  Day 39: Balancing Your Life My Five Purposes: ~To love God through worship . ~To show love for others through ministry . ~To share God's love through evangelism . ~To identify with God's church through fellowship . ~To grow to maturity through discipleship . Keeping these five purposes in balance is not easy.
We tend to overemphasize the purposes we feel most passionate about and neglect the others. Churches do the same thing. How to Stay Balanced and On Track: ~Accountability with a small group or spiritual partner. ~Regular spiritual check-ups. Evaluate yourself periodically. ~Record progress in a personal journal.
~Pass on what you know to others. *We pass on what we learn because not only does God want us to live out his purposes, he also wants us to help others do the same. Question to Consider: Which of the four activities will I begin in order to stay on track and balance God's five purposes for my life? I have a small group, I'm always evaluating myself and I keep a journal (outside of my blog) so it would seem I need to work on passing on what I know. To some extent I did that when I taught youth, but evangelism is what we're talking about here and that is a weak area for me. I need to pray for two things.
Opportunities to share and the courage to act on them. Day 38: Becoming a World-class Christian You have a choice to make. Are you going to be a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian? Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved but self-centered. Their faith is about how can God make their lives more comfortable.
World-class Christians know they were saved to serve. They are excited about the privilege of being used by God. How to Think Like a World-class Christian: ~Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking. ~Shift from local thinking to global thinking. ~Shift from "here and now" thinking to eternal thinking. ~Shift from thinking of excuses to thinking of creative ways to fulfill your commission.
Question to Consider: What steps can I take to prepare to go on a short-term missions experience in the next year? Since I'm new to the church we're attending, I'm not very familiar with how things work. So, I guess the best first step for me would be to start asking around. I've been on two short-term mission trips and so has Tim. We both came away from those experiences knowing that we have a call to do that type of thing whenever possible. And while we are not sure we are called to it, seeing ourselves in the mission field for longer periods at some point is not a real stretch of our imaginations. 
