By Samuel Rodriguez
Think about the kind of week you’re having. Day to day, as you go from home to work or school and back home again, what drives you? What gets you out of bed in the morning and causes you to greet the day with joy instead of dread?
The Japanese have a word, ikigai, that captures this sense of drive we all have inside us. Roughly translated as “the happiness of constant busyness,” ikigai reflects your awareness of your life’s purpose as well as how you go about fulfilling it.
Do you know your God-given purpose? Is it really what drives you most days? Or is it something else—making more money, pleasing your boss, achieving that promotion? We are all driven people, but when push comes to shove, not all of us are driven by our faith.
When the storm begins to churn around you, when the police call in the middle of the night or the accidental email gets sent, when the account is overdrawn or the friendly smile becomes seductive, your faith will be tested.
In those moments you will be driven either by drama or by destiny.
When the storm breaks in your life, you will be driven by either
- the past or the future
- the pathetic or the prophetic
- problems or promises
- nightmares or dreams
- the flesh or the Spirit
- Google searches or godly churches
- the drama of the storm or God’s destiny for your life
Notice that destiny and destination share the same origin, coming from the Latin destinare, meaning to bind or intend or determine. Basically, they both refer to the direction of your life and how you’re traveling along the way.
For instance, are you driven by the praise of others? Or by the criticism of others? Neither should influence your life’s direction or how you respond in a storm. If others’ praise didn’t make you, their criticism cannot break you!
Never let your problems drive your direction. Don’t let your crisis become your compass. We have too many Christians who continue to be driven by personal drama rather than godly destiny.
Too many who spend more time reacting to what comes from hell rather than what comes from heaven and to what people say about them rather than what God did for them.
Do not be driven by what you see; be driven by what God said.
Do not be driven by past mistakes; be driven by future miracles.
Do not be driven by feelings; be driven by faith.
Do not be driven by being a victim; be driven by being victorious.
Let all you are and all you do be driven by the Spirit of God, “for those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Romans 8:14).
In Christ, nothing in your battered past has the power to hold back your beautiful future!
SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ (@nhclc) is the pastor of New Season Christian Worship Center and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
Excerpted from Shake Free Copyright © 2018 by Samuel Rodriguez. Used with permission of WaterBrook, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
