In December
of 2009, God challenged me to take my life and ministry to the next level. It’s not that I wasn’t doing what God had
asked me to do, but I sensed the Holy Spirit pushing me to raise the level of
excellence in which I fulfilled my purpose and function in His kingdom. This
challenge was so clear to me that I immediately created a list of things
needing to be addressed or accomplished in my life.
One of the
items on my list was to create a blog to share with anyone who would read
it. I know, a blog is kind of cliché in
today’s Internet culture, but I believe it will accomplish a few things. First and most importantly, if I don’t do
this, I will be disobeying what I believe God has asked me to do. Second, I
usually have a million thoughts running around my head and I need a structured
way to communicate those thoughts. Finally, I think I have something to say
that others will benefit from.
Now if you’ve
been paying attention, you probably realized that almost two years have passed
since I felt led to start a blog. You may
be wondering, “Why now?” Two reasons: 1)
Even though two years has passed, God has not changed his request and I need to
be obedient. Yes, I accomplished many
other things on my list, but partial obedience is still disobedience.
2) Recently, Steve
Jobs, co-founder and recent CEO of Apple, Inc. died. While I did not know him personally, Jobs’ life
and work has significantly impacted mine.
His involvement in the creation of the personal computer, establishing
Pixar, and the development of the iPod/iPhone/iPad has affected the way I have grown
up, learned, and to some degree, lived my life on a daily basis.
As Jobs has
been memorialized during the last few weeks, people who knew him are fondly
remembering aspects of his life and personality that made him unique. In practically every article, Jobs’ vision
for what could be and his passion to accomplish that vision is identified. Here’s how Steve Jobs approached life in his
own words:
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs at Stanford Commencement ceremony in 2005.
When it came
to blogging about my thoughts, ideas, opinions, and life, I think I have put
off obeying God’s instructions because I was afraid of what people might think,
or whether what I have to say might be embraced. As of today, I am choosing to not let others
influence my ability to obey God in this area. With that said, let me take a
moment to reflect a little more on what Jobs said above.
I don’t know
what Jobs believed about God or religion, but I do know why our heart and
intuition already knows what we want to become – GOD MADE US THAT WAY! God has created each of us with a purpose and
function to fulfill. Because we have
been created that way, there is a natural pull towards discovering that purpose
and function. In a sense, we cannot be fully satisfied until we understand what
they are.
Now, while an
individual may have a specific purpose or function, there are a number of areas
that are “built-in” to each of us. So, using some “Apple-like” terminology,
here are common areas that will help provide the courage to follow our “hearts
and intuition.”
iLove: I need to LOVE GOD always and LOVE
OTHERS in the same (Mt 22:34-40). Why do I love? “[I] love because he first
loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
iPray: I need to spend regular time
communicating with God. (Colossians
1:9-10) This must be two-way
communication – telling God what’s going on with me and then LISTENING to what
God has to say to me.
iWorship: I need to CELEBRATE who God is and
what He is doing each day and not just on Sunday’s In addition, my life needs to be a living
sacrifice for God for this is my spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
iServe: I have something to offer the world
around me because God created me to live for him. I need to identify a place to serve God using
what he has blessed me with. (1 Peter
4:10)
iFellowship: I was not created to live my life
disconnected from the world around me.
God created us to be in relationship with Him and with others. (1 Corinthians 1:9, Acts 2:42)
iShare: I need to share what God has done in
my life with the people I know and meet.
How can they know the saving grace of God if someone doesn’t tell them
about it? (Romans 10:13-15). This is not just the Pastor’s responsibility.
When we
accomplish these elements in our life, we will naturally begin to fulfill our
purpose and function in the world around us.
With that said, allow me to summarize this post with a final quote from
Jobs:
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” – Steve Jobs to John Sculley, President of Pepsi in 1983.
Essentially,
Jobs was asking, do you want to keep doing what you’ve been doing, do you want
to do something that is ultimately unimportant, or do you want to join me and change
the world. I would argue that many of
us, myself included, have been content to focus on things that are ultimately
unimportant. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the unimportant and am
ready to change the world. This won’t
happen overnight, but it can happen. With persistence, consistency, passion,
purpose, and the power of God’s grace and peace I can, you can, we can change
the world one person, one day, at a time.
Imagine what
it would be like if we each lived out our purpose and function with the same
passion Steve Jobs had when he built Apple from the ground up. Imagine what it would be like to implement
each of the “i” aspects mentioned above.
Not only will your life be different, but you WILL literally change the
lives of the people around you!
May God bless
you as you discover your purpose and fulfill your function in His world!
Until next
time…
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