How can we make sure we reach our full potential and really live life to its fullest? Our text gives us good guidance from God’s Word.

“Be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.”   Eph. 5:15-17 (NLT)

Notice, the underlined the word, “careful”. It says, “be careful how you live”.  Now the opposite of being careful is careless. It says, don’t be careless.  Literally in the Greek here it means “don’t stumble through life; don’t just drift through life”.  Think it through, know what you’re here for, know your purpose.  Then,  “make the most of every opportunity, be wise.” And, how do we do that?  It comes by “trying to understand what God wants you to do”. 

This morning, as we begin to prepare for this journey called “40 Days of Purpose,” there are three questions we’ll consider to help us focus our living.

Question #1: What does God want from my life?
Most of us, at least in our hearts, begin with the wrong question: “What do I want from my life?” But I don’t think you’d be here this morning if you didn’t acknowledge God as your creator. Furthermore, the Bible makes it clear that the One who made us in His own image has a wonderful plan for each of our lives. So, the first question must always be the first question, “What does God want from me?”

Three words summarize what the Bible says, [you can write this in the blank]– He wants my whole life.  He wants my entire life.  There is not a single verse in the Bible, not one, that says you can be a Christian and live your life any old way you want to.  It’s just not there.  God wants all of you.  He doesn’t want 10% of you, He doesn’t want 50% of you, He doesn’t want 99% of you – He wants all of you.   Look at what the Bible says in Romans 6:13,
”Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life.  And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.”
 
Note the word “completely” is underlined as well as  “whole body”.  It should be all of you. C. S. Lewis once said, “The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important.”  Most of us have given God at least a part of our lives but with some “withholds” like maybe our business, career, family, or my spare time. Often, at least in practice, Christianity is only moderately important– we fit it in around everything else.

When we come to God, we realize His values are quite different than what this world promotes. In the last couple of weeks, the sports news has been talking about the Seattle Mariner’s closing pitcher, Kazuhiro Sasaki, who walked away from the $8.5 million dollars he would have made this next year. The only reason he is leaving all that behind is, his two children want him to stay in Japan where his home is. Is that a wise decision? You bet it is by Biblical standards. Isn’t that refreshing? But in our day, we see far too little of putting family ahead of career success and money.

So, once we’ve decided to give ourselves to God, we need to consider how He wants us to live. The next verse in your outline highlights this truth for us:“
This is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the Lord  and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being.” Deut. 10:12 (NCV)
Before we make this step of commitment, it feels rather scarey. Just what does it mean? Will I no longer be myself, just a robot ordered about by God? Well, that is not the Biblical picture. Instead, God loves us perfectly and created each of us uniquely. He delights in your unique personality and gifts. His desire is for that to be perfectly realized.

We recently spent a day with our two granddaughters: Hannah, age five and Abigail, almost two. As you’d expect, their personalities are totally different. Abigail is at an age where her uniqueness is becoming clear. Now, we love Hannah and delight in her wonderful personality. Were we (as perfect grandparents) upset that Abigail is not the same? Absolutely not! We reveled in her uniqueness. Each nuance of her uniqueness being revealed brought joy to us.

That’s the way God is. He loves you as you are, and He gave you your uniqueness. The reason we surrender our wills to His is so we can be perfected in who we are. His life can then flow through us, manifested in our personalities, gifts, and places of influence.

When I was in the fifth grade, my mother insisted I take two years of piano lessons– a rather unhappy experience for me. My teacher was (to me) frighteningly inflexible. Her house was filled with dark antique furniture that you were afraid to sit on– you know, strange looking couches and chairs with curvy, spindly legs. Sometimes, in her exasperation over my fumbling attempts at a piece, she would place her hands over mine and ask me to relax my fingers and let her play through them. I suppose the idea was to teach my brain the right signals to send to my stubby little fingers. But I found it impossible to relax enough to let her move my fingers. Now, if I could have, I would have been playing WAY beyond my ability. But as long as I was in control, it didn’t work. That’s the point Jesus is making in this next verse in your outline:
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”   Matt. 6:24 (NIV)

