标杆人生 第01天 万物皆由神开始
WHAT ON EARTH
AM I HERE FOR?
A life devoted 1 to things is a dead life, a stump 2; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. Proverbs 11:28 (Msg)
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord.... They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)
It All Starts with God
For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,. . . everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. Colossians 1:16 (Msg) Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless. Bertrand Russell, atheist 3
It's not about you.
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That's because we typically begin at the wrong starting point-ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life's purpose. The Bible says, "It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power”
Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's meaning by looking within yourself. You've probably tried that already. You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner's manual could reveal its purpose.
I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, "You can't get there from here. You must start from the other side of the mountain!" In the same way, you cannot arrive at your life's purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator. You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God-and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our
destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.
Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed 4 to failure. You were made for God, not vice 5 versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. The Bible says, "Obsession 6 with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious 7, free life.'2
I have read many books that suggest ways to discover the purpose of my life. All of them could be classified as "self-help" books because they approach the subject from a self-centered viewpoint. Self-help books, even Christian 8 ones, usually offer the same predictable steps to finding your life's purpose: Consider your dreams. Clarify your values. Set some goals. Figure out what you are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be disciplined. Believe you can achieve your goals. Involve others. Never give up.
Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not at all the same issue! You could reach all your personal goals, becoming a raving 9 success by the world's standard, and still miss the purposes for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice. The Bible says, "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.”
This is not a self-help book. It is not about finding the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life. It is not about how to cram 10 more activities into an overloaded 11 schedule. Actually, it will teach you how to do less in life-by focusing on what matters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be.
How, then, do you discover the purpose you were created for? You have only two options. Your first option is speculation 12. This is what most people choose. They conjecture 13, they guess, they theorize. When people say, "I've always thought life is . . . ," they mean, "This is the best guess I can come up with."
For thousands of years, brilliant philosophers have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life. Philosophy is an important subject and has its uses, but when it comes to determining the purpose of life, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing.
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, "What is the meaning of life?" He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless. In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!
Fortunately, there is an alternative to speculation about the meaning and purpose of life. It's revelation. We can turn to what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life's purpose: Ask God.
God has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has clearly revealed his five purposes for our lives through the Bible. It is our Owner's Manual, explaining why we are alive, how life
works, what to avoid, and what to expect in the future. It explains what no self-help or philosophy book could know. The Bible says, "God's wisdom ... goes deep into the interior of his purposes.... It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest-what
God determined 14 as the way to bring out his best in us." God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God's Word, not the world's wisdom.
You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology 15, success-motivation, or inspirational stories. The Bible says, "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." This verse gives us three insights into your purpose.
1. You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't have such a relationship, I will later explain how to begin one.
2. God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input 16! You may choose your career, your spouse 17, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you don't get to choose your purpose.
3. The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity 18. That's what this book is about.
Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic 19 Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary 20 day. He recalls, "In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro 21 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preempting 22 the future entirely 23, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment 24, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God's light."
You may have felt in the dark about your purpose in life. Congratulations, you're about to walk into the light.
DAY ONE THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: It's not about me.
Verse to Remember: "Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him." Colossians 1: 16b (Msg)
Question to Consider: In spite of all the advertising 25 around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself?
- He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
- We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
- He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
- He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。
- She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
- He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。
- The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
- A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
- I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
- She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。
- Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
- The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。
- They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
- His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
- The man's a raving lunatic. 那个男子是个语无伦次的疯子。
- When I told her I'd crashed her car, she went stark raving bonkers. 我告诉她我把她的车撞坏了时，她暴跳如雷。
- There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
- The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。
- He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
- She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。
- Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
- There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。
- She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
- This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
- He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
- I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
- All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。
- Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
- What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？
- The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
- Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。
- She has the gift of the gab.她口才很好。
- With his gift of gab, he should make an excellent politician.以其雄辩之才，他应该可以成为出色的政治家。
- They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
- She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。
- Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
- The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。
- For improving performance, a novel algorithm, Deadlock-Free Reservation Protocol with Preempting resource (DFRP2) , is proposed. 为了增进效能，我们提出了一种利用先占式资源达到高效能及死结避免的保留协定，简称DFRP2。 来自互联网
- And of course companies leak as deliberate policy, preempting formal announcements as a matter of course. 当然，企业也会故意事先放出风声，让正式声明变得水到渠成。 来自互联网
- The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
- His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
- They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
- I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。
- Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
- The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。