Making The Most Of Your Life
How many times have we heard the expression "Get A Life".
• Today my main goal is to encourage you to “get a life”
• A life that is full of God's blessings / rewards.
• I want to talk about the life that we’ve have been given in God and what a Great life it is.
• If I were to ask you what is it that you want out of life,
• What would you tell me?
• A lot of us might answer that we want a rich and rewarding life
• A life that experiences fulfillment in a variety of ways.
So while you are sitting there thinking about your life I want you to ask yourself
• Are you happy and content with your life
• Or are you looking for something more / more than what you have.
• Are you making the most of the life that God has given you
• Are you using this life and are you making it count for something
• Or are you simply spinning your wheels in frustration?
James 4:13-15
Jas 4:13 Look here, you people who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”
Jas 4:14 How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. Jas 4:15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
In all reality we really have very little time to make our lives count for something.
• Does your world make sense to you
• Or does it feel like you never really acomplish musch?
• Do you feel like you are simply spinning your wheels and using your precious energy
• On things that have very little value or consequences?
II. Well the truth is each one of us Can Have A Full And Rewarding Life.
• I believe most of us have an inner need / a desire to be useful.
• We all streuggle to find the meaning of our existence.
• We want to know that there is purpose in what we do.
• We want to feel like we really are needed
• We want to feel that the tasks and responsibilities that we perform in our daily life
• Are important and necessary
• We want to feel that they count for something.
• And if we took a survey this morning I think we would find that
• The average person is probably not very happy with the way their life is going.
So I ask you ---------Are you happy with your life?
• Do you have a rewarding marriage / family life?
• Are you fulfilling your life-long ambitions
• Or have you settled into the grove of accepting whatever happens in your life?
No matter where you stand on this issue
• God has promised each one of us a full and rewarding life
• A life that is filled with excitement and purpose.
Psalms 16:11
Ps 16:11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
John 10:10 "
Jn 10:10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
Do these seem like empty promises to you
• Does this sound like God is teasing you to get your attention
• Or do you really believe that God is able to help you make the most of your life
What is your home life like?
• Are you experiencing all that God wants for you in you marriage
• Are you experiencing all that God wants for you in your family?
• Is there a major discontentment in your home
• Or are you truly getting the most out of what God has planned for you?
What about at work?
• Are you satisfied with your job
• Or does it all seem useless to you?
What about your service to God and the church?
• Are you just spinning your wheels
• Or are you making your life count in the things that you are involved in?
II. SO What Is Needed For A Rich & Rewarding Life.
1. You Have to have A Sense Of Purpose / Destiny.
Proverbs 29:18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.
2 Timothy 1:9 It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus.
A life without purpose
• Will cause us to chase many endless rainbows that bring dissatisfaction, / heartache,
• A life without purpose leads to a sense of failure, / apathy, / emptiness, and a sense of total worthlessness.
This doesn't sound like the abundant life that God has promised us does it?
• You see, if my dream is an end in itself ---it will leave me empty and still wanting.
A study of 4,126 male business executives revealed widespread dissatisfaction with the corporate world.
• 48% of all middle managers said that even though they spent years working to achieve their professional goals,
• Their lives seemed "empty and meaningless."
• 68% of senior executives said that they had neglected their family lives to pursue their professional goals,
• And half of those 68% said if they were given the chance to do it over again
• That they would spend less time working and more time with their families
• But The most popular question that men are asking today is: "What am I doing all this for?"
• In the past employees worked for security / long-term employment.
• But today corporations don't return loyalty like they used to,
• And men today are wondering if the investment is worth it. (San Francisco Chronicle, 1989)
King Solomon came up with this same conclusion.
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
Ecc 2:10 Anything I wanted, I took. I did not restrain myself from any joy. I even found great pleasure in hard work, an additional reward for all my labors. Ecc 2:11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless. It was like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
When Solomon lost sight of God's purpose,
• He found that the things in his life were worthless and futile.
• And the end result was he became very dissatisfied and discontent with his life.
We have to look for God's purpose in all that we do.
• We have to see the things that we do are God given tasks
• We have to understand that God wants us to work towards His purpose in our lives
• No matter what it is we are involved in.
• It’s this kind of mindset that keeps us from chasing empty rainbows.
• If my dream is an end in itself ---it will become an empty pursuit.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 Ecc 3:9 What do people really get for all their hard work? Ecc 3:10 I have thought about this in connection with the various kinds of work God has given people to do. Ecc 3:11 God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecc 3:12 So I concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they can. Ecc 3:13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
To the Business people here today,
• Do you want to get the most out of your life as a business person?
