Building an Intentional Life: Start NowPavyzdys

If a no-purpose life leads us to death, a small-purpose life may keep us from death. But a strong-purpose life energizes our existence.

Strong purposes move us beyond what is temporary to what is truly valuable. For example, strong purposes shift the focus of our efforts from:

- Things to people

- Self-centeredness to other-centeredness

- Appearances to realities

- Temporal to long-term results

- Pragmatism to love, truth, duty and beauty

- Immediacy to ultimacy

Strong purposes are worth living for—intentionally, meaningfully, freely, joyfully. The move beyond and away from small to strong purposes brings several advantages.

Strong purposes provide inspiration and motivation, wrapping themselves around goals, work and tasks. In doing so, they prevent boredom and bring accomplishment. They also provide the means to achieve great satisfaction in life. Finally, strong purposes give us direction and show us our destination.

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

But many worthwhile, solid purposes compete with each other for our limited resources of time, energy and money. We need to recognize our supreme purpose, the foundation on which we will build the rest of our lives.

Fortunately, our supreme purpose is not a mystery but has been given to us through divine revelation. We are to love God and pursue His glory in whatever we do.

Does everything in your life work toward this supreme purpose?