Of course there are many other things that divide our hearts besides money, but certainly money and materialism are huge ones. Jesus’ point is clear, there can only be one control center. Then, this verse from Proverbs gives us a wonderful, assuring promise:
“In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”           Pr. 3:6 (LB)

Question #2 – What does it take? 
What does it take to not waste my life?  What does it take to become all that God wants me to be?  What does it takes to develop myself to my fullest potential?  Well, I’m going to say it in one word,  “discipline.” [You can put that word in the blank in your notes].  Two words go together–  disciple and discipline.  You can’t be a disciple of Jesus without discipline.  Note 1 Timothy 4:7, 
“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” 
One way to define discipline would be, “delayed gratification.”  Discipline is doing the difficult now, in order to enjoy the benefit later.  Now some of you are incredibly disciplined.  You may be  very disciplined in your work, your career.  You plan your day, you’re always on time, you’re conscientious in your work habits.  Some of you are very disciplined in your physical workouts to keep your body in shape.  Do you have a  favorite T.V. show you wouldn’t think of missing? We tend to be disciplined in the things that are important to us– that’s what we get done.

Paul is urging Timothy to be disciplined “for the purpose of godliness”– taking on the nature and character of Jesus. He goes on to say, 
“Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit.”    1 Tim. 4:7b (LB)
What is one of your favorite activities? What would happen if you spent even half the time, energy, and commitment you make to that on your spiritual growth? I think for most of us, it would do a lot for our spiritual fitness. Often times, if we’re creative, we can find ways of combining things. An elderly neighbor lady of ours keeps fit on her treadmill. She’s found a way to combine that with her devotional practice. She has shelf fixed at an easy reading height with a large print Bible to make it easy. Also, she has her devotional book there. She walks, reads, prays, and meditates upon God all in one time-frame. You can get the Bible on tape if you prefer. The New Testament is available for under $30.00. If you have much of a commute to work, you can get a lot of Scripture in your heart that way.

Priorities and letting go of some things are essential to this fitness program. Heb. 12:1 tells us of two things we need to get rid of:
“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.”  Heb. 12:1b (NLT)
Of course we know that sin will definitely trip us up and hinder our progress. By the weight we need to strip off, he isn’t referring to our bodies and going on a diet (though some of us could benefit by that). What I picture here is anything that hinders, holds us back spiritually. It may not be sin per se, but something like a misuse of time or perfectionism that has you spend inordinate amounts of energy on trivial matters. Ordering priorities is always tough.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary when Jesus dropped by with his 12 disciples for dinner.

“Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; but there is need of only one thing and Mary has chosen the better part...”  Luke 10:40-42 (NRSV)
Martha is certainly typical of our age and our hearts. Distractions and busyness keep us from spending time with Jesus.

The good news is that we have powerful help in putting discipline into our lives. It is not just another self-help program. Look at that next verse:
God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.” Phil. 2:13 (TEV)
If we give God a chance He will make us willing and able. He’ll give the willpower we need. All we need to do is make a few choices to make ourselves available. That is the point of our engaging in the 40 Days of Purpose program. It is a form, external things we do, that give God something to work with to change us from the inside out. He will honor our being in worship, attending to His Word, then applying it daily through our devotional reading, and each week joining with fellow pilgrims in supporting each other on the journey. As I mentioned in the newsletter, I can’t imagine anyone participating fully in this program and not growing.

Question #3: Why should I do it?
Why should I make the effort to grow spiritually?  Why should I let go of some things to make time for God in my life?  Why make space for God in my life?  Well, there are many benefits and during our 40 Days we will talk about some of them. But our primary motivation should find its focus in two words – the Cross.  Jesus gave His life completely for you so you can live in fellowship with Him and spend eternity with Him.

Today, we’re going to prepare our hearts for the next 40 Days by taking communion to remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross. Let’s just read through these final five Scriptures in your notes thoughtfully.

“He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”          2 Cor. 5:15 (NIV)

 

      “Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.” Eph. 1:7 (GW)

      “Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about  God's compassion, I        encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him.”  Rom.12:1 (GW)

“We beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us!”
2 Cor. 6:1 (Msg)