BreatheSample

Have you ever put effort into pursuing something for your life? Maybe it was a spot on a team in high school, a grade in a class in college, a promotion at your job, a financial gain for yourself, or even a personal goal for your fitness, family, or finances. Whatever it was, if you’ve set your sights on a goal and made every effort to pursue it, you know just how challenging it can be. Sure, it may start as a healthy, balanced effort, but over time, it can become all you think about, talk about, or do anything about in your life. And where does all that striving get us? Nowhere!

Even if we reach our goal and get where we’re trying to go, we still end up worn out, worried about what’s next, and with barely any breathing room to enjoy where we’ve arrived. That’s when words like these from Paul can be so helpful to us. Rather than trying to use our human strength and effort to pursue what we’re after, we can trust God’s Spirit to work in us. When we do that, it makes any of our pursuits easier because we aren’t pursuing them in our strength or for our reasons. Rather, we’re pursuing it all with God’s Spirit guiding us every step of the way.

What goals are you pursuing right now? What would it look like for you to trust God’s Spirit to guide you in that rather than trying to do it all on your own?