What do you want? What do you really want? We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. And what we naturally want is often in conflict with what we ultimately value. So, in order to figure out what you really want, you have to figure out what you value.
So, what do you want?
The goal
The goal of
this series is not just for believers to align with the wants that God has for
you, but also for the un-believers to hopefully wrestle with some questions as
to what you truly want in your life and for your life.
So let’s get to it, the big questions
of the day is: What do you want?
·
The
answer is different for everyone
·
The
older you get there seems to be less “what”
·
When
your younger there is more “what”
·
In
different seasons of life the “what” changes
·
But
one things is for sure there we always want something!
Recap
·
One thing is for sure, we want our way!
·
And we want to do what we want to do!
o
What we really want is perpetual pleasure!
·
And you may not know what you want, but
you know you want it now!
o Regret
always starts with getting something we want
o
This wanting thing, is a tricky thing!!
o
Sometimes getting or way, we lose our
way
Sometimes we will do whatever we can to get what
we want!
·
You
say I wouldn’t kill for anything, really??
o We kill friendships
o We kill work deals
o We kill families
o We kill marriages
o We destroy the things that mean the
most to us for what we want
·
To
get what we want!
Here is the problem.
Most
of don’t know what we really want, because we are so distracted by what we want,
what we desire right now!
The skinny of it all
What we really what we rarely explore!
“What we really want lurks in a realm that we
rarely explore” Andy Stanley
The good news!
·
God,
your father, wants more for you
·
He
doesn’t want more from you
·
He
wants more for you!
·
And
lurking in the shadows is what you ultimately want
o What you value
o What is really important!
·
So,
for the next few weeks we are going to help you find what you really value!!
Last week we found the problem
·
We
are naturally driven to do what feels good now, not what gets us to what we
REALLY want
Romans
7:15 (NIV)
15I do not understand what I do. For what
I (really) want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do.
So
now we know the problem how to we start to figure out what we really want, what
is really important, what we really Value??
A book that changed my life forever!
In 1994 I
was working for the Generals staff at McConnell AFB and was task to head up the
TQM office
·
One
of our task was to teach the entire base senior leadership through the 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People
·
And
during the course to become an instructor we were task with doing an exercise
in that book
·
Let
me read to you the passage from the book
This was life changing
·
When
you sit down and have to write you own eulogy
·
You
get a since of what really matters in your life
·
Who
really matters in your life
Then after I completed the exercise, I
read this!
If you
carefully consider what you wanted
to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. It may be very different from
the definition you thought you had in mind. Perhaps fame, achievement, money,
or some of the other things we strive for are not even part of the right wall.
Excerpt
From: Stephen R. Covey. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
·
This
was a pivotal point in my life
·
As
I sat and wrote what I wanted people to say
·
It
was not even close, to what I think they would say
·
I
wanted
o Humble
o Integrity
o Loving
o Kept his word
o honesty
o Balanced life
o Someone who valued family
o And I don’t think that would have come
out of anyone’s mouth!
And that day I found out that my definition
of success had very little to do with accomplishments
·
I
found out what I have continued to learn
·
That
people are more important to me than thinks
·
That
relationships are more important than being right
The conflict for me
·
I
am very driven
·
I
am goal oriented
·
I’m
impatience
·
I’m
stubborn
·
And
I love accomplishment
·
But
at the end of the day that’s not what I value most
The exercise
·
Write
your eulogy from 4 perspectives
o Family (wife, kids, mom or dad)
o Friend
o Co-worker
o Church family
·
Reduce
that down to a list of values
·
The
find scripture that reflect those values
·
And
begin to use that a basis for all your decisions!
Remember this will go against your
natural need for what you want now!
·
Honesty
is costly
·
Integrity
is costly
·
Patience
is costly
·
But
at the end of the day it will drive you to what you really value!
But first to get what you REALLY want
you must discover what you really value!
·
You
can’t prioritize what you really want until you no what really important
·
And for all of us this is different
·
we
are constantly prioritizing things in our mind
·
so,
until you find out what’s really important to you, your casing the car again!
Understanding
what you value, will help you not let what you want now not get in the way, of
what you really want!!
For Christians, we take it one step
farther! What does GOD what for us!
·
Remember
God is a father that doesn’t want anything from us, but wants things for us
·
We
somehow think that what we want is different from what God wants is different
·
And
that may be true about what you natural want in a fallen world
·
But
if you dig deep I bet you will find that you want what God wants for you
·
The
eulogy exercise will show you that what you really want, is not that far apart from
what God wants for you
·
And
that surrendering to God and his will for your life will get you to where you
truly want to be!
So, what does God want for you??
Galatians
5:22–23 (NIV)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness and self-control. Against
such things there is no law.
But the fruit of the Spirit
·
This
means if God had his way
·
If
God would somehow take over our lives
·
This
is what he would drive us toward
·
Ever
decision we made
·
Ever
priority we have
·
Would
drive us toward these values
But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace
·
These
three things would solve most of our problems
·
They
would definitely solve most of your relationship problems
o Love
§ To be able to love the unlovable
§ We are all unlovable sometimes
§ Wouldn’t it be nice for people to
continue to love you when we don’t love ourselves?
o Joy
§ Wouldn’t it be nice to have a since of
joy in any circumstance
§ Would that not be the best anti-depressant?
§ That you could find some joy no matter
what the world threw at you?
o Peace
§ This is so unnatural
§ We get prescriptions for this
§ Not denial, but a since of contentment
§ With what we have, with our situations
§ Just some peace
§ How many of us are searching for that??
§ Surrender to God, and you will find
peace!
forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
·
If
we really look deep we are not far off from what God wants for us