• If so acknowledge God in all your ways and He will direct your steps.
To the Working man,
• Do you want to get the most out of your life?
To the Working mother,
• Do you want to make your life count?
• If so, acknowledge God in all of your ways and He will direct your steps.
To the Husband & wife,
• Do you want to get the most out of your marriage?
• If so, acknowledge God in all of your ways.
• He will cause you to see that you are a team that works together for His purpose
• Both in your family and your ministries.
Father and mother,
• Do you want to get the most out of your lives in raising your children?
• If so, acknowledge God in all of your ways
• And you will see His purpose and reward coming alive in your children and family atmosphere.
2. The second thing we need For A Rich & Rewarding Life is to Find Contentment In What WE Are Doing.
Philippians 4:11-13 Phil 4:11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. Phil 4:12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. Phil 4:13 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
1 Timothy 6:6-8 1Ti 6:6 Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth. 1Ti 6:7 After all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. 1Ti 6:8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.
Many people are not content with the work they are doing
• The feel that the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
• They’re not satisied even when their situations are favorable.
• Instead of doing their jobs cheerfully and for the glory of God
• They do it for their own personal gain.
• And the end result is they miss out on the blessings that God's has planned for their lives
• And they fail to see the blessings they already have.
An ancient Persian legend tells about a wealthy man by the name of Al Haffed who owned a large farm. One evening a visitor related to him tales of fabulous amounts of diamonds that could be found in other parts of the world, and of the great riches they could bring him.
The vision of all this wealth made him feel poor by comparison. So instead of caring for his own prosperous farm, he sold it and set out to find these treasures. But the search proved to be fruitless. Finally, penniless and in despair, he committed suicide by jumping into the sea.
Meanwhile, the man who had purchased his farm noticed one day the glint of an unusual stone in a shallow stream on the property. He reached into the water, and to his amazement he pulled out a huge diamond. Later when working in his garden, he uncovered many more valuable gems.
Poor Al Haffed had spent his life traveling to distant lands seeking jewels when the farm he had left behind were all the precious stones his heart could have ever desired.
Hebrews 13:5-6 Heb 13:5 Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.” Heb 13:6 That is why we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
We live in a society that teaches us and trains us
• To want and desire what our neighbor has.
• This way of thinking is promoted everywhere we go.
• We compare our status, home, clothes, income, vehicles, and many other things.
• And because we do this we’re never satisfied / content with our lives.
• If this is where our thoughts are at,
• We will pursue these things as well.
• As a result we come up empty and unsatisfied because these are not the things that bring us gain.
• Godliness with contentment brings us gain.
• These are only empty illusions that the devil uses to destroy the real life and joy that Christ wants us to have in this life.
We must humble ourselves
• We must accept God's plans for our lives
• This means being the best that we can be for Christ
• In whatever it is that we are doing
• Or whereever it is that He has planted us;
• Work, Business, Homemaker, Mother, Father, Ministry or whatever.
• We need to Be content / allow God to use us as a sweet smelling fragrance wherever we are.
This is the key.
James 4:10 When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.
Many times people come into the kingdom,
• And They go on living their lives for themselves
• They never really make the most out of their lives.
• And their lack of content continues.
Sometimes Christians start out doing great
• But when trials, trouble, anxiety and problems begin to occur
• They begin to focus once again on the empty promises of the enemy
• And they slip into a greater state of discontentment and end up making very little of their lives.
3. The third thing we need For A Rich & Rewarding Life is We Must Evaluate Our Priorities From Time To Time.
Proverbs 23:4-5 Don’t weary yourself trying to get rich. Why waste your time?
Pr 23:5 For riches can disappear as though they had the wings of a bird!
Being rich is what defines making the most of your life.
• Instead do you have peace in your home?
• Are you bearing fruit in the kingdom?
• Do you have a happy and rewarding marriage?
• Are your children living peaceably with one another and growing in Christ?
So today as we get ready to close the questions that we need to ask ourselves are,
• Am I discontent / dissatisfied?
• What is going on in my life that is making me this way?
• Why am I not making the most of my Life?
• Are my priorities out of order?
• Am I putting more time and energy into those areas that are very little consequence?
• Should I be putting more time into my family and my marriage and service to God?
Maybe today is the day that we should reevaluate our lives
Proverbs 21:5
Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
