Striving Towards What?

When I was in my early 20s, working my way through college and figuring out what my career might be, I locked onto hustle culture. I subscribed to the fervent belief that if you weren’t rising, grinding and working your tail off at every aspect of life, you were failing. I’d say with great pride that I thrived on stress and said yes to many obligations and opportunities with little thought on how I would pull them all off.

I thought I was batting a thousand, surviving on multiple cups of coffee and a color-coded planner. Here’s the thing though, I was a distant daughter to Christ in that season of my life and looking back on it, I realize it was because I was chasing anything but God.

I worshiped success.

I worshiped my pride.

I worshiped the grind.

Moses laid it out clearly when he shared God’s command that You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3. Boy was I breaking that one!

Life in and of itself is busy. It's meant to be lived fully and productively. But if we aren’t seeking God first in every part of our calendar, we can easily find ourselves glorifying the wrong things. It could be long hours chasing overtime or a weekend too full of activities to make it to church.

Invite God into your calendar. Ask him - Is this a good opportunity? What will the costs be? Will it distract me from you? What are you calling me to?

Because here’s the thing, the devil can’t take you out, but if he can get you busy and distracted, he’s got something he can meddle with.