Category Archives: Dreams and Goals

Posted on

Why Your Dreams Come True is Actually a Temporary Fix

Life is still just life, no matter where you are.

Okay, so it finally happened. What you’ve waited on for years. Maybe you got the dream job. Better salary. More responsibility. Better fit. Flexible hours. Your dreams come true! But wait.

Why Your Dreams Come True is Actually a Temporary Fix

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

Only after taking the job do you discover that more responsibility means you’re managing people, and people bring challenges. Flexible hours mean you never feel like you’re working enough. And along with that salary come more expenses.

Why is it when our dreams come true, it’s a lot like before?

There’s a good reason.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

The Jordan River—Your Place of Transition

What served as a border also represents a bridge to your new life.

Other rivers have more beauty. Many are much longer. Most are far cleaner. But no river has garnered as much affection as the Jordan River. There’s a good reason.

The Jordan River—A Place of Transition

(Photo: The Jordan River, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

It wasn’t the beauty of the Jordan River that inspired centuries of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to include it in their verses.

Its significance began as a simple geographic barrier, which—practically speaking—represented a border (Joshua 22:18-25). In fact, the serpentine river still represents a border between Israel and the nation of Jordan.

But in Scripture, the Jordan River’s presence on Israel’s eastern edge stood as an enduring metaphor of transitions.

These transitions point directly to your life as well.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

Follow Your Heart (And Why That’s a Really Bad Idea)

The world's mantra isn't telling you everything.

It’s the mantra of today. It’s the moral lesson of most movies. It’s the guiding light of many lives: “Follow your heart!” After all, it sounds so right, doesn’t it?

Follow Your Heart

“Follow your heart” is another way of following your feelings. Even as Christians, our feelings often lead us, don’t they?

  • “I don’t feel good about this.”
  • “Am I comfortable with this direction?”
  • “I don’t have a peace about this decision.”

Following your heart is a popular, but unwise, way to make decisions.

Although our feelings are real, they may not represent reality. And even if what we feel does have some connection to reality, it is never all of reality.

God offers a better way.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

God gives two questions to answer and two courses to follow.

Growing up in a godly home is no guarantee you’ll follow God. You can live better than your parents did. Or you can live worse. It’s true. But it’s also true that a godless home doesn’t doom you to a failed life.

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

One man told me had as his goal to be a better father than his father was to him. And he did it. But then he realized that wasn’t enough.

Being better than your parents is doable, sure, but it’s the wrong goal.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

The life we seek isn't found by avoiding pain. It comes another way.

The path of least resistance is a fact of nature. Rivers always flow around a mountain rather than through it. Electricity always moves through a circuit’s “easiest” route. Human nature is no different. Unfortunately.

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

We tend to do that which is easiest, often to the neglect of that which is best.

  • It’s easier to read a magazine than to read your Bible.
  • It’s easier to sit in front of the TV than to spend time with your kids.
  • It’s easier to lose your temper with your spouse than to control it.

Following the path of least resistance can become a habit that guides our lives. We make choices based on what is easiest, most pleasant, or least painful.

But God has a better plan for you.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

How Jesus Took Life in the Fast Lane in Stride

The One Thing Jesus Did to Change Activity to Efficiency

Is this true of you? Whenever I find myself with a free moment, I feel compelled to fill it with something productive. Because I hate to waste time, I fill it with activity and justify it as productivity.

How Jesus Took Life in the Fast Lane in Stride

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

But I’m learning that constant movement doesn’t always represent efficiency. It could, moreover, represent just the opposite.

As with every other part of the human experience, Jesus remains our model of efficiency. But His life—even before the cross—was no easy walk:

  • The demands on Him were constant.
  • The needs He faced were overwhelming.
  • The expectations He encountered were unrealistic.

No person was ever more qualified to do it all, and yet Jesus took life in the fast lane in stride.

What was His secret?

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

How to Face the Future without Fear

God gives only one way to make it happen.

My favorite New Years Eve happened before the infamous Y2K. I pulled a practical joke that made the people in my grandmother’s house believe their fears about the future were true.

How to Face the Future without Fear

(Picture: By Flickr user: 29cm CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

My relatives had gathered to watch the televised countdown at New York City’s Times Square. Midnight hit America first on the east coast, so all eyes waited to see what would happen at midnight.

  • Would all power go dark in America?
  • Would computers suddenly stop working?
  • Should we stockpile more food?

While no one was looking, I snuck outside and found the breaker box to my grandmother’s house.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

What if Your Busy Life Isn’t Productive?

How to bear fruit for God in a world of distraction.

My old car had a funny way of handling the cold. I would turn on the headlights, heat, rear defrost, and the radio. All was fine until I turned on my blinker. When I did, the radio blinked off and on.

What if Your Busy Life is not Productive

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com)

The small drain from the blinker was more than the power source could handle. Many mornings I feel like my old car. Every ounce of energy is already being used, and if even one small additional drain is required from me, the overload starts shutting down my system.

We’ve all been there. A busy life means little margin—and often, little productivity. No fruit for God.

Jesus told a story once about our busy lives—and the way to bear fruit to God.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

What You Must Have Before You’ll Have Success

Jesus spoke words of encouragement for moments just like these.

Most of us Christians have experienced those incredible moments of intimacy with God when we have no yearning for any earthly success, much less for sin. Christ becomes our entire desire.

What You Must Have Before You'll Have Success

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com)

In those times, we make impassioned commitments of absolute dedication. We really believe we have turned a corner in our spiritual lives.

But for some reason . . . it doesn’t last.

Click to continue reading »

Posted on

The Secret to Getting What You Want Out of Life

Wouldn’t it be nice if road signs told us more than simply which way to turn? Just once I’d love to see a sign that reads: “THIS ISN’T THE ROAD TO GETTING WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE.”

The Secret to Getting What You Want Out of Life

(Photo: By Simon Waelti. Courtesy of Unsplash.com)

If we had such a sign—and we believed it true—we’d immediately stop and turn around.

The Word of God gives us that sign. It tells us the results of a certain path. But it also gives us other directions.

It tells you the secret to getting what you want out of life.

Click to continue reading »