The Foundation

Our supreme purpose will provide the foundational underpinning, the ground-level infrastructure, and a personal vision for our future in all of life's dimensions, responsibilities, activities and opportunities.



"So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heavan and on earth, and there is no other." - The Bible (Deuteronomy 4:39)

God's Personal Attention

Coincidences are providences only in a theistic worldview where a personal God gives personal attention to His children.



"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." - The Bible (Romans 8:28)

Pursuit of Purpose

A passion without a person is the heavy pursuit of a small purpose.



"For they don't understand God's way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law." - The Bible (Romans 10:3)

Pursuit of Identity

The pursuit of identity in our search for significance can actually keep us from realizing our supreme purpose in life.



"Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor Him in your youth before you grow old and say, life is not pleasant anymore." -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

Supreme Purpose

The supreme purpose needs to be simple and straightforward so I can understand it myself; so that I can recommend it to you.



"When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan" -The Bible (I Corinthians 2:2).

Pleading with You

One's supreme purpose forms an all-embracing passion, mission, and vision.



"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice- the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him" -The Bible (Romans 12:1).

A Higher Purpose

We must will only the highest purpose- as the passion, mission, and vision of life.



"For I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, and the one who was crucified" -The Bible (I Corinthians 2:2).

What are you willing to die for?

What a person is willing to die for is what he or she is living for- the passion of his or her life.



"Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn't preach the Good News!" -The Bible (I Corinthians 9:16).

Have you Prayed Today?

Prayerlessness is a definite mark of slavery to obsessions.



"You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it" -The bible (James 4:2).

Careful How You Live

A supreme purpose prevents us from falling into illusion, delusion, and confusion all of which result from the lack of a wise foundation. Our deepest purpose must come from above and beyond the human situation.



"So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise" -The Bible (Ephesians 5:15).

Self-Worth

A supreme purpose gives us a better orientation for identity, an umbrella to cover us during a self-flagellating downpour, a liberating protection from circumstantially or emotionally interpreted self-worth.



"Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this new way, we never give up" -The Bible (II Corinthians 4:1)

Foundational Purpose

Beyondness and aboveness go together in objectifying the importance of the supreme, foundational purpose.



"Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord" -The Bible (Ephesians 2:20-21).

A Surprising Purpose

A concrete and comprehensive purpose organizes life's fragments. It assumes the foundational role, subsumes the segments, and consumes our timetable and activities.



"Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ" - The Bible (I Corinthians 9:19).

Seeking Purpose

The cohesion we seek in the multiplicity of demands, the busyness of activities, and the choices between various options derive from a supreme and foundational purpose.



"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" -The Bible (Romans 12:2).

Decision Making

A supreme purpose provides the touchstone for wise decision-making about equally good opportunities.



"But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind" -The Bible (James 1:6).

An Outside Purpose

To help us negotiate among many opportunities, we need an overarching standard, an outside purpose, to serve as an ontological foundation for all of life- organizing its many dimensions, complexities, and opportunities.



"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand" -The Bible (Colossians 3:1)

Treasure

If there is no way to prioritize among the many options we can pursue, we will be torn by immediate and subjective considerations and what is emotionally closest to us gets the best of us.



"Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be" -The Bible (Matthew 6:21).

Counting it all Garbage

Without an overall life strategy, to believe that small conquests in life will result in a victorious life is to practice mental voodoo.



"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ" -The Bible (Philippians 3:8).

Intentional

It is better to expand energy intentionally going to some place, than simply keeping the airplane aloft. Stronger purposes show us where we want to go and show us the way.



"I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings" -The Bible (I Corinthians 9:23).

True Love

True-love is not only loving God truly, but loving truth as part of using our minds rightly in loving God.



"I honor and love your commands. I meditate on Your decrees" - The Bible (Psalm 119:48).

Accomplishment

Strong purposes wrap themselves around goals, work, and tasks, and motivate us toward accomplishment and inspire and move us forward- they unleash creative abilities and justify activity.



"That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me" -The Bible (Colossians 1:29).

Training

Justifiable strong purposes share a common thread as they move us beyond and away from what is transitory to what is truly valuable.



"All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize" -The Bible (I Corinthians 9:25).

Passion or Idolatry?

When you turn any aspect of life into the passion of life, you fall into idolatry.



"Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts" -The Bible (I John 5:21).

