I am many things, but most of those things are simply roles that I play and not who I am. Among other things, I am a student, photographer, friend and a Christian. Yet, these roles are mere images of the things that drive me. I have a yearning for knowledge, therefore I am a student. I love to capture moments of time, therefore I am a photographer. I love making people smile and be comfortable with who they are, therefore I am a friend. I have a consuming love for Christ and I have been washed clean by his mercy, therefore I am a Christian.
Sometimes my need to achieve gets in the way of who I am and who I want to be. I get involved in more things than I can handle, just to have a challenge. Then I lose track of friends and the things going on in their lives that they need someone to be there for them. I get caught up in learning how to minister through book knowledge and I forget how to minister through people knowledge. Lately when people ask me about what I am going to do after I graduate I give an automatic answer. Yet inside I have a gnawing voice telling me that I do not have a clue. I get scared. I have a crippling fear of failure. This fear is caused by the fact that everything I am being taught is mere theory and not reality.
Where is the line in between theory and reality? As students we are being taught the things that we will need to know when we get out into the real world, but we are not in the real world. Some students study until their hair falls out, others skate through their classes and still others do not even care. What is the point? How often do we stop and ask ourselves is this who we are? Am I achieving simply to say I did something, or am I actually reaching a goal?
“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
- Philippians 3:12-14
“Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord – you serve the Lord Christ.”
- Colossians 3:23-24
These verses demonstrate how we should act towards every goal. Instead of trying to achieve for ourselves we should be trying to achieve the goal that God has placed for us.
Ultimately there is one purpose in living life and that is to glorify God by being the people he created us to be and love and minister to those around us. Yet too often people get caught up in achieving purposes that they set for themselves and they forgot about the opportunity to minister and love the people that God places in their lives.
Here is the challenge for all reading this and myself. Get out of the mood of achieving for ourselves and take the time to minister to those around us. Even if the most we can do is stop and ask a friend how they are doing, genuinely mean it and listen to them when they need someone to talk to.
Ultimately there is one purpose in living life and that is to glorify God by being the people he created us to be and love and minister to those around us. Yet too often people get caught up in achieving purposes that they set for themselves and they forgot about the opportunity to minister and love the people that God places in their lives.
Here is the challenge for all reading this and myself. Get out of the mood of achieving for ourselves and take the time to minister to those around us. Even if the most we can do is stop and ask a friend how they are doing, genuinely mean it and listen to them when they need someone to talk to.
