Daily Devotional – July 1, 2020

at a halfway point on more than one level right if you're watching at noon today so it's halfway through the day and this is

Wednesday or hump day get over today and the week is half over and well

June is history first day of July the first day of the second half of the year so the halfway point of 2020 is now has now been reached

I'm trying to figure out how I feel about that if this year is just flying by or if it's dragging by it seems like it's gone pretty quickly this first half of the year

I'm wondering if the second half is going to drag or if it's gonna be over before we know it

I I don't know I'll let you know in December how I feel about the second half of the year well anyway why are you here now

I don't mean why are you here listening to this broadcast today but why are you here why do you exist why are you on the planet many days

I listened to a little five -minute pep talk from a motivational speaker his name is

Darren Hardy and a week or so ago he did a series of broadcasts that he entitled how to live to a hundred plus how to live to a hundred be a hundred years old or more and he had six different ideas to to help you have a longer life to increase the longevity of your life although the way things are going these days

I'm not so sure that's a particularly desirable goal is it I yeah

I don't know well nevertheless normally it is a pretty desirable goal to have a long long productive life that is marked by happiness and so forth so anyway

Darren Hardy offered six important tips and all things that all things being equal would translate into a longer life one of those six items that he said is essential for longer living is a sense of purpose you've got to have a purpose for being here and he rightly pointed out that many people end up start they start declining in their health physically mentally and so forth pretty rapidly after they retire from their lifelong career it's like they completely lose their sense of purpose they don't they don't any longer understand you know why am

I here what's my purpose for getting up in the morning and so he rightly points out having a sense of purpose is absolutely critical which by the way points out that your sense of purpose cannot be tied exclusively to your to your job or your career you need a bigger more over art or overarching reason for for the for existence for being here so whether you know whether or not you want to live to be a hundred plus or just get through 2020 why are you here what's your purpose the old

Puritan Thomas Manton wrote this he said we were made for God it is the end of our creation

God made us for himself and man can never be happy without him now

Manton is expressing a truth that's found in many places in the Bible but succinctly stated in Romans chapter 11 verse 36 where Paul writes this he says for from the

Lord God and through him and to him are all things all right did you get that for from the

Lord and through the Lord and to the Lord are all things to him be glory forever so whether we know it or not

I believe that the single deepest root of modern man's state of unhappiness is his denial that we were even made in the first place that's that's a starting point isn't it

Paul says for from him are all things and and we

I'm talking about we as a culture as a society we have we have essentially dismissed that notion out of hand that we were not made by God so you take the you take the creation of man off the table and seriously we're left ultimately with meaninglessness no reason for existence our existence is just a matter of happenstance so why am

I here then if I'm just here by chance and by some evolutionary process and it just so happens that I happen to exist and something else didn't exist in my place then what's the purpose of it all and that the question then leaves a scrambling for some totally unsatisfactory answers like well you know something to the effect that well we're here we are here we exist in our lifetime to leave things better for those who follow us mm -hmm okay how's that working out how's that working out clearly there's so much more to this than can be covered in a few minutes in a middle -of -the -day broadcast on your on your

Wednesday there's just so much more that can be that can be said about this suffice it to say that the

Bible is replete with statements about being in a state of blessedness or happiness and they're all connected to a relationship with our

Creator discovering what he is like learning what he likes having our lives transformed accordingly in other words it's the

Bible encourages us to pursue the chief end of man what is that the basic purpose for our existence to glorify

God and enjoy him forever so why are you here ultimately you are here to glorify

God and to join enjoy him forever now you there may be a scores of other sub purposes in your life but they all have to tie back to that big overarching purpose for existence

I am here because God has placed me here and my whole purpose of life is to bring glory to him in whatever

I my hands find to do and in doing that to enjoy him forever so whatever other purpose you have in your life

I trust it's subordinate to and informed by that fundamental purpose glorify

God and enjoy him forever that I believe is a significant key to true happiness well

I hope that encourages you to give some thought to what you're doing and why you're doing it your purpose for existence your purpose for being here so as we close today let's pray that God will renew our sense of overarching purpose fundamental purpose foundational purpose for our existence our

Father and our God there are some listening today who are probably dealing with a great sense of unhappiness

I pray that as they consider why they're feeling so unhappy that they might also consider what purpose are they pursuing is their unhappiness tied exclusively to their discomfort and they can find no purpose greater than trying to be comfortable oh father

I pray give us give us the desire to pursue a life that ultimately sees itself to existing to glorify you and enjoying you forever and may that then inform every other purpose that we have in our day -to -day living this we pray in Jesus name and for his sake all right well have a good rest of your day today and I trust that you get over the hump today and you continue the slide into the second half of the week and the second half of the year that you will know

God's blessing you will know a sense of happiness because you're pursuing the right purpose good day