Recently I had a conversation with someone who was questioning all the “hype” (her word) about setting goals, accomplishing more and pursuing our dreams and passions. They were genuinely feeling pressure to achieve more and more and the pressure was actually causing them anxiety and stress. Finally, they asked me, “Shouldn’t we just be content with our lives? Doesn’t the Bible even say, that godliness with contentment, is real wealth?”
Why all this attention on pursuing our dreams, goals and passions? This is a great question. And perhaps I’ll address the question of contentment in a future post. Today however, I’d like to look at 3 reasons why we ought to pursue our dreams, desires and passions.
- Our desires come from God (at least they can)
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When I was young I thought this verse meant that God would simply give me what I wanted. But it means so much more than that. If we want to discover our passions, our dreams and purpose in life, then we must begin with a relationship with God. As we experience Him, the things we begin to want to do, the things that excite us, the things that we feel drawn to and the things we want to accomplish are actually things God plants in our hearts. They come from Him.
What do you dream about?
If you could do anything at all with your life, what would it be?
Where do you think the answers to those questions come from?
“The more we delight in a relationship with God, the clearer we will become on discovering our purpose.”
2. God has stuff for us to do
Last week we looked a Proverb that encouraged parents to raise their children and guide them according to their (the child’s) bent. The way God has created them; their personalities, their talents, their abilities and aspirations.
This process doesn’t end when the child leaves home. It’s a lifelong pursuit.
In Ephesians 4:10, the writer says ,“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us new in Christ Jesus so we can do good things He has planned for us long ago.”
How cool is that? Imagine this for a moment. God decided way before you were ever born, specific things for you to do. Good things. Things that matter. If that is true, then wouldn’t be important for us to discover what they are?
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you discover why.” Mark Twain
3. The world needs what you have to offer
Living our dreams or pursuing our passion may be common themes today, but how common is it for people to actually live them out?
Our desires, passions and purpose are not things to be kept quiet. They are meant to be lived out; to impact others. Maybe not the entire world, but certainly in your world.
Love is the driving force. Love for God and love for others.
The Bible tells us that what matters most is to love God and love others. When we love God, we discover our desires. When we love others, we impact them with our personalities, talents and particular bent. After all, isn’t love, doing what’s in the best interest of another person? Well, what’s in the best interest of others is you being the person God has created, designed and planned for you to be.
No one else has the job of being you.
What are your desires today? Where do they come from?
If there was 1 area in your life (relationship, career, health etc) you’d like to change, what would it be?
If you couldn’t fail, what new goals would you pursue?
How can your personality, talents, desires and passions impact others? Your family, your friends, your co-workers?
Action Step:
Share your answers to the questions above with someone you trust then talk about their reactions and feedback.
[…] In an earlier post I shared 3 reasons why we should pursue our dreams you can read about them here. […]