Designed to make a difference

Designed to make a difference
By Rick Warren, Baptist Press
You were put on earth to make a contribution. You weren't created just to eat, breathe and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. This is one of God's purposes for your life, and it's called your "ministry" or service.
The Bible says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" ( Ephesians 2:10 , NIV). You were placed on this planet for a special assignment.
The apostle John said, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death" ( 1John 3:14 , NIV). If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I'm only concerned about my needs, I should ask myself whether Jesus is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Another term for serving God-one that's misunderstood by most people-is the word ministry. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.
Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking, "Whose needs can I meet?"
Do you ever ask that question?
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and He is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.
At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: "I was too busy" or "I had my own goals" or "I was preoccupied with working."
To all excuses God will respond, "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?"
If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? Abraham was old, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was strange, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric, to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.
That's quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in His service. He will use you, too, if you let Him.