Chapter 3 Day One Everything Begins with God

Day One Everything Begins with God Everything, whether it is in the sky or on the ground, visible or invisible, was created by him and for him. (Colossians 1:16) It is pointless to discuss the purpose of life unless you assume that there is a God. The center of life is not you. The purpose of life is not just the pursuit of personal satisfaction and joy, it is far more profound than your family, career, or even your wildest dreams and aspirations.To know why you are in this world, you must start with God, because you were born and lived for His purpose. Finding purpose in life has been a perplexing problem for thousands of years.Because we often make the mistake of starting with ourselves.We ask self-centered questions like: what kind of person am I going to be?How should I use my life?What are my life goals, my ambitions, my dreams, my future?Self-focused thoughts can never reveal our purpose in life.The Bible says, "God directs the life of all that he has made, and every life is under his authority."

Contrary to what most best-selling books, movies, and lectures advertise, you cannot seek the meaning of life from within yourself. Maybe you have tried it. You are not your own creator, how can you know the purpose of your creation?If I handed you a new invention that you've never seen before, you wouldn't know what it does, and the object wouldn't be able to tell you.You can only know what an object does from its creator or its instruction manual. Once, I got lost in the mountains.When I stopped to ask for directions to the camping area, I was told, "You can't get there from here, you have to start on the other side of the mountain!" Likewise, you can't use yourself as a starting point to find your life's purpose.You must start with God, your Creator.Your existence is God's will, you were created by God and for God.Life doesn't make sense unless you understand this.Only in God can we understand our origin, identity, meaning, purpose, importance, and destiny.Taking other avenues will be futile.

Many people try to use God to fulfill their own selfish desires, and this kind of contradictory approach is doomed to failure.You were created for God, but God did not exist because of you.God uses you for His purposes, not you use God for your purposes.The Bible says: "Indulging in ourselves is a dead end. Only by looking to God can we get out of the dead end and enter the vast and free world." Ascension" books because they are all approached from a self-centered point of view.Such reference books, and even some Christian books, often provide predictable steps to discovering your purpose in life, such as: pursuing your dreams, measuring your values, setting goals, identifying your strengths, Aim high, do it boldly, be disciplined, have confidence, let others come with you, and never give up.

Of course, these suggestions can often lead to success.Generally speaking, as long as you put your heart and soul into it, you can often succeed in achieving your goals.But "success" and "realizing the purpose of life" are two different things!You may be reaching your personal goals and being very successful by the world's standards, but still missing the purpose God created you for.Self-improvement approaches are not enough.The Bible says: "It is only in vain that self-dedication and sacrifice are the best way to find your true self, and it is also my (Jesus) method."

This is not a book about self-improvement. It doesn't teach you how to find the right career, fulfill your dreams, or plan your life. It doesn't teach you to squeeze more activities into your calendar.In fact, it teaches you to focus on more important things, thereby reducing your daily to-do list.This book is pretty much teaching you how to fulfill God's purpose for you. How can we understand God's purpose in creating us?You only have two options.First, you can surmise that most people do this.They speculate, estimate, or speculate.When people say, "I always thought life was...," they mean, "That's the best I can guess."