"Do you believe that I can do this?"

The success of a company often relies on the formulation of a business goal and the ability to stick to it. This same premise is also important in our lives. No one can do all things or be good everything; we don’t have an infinite amount of time, energy or resources. Therefore, it is important to do the things that align with our goals or we will get caught up and be entirely too busy to be good at anything. We’ll never reach our goal if we are too distracted. I have heard this before about different companies and airlines like Spirit of Frontier to make sense of their no frills type approach (if the business plan is to be cheap why add consumer luxuries that increase the prices). But this idea as it applies to my life and call to think on it was really brought on by an episode of the Blessed is She podcast, “The Gathering Place”. The episode is called “Stake your life on this” and I would definitely recommend everyone give it a listen.

The women in this episode prompted me to think about the main goal or main focus in my life. It got me thinking about where I’m headed, and they suggested using your goal as litmus test in decision making. If a certain action will lead me to my goal, then it is probably the right thing to do. If it will leave further from, just as far from, or distracted from my focus, then what is the motivation to move in that way? Maybe you feel like your life is headed in some random direction or you feel stagnant or super busy but never getting anywhere, this could be your call out to think for some time about what your focus is and if the things that you are doing and the decisions you make align with or distract from that.

After thinking and praying for a while, I wanted to share what I have realized the goal in my life is: faith. The message of having faith and living faith has come up in a lot of the things I have been reading and hearing lately, so putting all of this together has been pretty cool. One quote about faith that has really struck me and stuck in my head is from a book I’m reading called “Swipe Right” by Levi Lusko. In the introduction he talks about the faith that Abraham had in God’s promises even though he had no reason to believe what the Lord was promising (God promised to give this really old man who had a barren wife more descendants than stars in the sky). The book says that Abraham had faith in God which is “triggering grace by taking God at his word…no ifs, ands, or buts”. What if we lived our lives taking God at his every word without question? I want my actions to model Abrahams. I want to make decisions after thinking about whether or not I am taking God at his word. I desire to have that kind of faith…not just in my words by in my actions.

This goal has formed further in my mind through my reading of the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 9 verse 28, two blind men who ask Jesus to be healed and he replies: “Do you believe that I can do this?” When the men respond that they do, Jesus heals them and proclaims: “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” I seek to live every single day and make every single decision day after day only after thinking about this question. When I think of moving on my own or stepping ahead of the Lord instead of laying all of my plans down in his great and mighty hands, I ask myself “Do you believe I can do this?” The answer is yes I do, but sometimes I need to remind myself of this reality. I need to remind myself that my actions should be those of faith and not of worry, self-satisfaction, or seeking control. The other beauty of this miracle story is that Jesus does something that no one thinks is possible. During his life, He constantly did things that seemed impossible, and he still does them in our lives. That is the reality of faith, when we let our faith in the Lord shape the way we make decisions, it makes room in our lives for Jesus to come through in ways that seem impossible and are often impossible without Him.

Additionally, I have thought a lot about why I choose to have faith. In the priest’s homily this week, he talked about the prosperity gospel. He discussed how some believe that God rewards faith with blessings, success, or wealth. If we believe this, God becomes like a vending machine and faith becomes a means to acquire what we want. I want to check myself- my desires and motivations for my faith. Am I acting in faith because I think that if I am faithful, God will give me what I want? Or am I faithful because I know that it leads me closer to him and that is what I ultimately want. As described in Bob Goff’s book “Love Does,” faith is often seen like an equal sign. And what is on the other side of that equal sign for me? It is so easy to fall into wanting something in your core, such as a godly relationship or a career or a baby and feeling like the thing you need in order for God to bless you with your desires is to have more faith and take actions in faith. But this is treating faith as an equal sign that has this stuff on the other side of it. What if we lived instead as though the thing on the other side of the equal sign of faith was simply Jesus. What if I chose to act in faith and to act in ways pleasing to the Lord simply to be closer to him and to be better friends with him. Now I’m not saying that God will not give you the things you desire, that is not true. I believe with my whole heart that God desires to give us the best things and that it brings him joy to fulfill the desires of our hearts. I am saying that the focus shouldn’t be on the blessings themselves but on the one who fulfills them. This has become another part of my focus- to let all the ulterior motives fall to the side until the only thing in front of me is Jesus.

My focus has taken shape, and now I aim to make decisions according to this goal. I believe that doing so will help me to be successful as many companies have proved the worth of this tactic. I want to make a habit of assessing my actions in light of my goal. Some may say I want “faith to be my middle name” (which although that was meant to be cheesy and funny, it actually is my middle name). I have been praying that that Holy Spirit would remind me of this truth and keep me focused and I will be praying the same thing for all of you. I pray that the Lord will reveal to you the goal of your life and that as he reminds you to set your trajectory on it, that all the distractions and confusion would fall away.

May the Lord bring you His peace.

Amen