What’s my agenda?

I was reading an article called “Faithful Presence” in the May edition of Christianity Today. It inspired me to ask myself… “What’s my agenda?” Is my goal to “get people saved”? Is it to “help people grow closer to God/Jesus”? Is it “to make it through the day”? Is it to “make the world a better place”? While all of these are great thoughts, I think I have been both making things too hard on myself, and also being too narrow-minded.

In the sermon yesterday, the pastor talked about practicing faith, instead of just planning to do great works when they come along. It is impossible to swim a lap without practicing your swimming. It is hard to run more than a few yards without building up your stamina. You can’t perform in a play by standing onstage the moment you get the script. Who would want a doctor coming near them who hasn’t finished all his schooling, and worked with the benefit of an older doctor’s knowledge? Why do we think that we, as Christians, should be able to be perfect Christians without the benefit of practice? God can do great things through anyone at anytime… but if we haven’t been listening to him and, dare I say, practicing the presence of God, how will we recognize his voice?

I think that the ultimate agenda is to “love God with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my strength, and my neighbor as myself.” This is both impossible and beautiful. The article that I was reading recommends that the agenda should be “an expression of a desire to honor the creator of all goodness, beauty, and truth, a manifestation of our loving obedience to God, and a fulfillment of God’s command to love our neighbor.” If your goal is to honor God, all of the other smaller agendas fall into place. The world will be a better place. People will be saved when Jesus is shared and neighbors love each other instead of stepping on each other to get higher up (and closer to God?) If my goal is to live for God, then my example will help people to grow closer to Him… not because of me, but because of Him. And if I am looking to Him, it will be infinitely easier to make it through the day.

I sometimes find my spirit divided. Not because of temptations to do bad things, but because there are so many worthy causes to take my time, attention, and focus. God created each of us to have different passions and skills to use for Him. But sometimes, when you lose your focus and your spirit is divided, all you’re doing is spinning your wheels.

What’s the agenda? What is God calling me to practice while I focus my attention on Him alone. If I know what my God-given agenda is, then it frees me to follow it and not have my attention and focus so divided that everything suddenly becomes a great deal of work. There is joy in the Lord, if you are following Him and not focusing on so many things at once.