As a leader, I am often inundated by Christian leadership books and essays on goal setting, life planning and dream setting (having a bucket list of what I hope to do before I die).
Bucket lists can be idolatrous, however—things that end up directing us instead of God. Idols are incredibly dangerous because they reshape the entirety of lives.
I have a friend Keith who followed God into some of the poorest places in the world by putting on hold education, business ventures and even involvement with the US Rugby team.
What if Keith was guided by the thought, “I want to see Rome, climb the Himalayas, drive a motorcycle down Route 66 and retire to a lake home in Wyoming before I die”?
Would he have ended up running a relief and development organization years later helping millions of people in poverty? Would he have an adopted daughter God brought into the life of his family while ministering overseas?
Sometimes dreams or overly defined life goals can get in the way of God’s plans. Certainly, God can use goals, and often does, but we always have to hold them in loose hands recognizing that God could want us to head a different direction, or stop short of reaching a goal, or do something that would make all of our dreams and all of our goals unattainable because of how God chooses to use us.
Faith seeks. Faith serves. Faith questions. Faith hopes. Faith believes. But, I believe in Christian discipleship that faith doesn’t fantasize—it follows.
