Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 209 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Living Your Life with Purpose, On Purpose #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 209 of our Trek. I trust that you had a very blessed and merry Christmas. Yesterday, on Christmas Day, we finished up our hike along the Christmas Trail. We explored the lives of those individuals that had a significant impact on the story. It is my hope that you were able to learn from these stories that bring hope to the world, not only during Christmas but each day of the year.  If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

Today we look forward as we start on our Trek into 2016. One commitment that I am making for 2016 is to live my life with purpose, on purpose.  I encourage you to join me in living a life that is both rich and satisfying, to live life to the full. This does not imply that we won’t have setbacks but rather that we will be able to traverse through them while learning the lessons that they teach us.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We drove up to Marietta on Christmas Eve and had a relaxing Christmas Day. Since Paula and I will be celebrating Christmas with our kids and grandkids on January 9^th, it was great to sleep in and then share a wonderful Christmas dinner with my brother Jack, his wife Ann, and our dad.

For the past few years, Paula and I take the last week of the year to assess what we were able to accomplish during the year, but more importantly, what our plans are for the New Year.  We cannot predict with certainty what the future may hold during this next year, but we can confidently know who ultimately holds the future. With that then we can confidently make plans and map out the trails that we would like to hike. If we trip and fall or are detoured on our way, that is okay. We still have our destination set. That destination is to live life fully and to impact others positively each day which becomes our living legacy.

Keeping with our theme of life being a trek with its steep mountains to climb and deep valleys to navigate, let us focus on how we can live that rich and satisfying life each day. What is required for us to live life with purpose, on purpose?  For the next few days, let’s set our course to learn how to accomplish this. Our trek for today and the next couple of days is…

Living Your Life with Purpose, On Purpose #1

There seems to be an abundance of gurus of every kind that flood the TV and internet selling their secret formulas and magic juices for a more successful and more fulfilling existence. And there is, of course, no shortage of needy and sometimes very successful people in the market willing to part with their hard earned money to gain the insights that are being peddled.

This is because seeking fulfillment in life is almost a universal phenomenon. And the primary problem stems from the fact that while most everybody knows when they were born, very few know why they were born – and so they are searching for meaning. Your alarm clock can tell you what time to wake up in the morning, but it cannot tell you “why” to wake up in the morning.

Even as a listener to this podcast or reader of our journal, if I were to ask you if you believe that God has a purpose for your lives, you would most likely reply that you do believe that. Yet if I had to ask you what your God-given life purpose is, would you be able to tell me? Many people live their life without knowing what their true purpose is. Nevertheless, we all yearn to live meaningful lives.

As we continue our hike during the next three days, let’s discuss what it means to live a life with purpose, on purpose. In other words, how can you and I choose to live a life of legacy each day that has a fulfilling purpose for you and impacts your world positively?

With the suicide rates around the world increasing dramatically, most of us know someone that has given up finding his purpose and ended his life. Maybe you have even felt this way at some point in your life. This is such a tragedy since each of us has a purpose within God’s plan that only we can fill. As a Christ follower, I am convinced that there are forces of good and evil in this world. Even if you don’t consider yourself a Christ follower, please continue with us on our trek and gain the wisdom from our discussion.

The more I understand individuals that have lost hope in themselves, the more I realize that one of Satan’s most powerful lies is to tell you that God does not have, or no longer has, a purpose for your life, or he will try to convince you that you cannot know that purpose. The evil one is the father of lies and wants you to believe his lies.

The truth is that until you find your God-given purpose, your life tends to be driven by self-preservation and self-promotion. In other words, you become your own agenda. But when you discover God’s purpose in your life, you find something that is greater than your own agenda. Something that you are willing to invest your life in or live your life for. Then, instead of living the frustration and futility of a self-absorbed directionless life, you are released into the fulfillment and rewards of a called life.

A person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder that floats aimlessly and without direction.

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This first stop on our hike today is…

1. Everyone has a purpose.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church in Ephesus wrote in 1:9-11, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.  And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.  Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

So we can see that everything God ever created He created on purpose, with purpose. Purpose precedes creation. Everything in life begins and ends with purpose.

In the next chapter of this letter, Paul writes in 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” 

You are God’s masterpiece! So what is your purpose? Your purpose, the reason you were created was for the pleasure of God. You were created to bring glory to God.

Everything has a purpose, and your primary purpose is the pleasure of God – to do the good things he planned for you long ago. You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for His purposes.

If you have not determined your specific purpose or calling, let me help you make the first steps that will bring purpose to your life. It all starts with loving and serving God and others from Matthew 22:37-40, “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Today we have established that everything has purpose, and I have shared where you can start fulfilling that purpose. Tomorrow we will continue and explore why your purpose makes you unique, which means one of a kind. So please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom each day.  Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!