Aspiring for Greatness

Do we aspire?  That’s a question I’ve been spending some time on lately.  Like most kids, I have my five hundred dream careers and things I wanted to do when I was older.  Among them was being a CIA agent, which I think it’s safe to say I’ve given up all hope of (not that I would still want to do that anyway), and my focus has changed pretty drastically.  Unfortunately, though, it seems to me that as people get older, it isn’t just that their focus changes (as is natural and right as you gain more knowledge), but instead they lose it entirely.  They no longer have aspirations and they no longer have dreams.  For some reason people seem to be content to live out a normal life and be normal people with normal jobs.  The problem with that is that we aren’t normal.  Now before you get insulted, let me assure you that I’m not saying you’re a martian or need special education, but I am saying that we are all unique and should all strive to use our talents and gifts to the best of our ability.  Now comes the kicker.  What should our aspirations be?

Some of you might be reading this and saying “well, I should aspire for something I want to do!  Duh!”  Simmer down, Johnny Blaze.  First of all, I’m assuming that you realize it’s important to have ambitions and have a goal to be living towards.  If that’s not obvious to you, the rest of this post will be pretty boring to you.  Sorry.  Anyway, there’s a lot of things I could be striving for, but to be honest, just going after whatever I feel like pursuing on a whim sounds kind of shallow, don’t you think?  Think of the most selfish person you know.  Do you like that person?  Is he or she happy?  I suspect they probably are not (read that with a hint of sarcasm, if you may).  On that note, pursuing self-focused ambitions reminds me a lot of Alexander the Great.  That was one ambitious dude.  He wanted nothing more than to conquer all the nations that he could.  He was good at it, too.  But in the end, his ambition led to his army finally refusing to follow him and he died at the age of 32.  Not my idea of a fun time.

I could stop there.  But then all the good I would do is ruin the day of everyone who reads this and send some into day-long depression, maybe incur a couple lawsuits, and I don’t want to do that. Lawsuits aren’t fun.  So.  Consider this: who better to use my talents for than for the one whom I owe everyone to?  I remember being in a Bible class once when our teacher, namely Rich Gant, encouraged us to find a life mission statement.  I can think of no better life mission statement than what Paul says in Philippians 1.20: “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”  Here’s what I’m getting at: I want to do stuff for God.  I don’t want to sit around and be comfortable, I want to get out there and do things that make a difference in the service of God.  I want to use the strengths and talents He has given me in order to do that.  I hope you will do the same.  We’ve got too many Christians sitting on the sidelines content to live reserved and private lives.  It’s time to get out there and make a difference.  Are you with me?