What Drives My Life?

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WHAT DRIVES MY LIFE?

Well, hello everyone and welcome to The Journey. So I’m glad you’re with us today. I want to welcome those of you who are in our Manhattan location as well as those of you are who are joining us new at our brand new Jersey City location. So we welcome you as well. Of course, we have just hundreds of people around who listen to our podcast, so we welcome those of you who are listening on the podcast today as well. Well, today we are asking the question, “What drives your life?” I think this question is worth thinking about. What does the Bible have to say regarding right drivers and wrong drivers? And somebody who was in the earlier service today, they were like “wrong drivers”. The first fill in, just so you know, was not woman. That’s not the first fill in of wrong drivers. That’s what somebody was trying to say to me. Not that. Instead, I want to look at the four wrong drivers that often get into the driver seat of our life. And I just want to qualify these wrong drivers—in a sense these things that I want to give you. They are okay in your life, they are just really bad drivers in your life. You will see what I mean. Let me give you the first one. The first wrong driver that often gets into the driver’s seat of your life and mine, is:

FOUR WRONG DRIVERS

1. Possessions.

We are driven to have more. We are driven to have more toys. To get more stuff. I mean, we always have to have the latest. And some of you are really into this kind of deal. You have the latest gadgets. And your big fear is that you are going to get a new cell phone, and then another new cell phone is going to come out after that cell phone, but you are still stuck in your contract for the old cell phone, and so you get into all this envy of electronic envy when it comes to this area, because sometimes possessions drive our life. It’s like that old bumper sticker about—he who dies with the most toys, wins. That’s sort of the mantra for the person who is driven by possessions. I always think, you know, he who dies with the most toys is, well, dead. You know. That’s just the reality of how that works. Possessions, it’s okay to have possessions, just don’t make that the driver of your life. A second drive we also have in the driver’s seat of our life is:

2. Popularity.

We are driven to be popular. We are driven just to go along with the crowd. We are driven to see how many people know us and how many people we are known by. We are driven to be famous. And certainly here in this metro area, the idea of being driven by your own fame, to have your name in light. Of course, this is a big drive in our society. There are people that are just known for being known. Think about that. What has Paris Hilton ever really done? Other than she is just known for being known. I mean, she is popular in this field. It’s about getting to the top of your game. And there is certainly nothing wrong with being popular. There is nothing wrong with being liked. But again, if you let this be the primary drive of your life, you are going to find that life is empty. Then many people are driven by:

3. Power.

They are driven by power. And they want to be in control. They want to have the power over people. They want to have power over corporations. They want to have the power over business. They want to be the captain of their own faith, ruler of their own lives. And they want the trappings of power. They want the elegance of power. They want all the things that power can bring. And many people who are powerful, they aren’t driven by popularity at all. They would rather be the behind the scenes power. The person that moves the market versus the person who is up front. People can be driven by this. Finally, people can be driven by:

4. Position.

They can be driven by position. They are just trying to work their way to the top. It’s all about the title. Have you ever been around the title dropper? I was recently around someone who was the title dropper. Like within two minutes, talking to this person, they dropped like three titles. Well, I was the vice president of this. And I was executive vice president of that. Now, I’m the president of this. I mean, I’m like, I don’t really care about your titles. Okay. Who are you as a person? I’m not even sure I like you yet. You’re not winning me over. But people are into this game and we have all at one time or another be driven to have those initials after our name. You know, those initials. I’ve got them. You know, the BA, the BS, the M whatever, the D, and all this other stuff. And we can fall into this academia. We can get so driven to get the titles after our names, and we do whatever it takes for us to graduate, or whatever it takes to get through that. And there’s nothing wrong with education. There is nothing wrong with having a title. There’s nothing wrong with being the leader in an organization. But if you are driven by that, you are going to miss out on the whole point of life. You see, the reality is, every person here is driven by something. I’m driven by something. You are driven by something. What’s driving your life? When you look at what God has to say, He says there is only one legitimate drive. There is only one right driver. You might want to write this in—that is, the driver of: