January 6- Putting The Pieces Together

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” Jeremiah 1:5a

Purpose-Driven Life Author, Rick Warren, is famously quoted in the lead words of his best-selling book when he writes: “It’s not about you.  The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness.  It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.  If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God.”  (Rick Warren- Purpose Driven Life, pg. 17-18)

He is the key puzzle piece, the cornerstone and the hinge-pin all rolled into one.  Without Him, our beginning and ending simply don’t make sense. 

Author Dennis Rainey tells about an exercise he leads each year with his sixth grade Sunday School class. He divides the class into three groups.  These groups then compete in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. As these 12-year-olds scatter into three circles on the floor, he explains that there is only one rule in the competition. They were to put together the puzzle without talking. The contents of puzzle number one are deposited on the floor. 

Group One immediately goes to work. The group promptly sets up the box top that depicts the picture of the puzzle it is completing. 

Then Dennis Rainey moves to Group Two. In group two, he dumps the pieces of a second puzzle on the floor and quickly gives the group a box top.
What the group doesn't know is that the box top is for another puzzle!  They are off working.

Then Group Three is given the same puzzle pieces, but it doesn't receive a box top.  Usually the kids in the group start to protest, but Rainey quickly reminds them there is to be no talking! 

He watches their responses.

Group One is somewhat frustrated by not being allowed to talk, but it still makes steady progress.

Group Two keeps trying to use the picture, but nothing seems to work. And since the kids in the group can't say anything, their frustration level soars. The group members look at their teacher with pleading eyes. Soon, he sees that misleading  box top go flying out of the group across the room!

Group Three is interesting. Because the kids have nothing to guide them, they do their own thing. The kids give up and just lie on the floor. 

Dennis Rainey asks, "Am I a cruel teacher? No, there is a point that I make that day. Life, marriages and families are like the pieces of the puzzle. The pieces are all there for us, but something is needed to help us bring order out of chaos."

The same is true when it comes to purpose…life only makes sense when we find our purpose in God.  Solomon, the wisest and richest of men, found life vacuously unfulfilled when He tried to fill His life without God.  Make sure your year is filled with Him.

Terry Risser

Questions:

1)    Is God central, peripheral or non-existence in your life right now?

2)    What steps will bring Him back to the center of your Universe?

Copyright- Terry Risser