Are You Drifting Or Deciding?

I have an old friend who invariably asks the same question every time we converse on the phone, meet unexpectedly in the airport or at a conference, or if we just send each other a friendly “check-in” text message.  Invariably, he is going to ask “what are you working on?”  This apparently innocent question is so disarming and discomforting, that I have often deliberately avoided his voice and his presence because there have been far too many occasions when I failed to have a convincing answer to his question.  Whenever I see his number, hear his voice, or see his face it reminds me of how easy it is to drift through life.

According to one definition, to drift means to “to be carried along by currents of water or air, or by the force of circumstances.”  To drift means that instead of being proactive agents in shaping our  desired future, we are reactive to external events and agendas. We embrace indifference and adopt the unhelpful, unbiblical, and ungodly attitude of “whatever happens will happen”.  To drift means that we surrender one of the best gifts that God has given us—the power to choose.  We must never forgot that not choosing is a choice, and when we refuse to chose, someone or something else will always choose for us.  

Drifting is seductive because it is so easy.  Drifting does not require the exercise of reason, discipline, or will.  Drifting also provides us with a comforting lie to tell ourselves if our lives do not work out for us the way we expect.  We can tell ourselves that what has happened “is for the best,” or that we have accepted “God’s will.”

But there is another, far better approach to living.  At his most recent shareholder  meeting, the legendary investor Warren Buffet was asked what the secret was to a successful life.  Without batting an eye or missing a beat, Mr. Buffet replied that the key to a successful life is “to figure out what you want people to say about you at your funeral, and then spend the rest of life trying to live up to it.”  His counsel is a powerful antidote to indifference, apathy, and drifting.  If you have never completed this exercise, I strongly encourage you try it today.  By identifying what you want people to say at your funeral, you are tapping into your most powerful motivations and your most important values.  It also provides you with an immediate answer to my old friends’s question. 

What am I working on? I’m working on trying to live a life that I can be proud of—so that at my funeral, the most important people in my life will not only be present, but can speak of the difference that I made in their lives.  Instead of drifting, I decide how to spend my time, where to concentrate my focus and in what to invest my attention. In Luke 13:22, there is an intriguing detail about the life of Jesus that powerfully illustrates this truth. In an almost off handed way, the scriptures tell us that Jesus

….went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying  toward Jerusalem.

This text demonstrates the fact that Jesus did not allow circumstances to dictate his schedule nor his agenda.  Although he taught in many cities and villages, he was always moving toward Jerusalem.  His daily activities all were guided by an ultimate goal. Every decision he made was determined by whether it would get him closer to Jerusalem. Jesus did not drift to Jerusalem.  Jesus decided to go. Each and every day, Jesus made decisions that would move him closer to Jerusalem.  Later in that same chapter, Jesus makes another statement that clarifies why he moved in such a deliberate way toward Jerusalem.  In Luke 13:33, Jesus says “it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”  Jesus knew he would have to die to fulfill his destiny, and that his death would have to be consummated in Jerusalem for it to have the global impact that was intended.  If he had been crucified in Nazarreth or Bethlehem, it would not have mattered as much.  It would have been a local affair.  But when he was crucified in Jerusalem, the scriptures tell us that it was announced in 3 languages—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—a sign of his global, eternal impact.

Question: What Jerusalem are you moving toward?  

Stop drifting.

Start deciding.

Today.