Whenever God asks me to do something or chase after a dream or goal he’s given me, I don’t always commit right away. Sometimes I’ll question, make excuses or flat out say no. However, I always come around (God can be very persuasive) and once I commit, I’m all in.
I’ve learned in pursuing God’s plans for my life that it’s good to run hard after them. But more than once I found myself running hard – so hard and so fast that I thought I was doing an amazing job chasing these dreams God had given me. But when I finally stopped and looked around, I realized I wasn’t actually running as fast or as well as I thought. I was actually going nowhere fast and sometimes even headed the wrong direction!
For the longest time, this would frustrate – almost to the point of quitting. I thought if I put forth the effort and pursued what God was asking me to do then everything should work out basically on it’s own. Then I realized that chasing the goals God has given me is not where my focus needs to be. My relationship with God is where I need to focus first. God doesn’t give me these dreams or ask me to pursue these goals because he needs me to accomplish them for him. So why does he bother asking me to do something he could do much more efficiently and effectively himself?
When I was younger, I obeyed God’s plans he laid out for me just to check them off a mental list and be able to say I did what God asked me to do. But then I began to notice that after I accomplished the tasks God had given me, I would feel satisfaction from finishing yes but I always learned something new about God, myself as a child of God and often my relationship with him was strengthened – usually from the times I had to ask for his help because when I thought I was running, I was actually walking, flailing or even on the verge of passing out. (I’ve gotten better at asking God for help instead of waiting til the last minute) Our relationship with God is what matters and when that is growing, everything else falls into place (or at least perspective).
And so the past few years, when God has asked me to do things, I’ve been making a concious effort to pursue my relationship with God first and his goals for me second. It’s not always easy. But now that I put my relationship with God first, our relationship doesn’t grow only when I ask for help but all the time – because I’m constantly seeking him. The dreams he is giving me keep growing as well – to the point where some people think I’m a little crazy. But I am. So that works out.
I’ve also noticed I reach the goals God has set out for me with less mess along the way and everything just lines up better. I don’t always reach them quickly or as fast as I want but when I look back, instead of seeing a path of chaos and destruction that I’ve left behind, I see a clear path where God was showing me which way to go. Turns out, I didn’t have to be a trail blazer. God did that. I just had to follow in the path he made for me. I was able to follow his better & less harmful path because I was focused on him rather than the vision he had given me and was able to hear him as I was running after his goals.
Without fail, every time I pursue God first and goals second, the goals always turn out better than I could have imagined! And he always follows it up with an even bigger dream for me to chase next. But when I pursue dreams without keeping my relationship with God a priority, the chase, the dream, my life will always turn out better in my head.