Quotes About Purpose

And I remembered Willi's prophetic portrait of me, warning me against entering the American competition to be a pastor who "gets things done" and who is "going somewhere.

We fantasize an archaeological scoop. Meanwhile what we have right before us turns out to be far more useful—a theological probe. Instead of being told what Jeremiah's parents were doing, we are told what his God was doing: "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you" (Jer 1:5).

We believe that this human life is a great gift, that every part of it is designed by God and therefore means something, that every part of it is blessed by God and therefore to be enjoyed, that every part is accompanied by God and therefore workable.

He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

It is not allowable to love the Creation according to the purposes one has for it, any more than it is allowable to love one's neighbor in order to borrow his tools.

Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.   Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!  

Psalm 127 shows a way to work that is neither sheer activity nor pure passivity. It doesn't glorify work as such, and it doesn't condemn work as such. It doesn't say, "God has a great work for you to do; go and do it." Nor does it say, "God has done everything; go fishing." If we want simple solutions in regard to work, we can become workaholics or dropouts. If we want to experience the fullness of work, we will do better to study Psalm 127.

God did not become a servant so that we could order him around but so that we could join him in a redemptive life.

no matter if we come home with the Olympic gold or make a million dollars or pioneer the exploration of space or move the world with some artistic performance or discover the cure to cancer—if we do not love, it is not satisfactory. No matter if we are responsible and work hard and do our jobs well and stay out of trouble and are respected, if we do not love, then somehow we have failed. If we live but do not love, we miss it.

The premise of the psalm for all work is that God works: "If GOD doesn't build the house . . . If GOD doesn't guard the city . . ." The condition if presupposes that God does work: he builds; he guards.

The life of faith has the support of an entire creation and the resources of a magnificent redemption. The structure of this world was created by God so we can live in it easily and happily as his children. The history we walk in has been repeatedly entered by God, most notably in Jesus Christ, first to show us and then to help us live full of faith and exuberant with purpose.

What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

The terrible threat against life, he said in his book God Is Not Yet Dead, is not death, nor pain, nor any variation on the disasters that we so obsessively try to protect ourselves against with our social systems and personal stratagems. The terrible threat is "that we might die earlier than we really do die, before death has become a natural necessity. The real horror lies in just such a premature death, a death after which we go on living for many years."6

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions and gifts, our human needs and our eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.

Why was it so scary to ask themselves one simple question: Why am I doing what I'm doing? Part of me understood the vortex, of course. Part of me understood that they couldn't stop, particularly if they'd enjoyed success, because if they did stop, they would stop being relevant. I understood. Completely.

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.

When solutions produce problems, when thought flounders in the absence of order, unity, and purpose, when healthy skepticism turns into pathological sarcasm – this is usually when pessimism enters the fray.

An hour of contemplation is preferable to a lifetime of ambition, though neither produces tangible results.

Philosophy as reducible to an alibi for one's existence - for all existents. Hubris. Fear.

T]he devastating possibility that "wasting time" and "passing time" amount to the same thing.

Human affairs are not governed ultimately by historical events, fate, or chance, but by God...Divine purpose moving steadily from beginning to end.

Part of what makes a job good, they understood, is the sense that what you do matters.

Mother: "Rumi wrote that…roughly…the only thing that will be with you to your grave is your work. Only your work will speak for you after you're gone." There

Human excellence means nothing unless it works with the consent of God.