6 Guiding Principles for Living a Life of Purpose

The post title is a quote from Rick Warren's book - The Purpose Driven Life - which really articulates the importance of having a big picture to press on to. This ties in to my post from last week on pondering how we would want our lives summed up when it's all said and done.  Personally, I want to be remembered as "A man who enjoyed God, enjoyed His many blessings and helped others to do the same." That's the big picture for me.

“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, Wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay" - Habakkuk 2: 2-3

In verse 1 of that chapter, Habakkuk took a stand on the watch post to hear from God. It's clear that the big picture comes from seeking God. One key point from Rick's book is that "knowing purpose (the big picture) reduces stress, simplifies decisions, increases satisfaction and prepares us for eternity". We need guiding principles/core values to help simplify life decisions. These guiding principles are a natural outflow of the big picture.

I see having guiding principles as having a cheat sheet for life, not a replacement for God's word or dependence on the Holy Spirit, but rather a lens for making decisions.

To make this more concrete, here are the guiding principles for my family:

• C - Every member of the family is CRUCIAL
• H - Live in dependence and reliance of the HOLY SPIRIT
• O - Remain OUTWARD focused
• O - Live OPENHANDED to God and man
• S - Seek to STRENGTHEN those around me
• E - Take time to ENJOY God's blessings

As you can see, beyond having a mnemonic to help me remember these principles, I have a framework on which I can decide the important things to invest my time, money, talent, and resources on. Do you have such a 'Christ-centric' framework on which you determine what you say yes or no to? Are you able to articulate your core values and guiding principles if someone asked you today?Maybe it's time to spend time on our watch post like Habakkuk and see what God has to say … Whatever it is, don't forget to write it down.