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“The greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (p. 72). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

What is it that you are giving your life to achieve?  We all wake up and set out to achieve something every day. 

In dealing with achievement, Rick says, “None of us have given God the full glory He deserves from our lives. This is the worst sin and the biggest mistake we can make. On the other hand, living for God’s glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.”  There it is.

The Bible says in Isaiah 43: 7 (TEV), “They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory,”

That is why we are here.  We are here to make God look good.  We are here to make Him look good in our relationships, in our work, in our health, in what we say, in what we do.   And I think that is a very good thing to desire to achieve every day. 

Now the enemy has other ideas.  He wants us to act in ways that make God look bad and the truth is we too many times do better at that task. Many times we come across as lazy at work or judgmental and critical in our relationships, or out of shape health wise.  All of that doesn’t make God look good, it makes God look bad.  I read on Facebook some comments that some Christians make and think of how bad they make God look.  The enemy loves it.

Jesus told His Father in John 17: 4 (NLT), “I brought glory to You here on earth by doing everything You told me to do.”

Rick says, “Jesus honored God by fulfilling His purpose on earth. We honor God the same way. When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God. Birds bring glory to God by flying, chirping, nesting, and doing other bird-like activities that God intended. Even the lowly ant brings glory to God when it fulfills the purpose it was created for. God made ants to be ants, and He made you to be you. St. Irenaeus said, ‘The glory of God is a human being fully alive!’”

So are you being fully alive and are you making Him look good?

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