Disappointment

Interesting as they may be, low purposes ultimately let you down since once the challenge is conquered, disappointment sets in.




"I said to myself, 'Come on, let's try pleasure. Let's look for the 'good things' in life.' But I found that this too was meaningless" -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 2:1).

Heavy Pursuit of Small Purposes

Your heavy pursuit of small purposes may not be as obvious as golf or terrorism, but it is just as relative and deficient.



"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver" -The Bible (I Peter 1:18).

Hard Work

Humans exhibit the unusual facility of converting minutiae into justifiable purposes but eventually reality overtakes illusion and exposes delusion.



"What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?" -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 1:3).

Alive, but Not Living

Simply surviving is not quite living, but being alive provides enough justification to be indiscriminate and undiscerning.



"So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here! No one will bring us back from death to enjoy life after we die" -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 3:22).

Vine and the Branches

A single, deepest purpose meets the core needs and wants of being human.



"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing" -The Bible (John 15:5).

Better a Live Dog than a Dead Lion

While you may think it is better not to live and win, rather than to live and lose, acting on that thought will be worse than what you imagine.



"There is hope only for the living. As they say, 'It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion!'" -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 9:4).

Means and Ends

We should distinguish between means and ends but we should not divide them.



"So don't be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? On the other hand, don't be too wicked either. Don't be a fool! Why die before your time? Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes" -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18).

Soul Purpose

When you confuse purpose and results, wrong purpose often begins to dominate.



"Jesus turned to Peter and said, 'Get away from Me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to Me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's'" - The Bible (Matthew 16:23).

A Strong Purpose Life

A strong-purpose life ranks as qualitatively better than a small-purpose life and bears no resemblance to a no-purpose life.




"The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life" -The Bible (John 10:10).

In Need of Direction

We need to be about some purpose for the sake of human worth, value, direction, satisfaction, as well as for a score of incidental benefits.



"This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone" -The Bible (Titus 3:8).

Life Without Purpose

If life has no purpose, there is no good reason for life to possess value, elicit morality, or truly satisfy, instead it will be filled with anguish, instability, and loneliness.



"All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else" -The Bible (Ephesians 2:3).

Smoke and Mirrors

If life is not guided by the right purpose, a sense of moral obligation will not influence nor order a smoke and mirror like existence.



"Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception" -The Bible (Ephesians 4:22).

Notwithstanding time, culture, or privilege, in ancient Athens or contemporary Singapore, in cultured opera houses or at pounding music concerts, forms of the existential "why do I exist" question haunt the human psyche.




"I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless- like chasing the wind" - The Bible (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

Worried about Food for Tomorrow

The human life is not about cuisine and clothing, life is more than food and raiment. We don't live to eat as life's purpose, or eat to live as food's purpose.



"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today" -The Bible (Matthew 6:3-4).

Disorder

The more conspicuous the stage, be it entertainment, politics, business, movies, religion, sports, or science, the more obvious our blind sidedness or obliviousness regarding the intentional life.


"For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind" -The Bible (James 3:16).

Memories

The best known faces will eventually reside in the memory of a few people, who themselves will eventually become memories, when the curtain of life falls on them.


"The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered." -The Bible (Ecclesiastes 9:5).

Building a life requires envisioning, planning, and implementation. Your life provides an immediate and astounding opportunity to build a powerful, beautiful, and worthwhile future.

"Anyone who listens to My teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock" - The Bible (Matthew 7:24).

The Great Deceiver

The most dangerous prison of all is the one you're told does not exist.

Since it is not scientifically verifiable, some cultures dismiss this prison as untrue. Yet other cultures find this prison to be very true. They have seen evidences all around them. Unpredictable evidences, but evidences for sure.

I refer to a prison which Satan constructs around human beings. Books speak about Satan in horror stories. Horror movies carry Satan as a regular theme.

Even though we attempt to dismiss Satan or belittle him, we can't.

Let me ask you. Do you sense Satan as your task master? Are doing what he wants you to do?

As you may know, Satan is the evil angel, the ultimate evil power of the universe, who stands against God in everything and every way. Satan attempts to thwart God's purposes in your life.

How do you counter such a foe? Contact me and we’ll learn how do defeat him together.

Boredom

Are you bored today? Do you lack interest in continuing your existence? You are in the prison of boredom, shackled by a lack of interest in life.

