Ten years ago Rick Warren's best-selling book, A Purpose Driven Life, was published with the counter cultural opening line, "It's not about you." I think many were amazed that so many millions around the world bought the book and affirmed that there has to be a higher purpose for living than simply living for self. A decade later, the book's message is still true. However, many people recognize (and I imagine Pastor Warren is among them) that the vast majority of people in our world are trying to find real life through self-centered living rather than through finding God's purpose for life.
I will never forget a lunch I had with student leaders in Chicago after Pastor Warren's book came out. They were unanimous in their conviction that the world we live in gives us a different narrative for how we find meaning in our existences. The "good life" according to the world comes from being the first to talk and walk, making the highest grades in school, having the best clothes, going out with the most popular kids, gaining admittance to the most prestigious schools, experiencing the most amazing tips to the most exotic places... They said they could see the futility of continuing to live life this way.
The Bible takes this "pattern of our world" on in the opening scene in Mark's Gospel recorded in Mark 1:2 -13. Boiling the message down, the Bible teaches us three lessons:
- God is working out a purpose-filled plan in this world.
- The most important issue in our lives is finding our place in God's plan
- Jesus is the key to finding our place in God's plan. May we rediscover this weekend the foundation for true living. It's not about us!
"In him was life and that life was the light of men." John 1:4
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor