“Be all you can be”, “Live the American Dream”, “You can be or do anything you work hard enough to accomplish”, and “You are special” are motivational expressions that we hear a lot in our culture.
We are a society of individualists who believe that we have the right to do and be what we want. But that is simply not true. First of all, we are not the only factor impacting our lives. Environment, government, society, and other restrictions affect our ability to accomplish what we desire. Secondly, and more importantly, God designed us for a specific purpose. If we stray from that purpose, we can never be all we should be and will never be satisfied with what we are. Thirdly, none of us live in a vacuum. Our lives and our actions impact others. God calls us to love one another, but living to accomplish our desires only will inevitably harm others.
Romans 13:9-10 says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Hurting others at the expense of achieving our own goals is short-sighted and selfish. We can accomplish what we really want by loving God and loving our neighbor. What an impact we could have on our world if we simply love our neighbor!
Reluctant Retiree 