Unshackled Moments ~ April 26 ~ A Better Goal

When I first started the path to recovery, my goal was simply to get clean and to sober and to stay that way. I would pray every morning and ask God to grant me another 24 hours of freedom from my addictions. At night I would give Him thanks for answering that prayer.  But as I grew spiritually I realized that sobriety was not and is not the goal. It is a side effect. The goal, the purpose of our spiritual walk is to renew and strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Daddy.

If our goal starts out to feel better, or to get free, or to escape destruction, that's fine. But if it stays there our progress and growth will eventually come to stagnation. As we get to know God, we come to the place where all that matters is loving Him and knowing Him more and more. It's no longer about what can I get God to do for me today and how blessed according to my own definition of blessed can I be, but rather it's about what can I do to love and serve Him today. This change in goals is what will get us out of our selfishness and through the difficult times. The focus being on Him and relationship rather than on us and how He is supposed to serve us is what provides peace in turmoil, joy in the midst of sorrow, a rock on which to stand while surrounded by chaos, and love worth living and dying for in the face of opposition, rejection and persecution.

Walking with God is not always an easy path. It's not all cool, spring days with roses and rainbows and birds singing to make our journey pleasant. Sometimes it's dark and cold and the wind threatens to blow us from the path. Other times the heat is unbearable and the breeze seems to have died forever. Our walk can not stay about our circumstances and situation. If it does, there will come a time of adversity that will stop us. But if our walk is about relationship, then job or no job, family or no family, health or sickness, blessings or adversities we will be able to stand firm in faith because we haven't lost anything that we're basing our motivation on. When it's all about relationship with God, nothing else that we gain or lose can effect that, for we have become convinced that neither death nor life, blessing or curse, nor anyone or anything can separate us from relationship and the love of God which has set us free.