Something Awesome
If you’re anything like, you’ve thought: I want to do something awesome.
Maybe take it a step further: I want to be awesome.
It’s not an inherently bad desire.
But most of us, when we think or say that, mean:
I want to be known.
I want a large following.
I want significant responsibility.
I want to make a huge impact.
I want to create something everyone notices.
In other doesn’t, to want or do something awesome ultimately comes down to an achievement that feeds our ego.
Am I hitting a nerve?
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
Another point in scripture, just a few hours before his life was going to hang in balance and eventually end on this earth, Jesus “got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” John 13:4-5
Jesus definition of “awesome” seems to be radically different than mine. Maybe yours too?
What I’ve learned along the way, and continue to try to remember and grow into, is that doing something “awesome” means serving someone else or serving the greater good. Whether someone knows about it or not, the pursuit of awesome is not about what I can accomplish for myself, but what I can do for others. And usually, that “awesome” is going to be anonymous, sacrificial, and done for the greater good of someone else.
So how do we accomplish something awesome?
Surrender your own desires.
To deny yourself is to surrender your own desires. When I’m honest, I want money, power, and fame. I want easy and accomplished. Instead, Jesus says the path to awesome isn’t found there; it’s found in surrendering those desires for the sake of others.
Too often, I dream about what’s best for me. Instead, God wants us to dream about what’s best for others. Not so that we get credit; in fact, we may never get credit for the way we serve others. But so that others make experience the things we’ve desired.
Obey God moment by moment.
Rather than always dreaming about the great awesome future God clearly has marked out for your life (and I hope he does), the key is to focus on each moment. No matter your circumstance, how can you obey God right now in this moment? With that co-worker? In this job? With that house and health situation? Rather than focusing on what’s to come (which is part of the reason I struggle with the phrase, “The best is yet to come” – I’ll write a future blog post on that), we focus on how we can obey God right here and now.
Be grateful.
Part of our desire to accomplish something awesome is almost always insidiously tied to our unhealthy desire for more. And that unhealthy desire for more usually stems from feeling cynical about what we do have or comparing our situation to someone else.
Instead, be grateful.
Tell God what you’re thankful for.
This morning, I found myself just thanking God for having a car and a daughter in the back who was singing at the top of her lungs.
Pursuing something awesome will always involve a figurative towel and wash basin; it will be deny yourself and picking up your cross.
Will you pursue that kind of awesome?