One morning, our children asked me to make blueberry muffins. I bought a box of mix, read the instructions, and put the completed ingredients in the oven. After the timer went off, I opened the oven. And to my chagrin, the tops of the muffins were burnt! What went wrong? I did not follow the basic instructions. Instead of baking the muffins, I broiled them.
When it comes to living life to the fullest, do we follow God’s basic instructions contained in the Bible? In fact, a great acronym for the Bible is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
What are these basic instructions? They are God’s Five Purposes and God’s Five Calls, which I discuss on pages 26-35 in my book titled Created For Greatness—Living Your Best Life Through God’s Word.
God’s Five Purposes:
- The Great Commandment: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).
- A Similar Commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39).
- The New Commandment: Love others as Christ loved you (Matthew 13:34).
- The Great Commission: Go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).
- The Cultural Mandate: Tend to your family and work (Genesis 1:28; 1 Timothy 5:8).
God’s Five Calls:
- Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
- Keep your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).
- Think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).
- Walk with God, do justice, love kindness, lead a life that pleases God, and get to know Him better (Micah 6:8; Colossians 1:10).
- Live a holy life in all of your conduct (1 Peter 1:15).