Day 9 - The Long-Term View of Destiny

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"Thinking that we have the ability to guarantee destiny in this short life is a recipe for victim thinking."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis

Page 196.

The older I get the more I realize how short life really is.  It just seems like yesterday when my worries were focused on grades, the opposite sex, and where to go to college.  When I was young it felt like I had all eternity to get done the things I planned to do in my life.  

Today, as I look in the mirror the person I see reflected back I hardly recognize.  Life has come and gone at an astounding pace, and I still have so much to do in my life.  My destiny hasn't been reached and the reality is I don't have that many years left to see it happen.

That's why when I think about my destiny I need to view its completion through the lens of time that goes beyond the years I might be blessed with here on earth.  Without an internal perspective victim thinking quickly grabs hold of my life as I ponder whether I will ever achieve the destiny I feel was for this life.

The bible says this about our destiny when viewed from enternal perspective.

And then GOD answered: “Write this.

    Write what you see.

Write it out in big block letters

    so that it can be read on the run.

This vision-message is a witness

    pointing to what’s coming.

It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!

    And it doesn’t lie.

If it seems slow in coming, wait.

    It’s on its way. It will come right on time. Habakkuk2:2-3 (THE MESSAGE)

I happen to believe that the destiny I have in my life is something that was placed there by God himself.  If that's not a view you hold, , I totally get it!.  But the things that we have set before ourselves, if they are to make a difference in this world, don't you think they need to be bigger than that just ourselves?  In other words, a destiny that brings about change might be something so big that a lifetime may not be enough to make it happen.

But even if you don't believe in a god, the words in the verse above should be just as impacting for you as well.  That destiny that you feel, isn't it a constant ache in your soul?  I love the promise that is spoken in those verses above.  Though it may be slow in coming, if that destiny is the kind that I believe comes from god then we all can take comfort in the promise that that destiny will come to completion no matter how long it takes.

For me, I'm challenged in the area of victim thinking when I insist on my destiny happening in the timeline given here on earth.  I choose to believe that my destiny is going to happen no matter how long it takes.  Even if it's a million years, I believe my destiny will come to completion.  Of course that means that I need to rely on the perspective of time that deals with the issue of what happens to us after her death.  The only perspective I've found that works for me is one that views life eternal.

Dealing with my destiny from this perspective has taken a lot of pressure off my life.  Pressure to perform in a timeline that is getting more and more unreasonable in its ability to produce hope when it comes to seeing my destiny come to its fruition.  Having the pressure of time put into a different perspective is actually enabled me to be more focused on the details I think I need to address right now in order to be moving toward the goal of my destiny.

How about you?  Do you have a destiny that it is looking to be less and less likely given the time you have remaining here on earth?  I hope that thought isn't driving you from being able to live the life of the victor you've been called to live.

Today the as you view the things that are on your to do list try thinking of them in a different way.  Why don't you try looking at your tasks in the light that they might be part of a bigger plan, a plan greater than even your destiny could ever encompass.  Consider your destiny from the perspective of the eternity.  Take the pressure of time off of your life and see what happens next!