Purpose Driven Pricetag

I have been reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. "Living a purpose-driven life" is Warren short-hand for living your life for the glory of God. This is my third reading and I would still retain this on my short list of books everyone should read. Pastor Warren has a marvelous gift for capturing truth in simple, memorable language. Many sentences rise to the level of proverbs for their pithiness.

Although chock-full of terse wisdom, there are some pages missing. One of those places is in chapter three, particularly pages 30-35. This is the section where Rick explains the "five great benefits of living a purpose-driven life."

1. It gives meaning to your life.
2. It simplifies your life.
3. It focuses your life.
4. It motivates your life.
5. It prepares you for eternity.

Let's take a cue from Paul Harvey and hear "the rest of the story." I am not taking away from what Warren has said, simply highlighting what he hasn't said that I think you NEED TO KNOW. Warren's five are all positives. Where are the negatives? Living for God's glory can be costly. And I don't think we do anyone a service unless we compare the benefits with the costs.

Jesus plainly talked about the cost! He declared, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it” (Luke 14:27-28). Jesus did not just highlight the advantages of being His disciple and then hide the implications. He stated the matter plainly and asked men to make an honest assessment of their willingness to embrace those costs. He wants men to decide that it is "worth it" to live for Him. So let's add to Warren's list of benefits a companion list of the disadvantages of purpose-driven living.

Here's my list of three significant costs to purpose driven living. (There are probably some more, these are three that immediately came to mind.)

1. It increases your inner struggle.
2. It provokes opposition from others.
3. It leads to exhaustion.
   

First, "living your life for the glory of God" (or alternatively, living for Jesus) can increase personal stress. Living for yourself is not that complicated. When self desires - do what self wants - easy-peasy. But when you add "pleasing God" to the equation, you have complicated your life. Now you must figure out what someone else wants (God), discern where your personal desires are at odds with what God wants, and then do what is required. You can thus find yourself caught in some sort of schizophrenic tug-of-war, opposing the things your inner man desires.

No wonder Paul calls living for Jesus a "faith-fight" (1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12, 2 Tim. 4:7) and a struggle against dark forces (Eph. 6:12). His words drip with both agony and ardor in Romans 7:14-25 where his soul gasps for a reprieve from the spiritual warfare being waged within. Living a purpose-driven life introduces a whole new level of challenge to the inner man. Let's not kid anyone about the reality and intensity of this inner struggle.

Second, living for Jesus also makes some relationships pure misery. Jesus made this fact and the reason for it clear when He declared, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:19). To live for Jesus is to declare the bankruptcy of living on the world's terms. And that does not sit well with some. Know this - there will be recrimination and reprisals directed at those who live for Jesus. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

Third, purpose-driven living alters the experience of time's passage. This is, for me, one of the most profound costs. When we decide to live for Jesus, we enter into a race against time. We are instructed to make the most of opportunities (Col. 4:5); make the most of our time (Eph. 5:16); number our days (Ps. 90:12). The window of opportunity to win those do not know Jesus will close when we die, so our love for Jesus drives us in ministry to others. Ours is not a dilemma of choosing between something good and something bad. It is the exhaustion that attends choosing to do every possible good while there is still time. This is purpose driven exhaustion.

Don't hear me discouraging anyone from living for Jesus. Quite the contrary, I think that living for Jesus is the highest and best use of a man's life. I say this not because living for Him is all benefit and no cost. I say this because the costs, great as they are, are transcended by the value of knowing and serving Him. I am not alone in this opinion. The Apostle Paul was no stranger to the costs of living for Jesus. Even so he reckons this: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18). Do I hear an "Amen?"

Comments

[ms]

The whole world is groaning - and I am no exception. Come, Lord Jesus. But first, let me see my son come to you. Let me hear his wife praise your name. And please let me finish my work with Mike and Ursula and Geoffrey and Julia and Mark. Just ignore my groaning until they acknowledge you as Savior.

[Austin]

You think exhaustion is really the word for the third point? I'm just having trouble reconciling that concept with the idea that "you shall run and not grow weary."

I mean, I certainly won't argue that the Christian walk is described as a race, a "body-buffeting" experience. When prosecuted with ardor and abandon, I can't think of a more demanding lifestyle. Certainly the fatigue is extreme. Paul certainly experienced a litany of truly brutal experiences--of things that would take me well past what I think are my limits.

But, does living for Christ really lead, ultimately, to "exhaustion?" Maybe in the here and now...but I have a hard time reconciling that idea with belief in a God of rest.

[James Fleming]

Austin,

Yes, I think "exhaustion" is a pretty good word, although I am open to suggestions. Perhaps I didn't make this clear, but it should be: All three "cost" factors are temporal. They will not attend life in eternity, which is Paul's point in Rom. 8:18. While we experience exhaustion (or internal struggles or persecution) HERE AND NOW and for the cause of Christ, this cost is unworthy to be compared with the benefits to be enjoyed in eternity. WE WILL experience true rest someday that will make EARTHLY ardor and exhaustion more than worth it.

This faith statement frames the choice that all men face. I have made my choice - make the most of my time NOW for Jesus - enjoy true rest in eternity. Others choose to take their rest now, to live for their own amusement and pleasure - there is no rest in their future.

I should probably add one more clarification. Jesus does seem to offer to us a "rest" that isn't JUST eternal. It seems to be a quality of life that has its point of origin in the here and now and extends into eternity - Matt. 11:28-30. I take it that living for Jesus can produce "rest for your soul" here and now, even though we can also be fatigued in His service. Perhaps it is something akin to the exhaustion I have felt after a major concrete pour - I am at peace but totally spent.