 'New York: American Bible Society (1995)'], ['GWT', 'God’s Word Translation', 'Grand Rapids: World Publishing, Inc. (1995)'], ['KJV', 'King James Version', '']]


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[['LB', 'Living Bible', 'Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers (1979)'], ['Msg', 'The Message', 'Colorado Springs: Navpress (1993)'], ['NAB', 'New American Bible', 'Chicago: Catholic Press (1970)'], ['NASB', 'New American Standard Bible', 'Anaheim, CA: Foundation Press (1973)'], ['NCV', 'New Century Version', 'Dallas: Word Bibles (1991)'], ['NIV', 'New International Version', 'Colorado Springs: International Bible Society (1978, 1984)'], ['NJB', 'New Jerusalem Bible', 'Garden City, NY: Doubleday (1985)'], ['NLT', 'New Living Translation', 'Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers (1996)'], ['NRSV', 'New Revised Standard Version', 'Grand Rapids: Zondervan (1990)'], ['Ph', 'New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips', 'New York: Macmillan (1958)'], ['TEV', 'Today’s English Version', 'New York: American Bible Society (1992)']]


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["What is the verse reference for Isaiah 55:9?","What version is 1 Corinthians 1:27 quoted from?","Which verse is listed as number 3?"]