Boredom's prison is not necessarily meaninglessness. A person can be very active and still carry on a meaningless life. But a bored person is not an active person.

Boredom's prison is not necessarily despair. It can lead to it. But a lot of bored people are simply disinterested in life, without despairing about it. There is nothing to look forward to, nothing we desire.

It’s not living without purpose that is meaninglessness. It’s living without activity. It’s existing, not living. A bored man does not pursue a wrong cause. He has no cause. The engine is running, but life is in neutral. He goes forward or backward according to the slant or slope on the road. He stops when he crashes and stays there. He needs someone to pull him out.

I know the one who can pull you out.

Living Life

Yesterday, I saw a cartoon. "God has a set number of things that he wants us to do. But I am so far behind, that at this rate, I will never die."
The cartoonist was playing a joke with words and concepts. He felt he was unable to do all the things that God wanted him to do because there were a set number of things that he felt he had to do in this life. Since he was so busy and behind, there would be no way by which he could die, before he did his number of things. George Santayana, the Harvard philosopher, said, "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

I wish we knew the number of things we have to do. That is the unknown quantity. None of us is promised tomorrow. We don't know if we have already accomplished all the things we ought to do. Perhaps, we are already living in bonus time.

Success

It’s a temptation, it’s an intoxicant, it is a trap. It is a sedative, it is addictive. It is seductive and it is appealing. We don't normally look at it that way, but what begins an assumption becomes a right; what starts as an occupation, preoccupies us. It is the drug, the drink, the engine of open, stable economies.


I refer to success. Success; the all pervasive assumption and ability of contemporary modern men and women. We believe we have a right to it, whatever it is, at whatever cost. We never question its validity. If we do not experience success in one way, we will pursue success in another way. Success equals life. What is a life without success? Success is life, because success in life is life.

You ask a man on the street to define success. He would define it in terms of prestige, power, and possessions or in some combination of them.

Is success really what you need to be successful?

Forgiveness in Action

Years ago a young Korean exchange student left his flat and went to the corner to post a letter to his parents. Eleven leather-jacketed teenage boys attacked him. When the police found him in the gutter, he was dead. The district attorney of the city secured legal authority to try the boys as adults so that they could be given the death penalty. Then a letter arrived from Korea from the murdered boy's parents that made everyone stop and think.


It read in part:

"Our family has met together and we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible be given to those who have committed this criminal action. We have decided to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational, and social guidance of the boys when they are released. We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the gospel of God’s Son who died for our sins.”

Forgiveness is always the basis of horizontal forgiveness.

The Heart of Forgiveness

A small boy was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever.

At dinner that night the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water.

He looked at his father full plate of bounty, and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.

The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and plenty, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at this son.

When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life, I've know what God is like by what my father did that night.”

Now, you must access God's forgiveness. Indeed, if you receive his forgiveness, you will have the resources to forgive others.

God's Forgiveness

The truth is you need to be forgiven more by God, than your neighbor needs to be forgiven by you. You have committed more sins against God, than you neighbor has committed against you.

You see, your nature and my nature is sinful. We have done wrongs to prove our sinfulness. Even if we are good to a large extent, just a little sin in our souls, makes us fully unsafe. Like an ounce of poison in a bottle of potable water pollutes the whole drink, an ounce of sinfulness pollutes all my good deeds.


I need the forgiveness of God. You do as well.

Have you attempted to receive God's forgiveness and failed to do so? At least you are not sure that God has forgiven you. I have good news for you. It is possible to receive God's forgiveness and know it. How?

Forgiveness

Are you caught in the prison or illness of bitterness? Let's look at how you can gain release and freedom from this dastardly situation.

One, understand the value of forgiving others. I read a powerful statement. Listen carefully, "When I forgive another, I set a prisoner free; and then I discovered that the prisoner was me."

If your relationship has soured, the way to be released from the prison of bitterness is by forgiving, setting the other person free from your wrath, vengeance, and hatred.

When you forgive another, you will find that all along the prisoner was you. Not he. So, understand the value of forgiving others. For your own spiritual and mental health, you must forgive. There is value in forgiving another. There is value for your own life.

Two, you can't forgive horizontally, unless you have been forgiven vertically. Another way of saying it: unless you have received forgiveness from God, you wouldn't possess the resources or comprehend the dimensions of forgiving.