Day 3- What Drives Your Life?
Everyone’s life is driven by something…
This is how today’s chapter begins. It made me think. What really is the driving force in my life? What’s the driving force in your life?There can be negative driving forces that we have to look at. There are five driving forces that are a result of not having a purpose driven life as pointed out in todays chapter.
Guilt is one of them.
I remember a time in my life that it seemed as I was under a cloud of constant reminders of my past failures, missed opportunities, foolish spending of money, wrong stupid things that I’d say, and on and on and on… and.. the minute I thought I got past the old stuff, and was feeling good, there was something else that would come up….never quite “good enough… regret about the past is a hard taskmaster sometimes, because there is nothing you can do to change it.
Thank God we are reminded that these very failures, lost dreams, and the consequences we deal with for bad decisions, when viewed in the light of God’s purpose for our life, are actually stepping stones to greater things. As pointed out in the reading, though we are products of our past, we do not have to be prisoners of it…
Another driving force can be resentment.
This resonates with me. I don’t know about you, but for those of us who have had failed relationships in the past, this can hit home.
Going through the process of a failing relationship, the pain that is inflicted, the words that get said, the trust that is violated, the loss of the dream, is not one that we go through without some resentment, blame or anger. And it can be deep. We put the other person in a box and say “you did this to me, and I never want you to hurt me again…” We are reminded today, that those that have hurt us in the past cannot continue to hurt us now unless we hold on to the pain through resentment. There is purpose even in this when viewed in the light of God’s plan and thank God for His forgiveness and mercy!
Fear is another driving force, and this can be crippling for people. It is a self imposed prison though, and can be overcome when we see and believe the purpose of God in our lives.
Materialism… what a driving force this can be. If we only had __________ we’d be happier. Nicer home, more money in the bank, more security. This truly can be a huge motivating and driving force. The need for security is a very powerful driving force isn’t it? How many of us are a paycheck away from not being able to meet our bills and obligations. How many of us want more for our families, but the well seems to run dry? How many of us work so hard to get more things? It’s good to be reminded that self worth and net worth are not the same….
Our need for love and Approval also can drive us.
This is a big one. Worried about what others think and avoiding rejection. Boy, do we go out of our way (sometimes) to avoid the disapproval of others. I think many times we think this falls into the fear category, but the root really is a fear of the pain of disapproval. We all want to be loved, but we live in a world that has so much ridicule for everything. It’s brutal isn’t it? We try to look right, say the right things, be funny, fit in, all because we want to be approved of.
Today’s chapter made me think. I am grateful for learning to be able to let go of these negative driving forces in my life and have them replaced by knowing my purpose.
The benefits are pretty amazing.
Knowing our purpose gives meaning, focus, motivation to our lives, helping to simplify things and prepare us for eternity. I am interested in knowing what you think about these positive driving forces and how they are working in your life… leave a comment.
malia mckinney said:
Week 3’s reading is something I am still processing. I feel gently convicted by the question – who have you been serving? In my case, my greatest pitfall is the approval of others. I want to be liked, but even more so, want to be understood and respected. That ties dangerously close to a need to be right. Reading chapter 3 helped bring this character issue to light. One of the problems in change comes when you move away from the false idol (the approval of others) and bare your soul for God’s approval, it feels like loss – loss of past distractions, past reassurances, past security. But those things really were loss in the sense of Paul’s writing – compared to the prize of the upward calling in Christ Jesus. God always gives us wisdom when we ask. I trust him to work in me and change the desires of my heart for community with Him – so I can truly serve others in His name.