has a Great Purposefor Your Life

God

LOVE SOME ONE TODAY: Lesson 1

One-to-One Discipleship for Catholics by Bo Sanchez

When I was a kid, we had a huge old black and white TV. If you’re my age, you’ve seen these things: It was encased in wood, had four legs and a sliding door. And if you turned it on, you could prepare yourself a snack in the kitchen before the image comes on. First, you see a white dot appear at the middle of the screen, and then you wait for two whole minutes until you see anything else. But our TV was so old, it was ready for the dumpsite. It conked out on us more times than we were able to use it.

One day, everyone in the house was excited whenDad came from abroad bringing home a brand-new colored TV set. Naturally, no one paid too much attention to Dadas everyone’s eyes were glued to what he was carrying.We opened the carton, pulled it out, plugged it andpaid homage to the beauty in front of us.But then the unthinkable happened.

White smoke began to rise up from behind the colored TV And then weheard a loud “poof”! Right before our eyes, it exploded.

One of us (to this day we don’t know who) plugged the TV set to a 220-volt outlet, without realizing that the TV was 110 volts.

LESSON?WE CAN’T VIOLATE THE

MANUFACTURER’S DESIGN

Yes, even our own souls.

I believe God has a sacred purpose for your life. There is a great purpose why you were born in this planet.

Some of you already know what this purpose is. When you don’t fulfill that purpose, you’re like a 110-volt TV set plugging yourself to a 220-volt outlet. You destroy yourself.

That’s why many people are still looking for happiness and inner peace in life.

I believe your most important purpose is to be one with God — because from your oneness with God, you’ll be able to share

His love to the world through the gifts and talents He has given you.

Mark 12:30“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

It’s all about love. This is your purpose.

Loving God with Your All

Question: Do you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?

It’s a tall order. I meet people who tell me, “Bo, I’m basically a good person. I don’t kill people, I don’t steal and I don’t cheat. I guess I'm OK, right?”

That’s not the point. Here’s the

main question: Are you fulfilling your sacred purpose in life? God created you because He

wants you to be in a love relationship

with Him.

Ephesians 1:4-5Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us his sons — this was His pleasure and purpose.

And this unity with God starts now, while you’re on planet earth. That’s why within each of us is a God-shaped vacuum. Nothing can fill that empty place in our heart except God’s Love.

God made you so He could love you. He wants you to be in a personal relationship with Him, and He wants to make this relationship with you an eternal relationship — to be with Him in heaven forever.

And this love that you receive will overflow to others...

The most miserable people in the world are selfish people. Because they’re not fulfilling God’s design for their lives. We were made to love and when we don’t love, we condemn ourselves to never reach our fullest potential as human beings.

Loving God with Your All

You cannot give what you don’t have. Your heart is a love tank and you cannot give love if you haven’t

received love. Many marriages and relationships are

broken today because manypeople’s love tanks are

empty.

But how can we overcome our selfishness and be happy?

Fill up your love tank. As you receive God’s love into your life, you’ll be able to love others.

John 13:34But I am giving you a new command. You must love

each other, just as I have loved you.

Can loving others be the reason why you’ll wake up in the morning? YES.

As you grow in your relationship with God, you’ll learn how to love others.

Friend, fulfill the great purpose of your life.

Application:

Take steps to deepen your relationship with God. This discipleship program

will help you do that.

Do you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength? What must

you do to fulfill this first andgreatest commandment?

Do you love others the way God loves you? Make this the reason for waking

up in the morning.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank You that You created me for a sacred

purpose. I thank You that You want me to be in a

personal relationship with You. I say yes to You, Lord. Open my heart to receive

Your love today. Today, I take this journey of getting

to know You more and growing in my relationship

with You. I want to love others the way You love me,

in Jesus’ name. Amen.One-to-One Discipleship for Catholics by Bo Sanchez