A Purpose Driven Life Chapter 37 - Sharing Your Life Message
Chapter Overview: Sharing your life message. God wants to say something to the world through me. 'Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect' 1 Peter 3:15.2011 (40 years old)
I really like what Rick said about 'being witnesses'. Our responsibility is to share our story, not to argue or advocate our position. We aren't supposed to be lawyers. Just share about our personal relationship with god and what he's done for us. I was thinking about this in the shower this morning and wondering... So if I'm sharing my story with Jim here at work, he would be fine with it, but he'd say 'what's in this for me that I don't have already?' My answer should be 'an assurance and a hope for the future and a relationship with the king of kings.'
However, given some of the things that Rick and Jesus said in the previous chapters - do I have an assurance? I'm feeling today like the message is confused, quite frankly. There's the sheep and the goats, and there's being saved by grace through faith so no one can boast. How is there assurance when one message is contrary to the other?2016 (45 years old)
As I reflect on my personally story, who does God want me to share it with? This was another really good chapter. I felt grace reading this one and chapter 35. Quite different than how I felt 5 years ago. Our own personal experiences are powerful. We forget that. We are called to be witnesses - not attorneys. In answering the question above, I think of the coming Friday piano lunch session at the church and how I can share my experience with a song. I also think of sharing it with the youth band. I have watched a couple of excerpts of talks done by Darlene Zschech lately, and really touched by the smile, joy, and grace and acceptance that flies from her. '...full of grace and truth'. We are called to be like Jesus. How can people see the hope in the verse above if I don't reflect it and act it out. I liked the questions Rick asked in the different sections in this chapter: things to ensure you cover when you write out your testimony; questions to jog your memory about your life lessons. Those are great. I think I had a story for every question he posed...I actually took some time and answered those questions here (published May 7th, 2018 in this blog)
...And more of my thoughts associated with this chapter can be found in this blog post
For background on what these 'Purpose Driven Life' posts are about, click this link.
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