Life by Default

A good friend and mentor once asked me if I live my life on purpose or by default. I didn’t quite get the question then so I promptly answered “on purpose,” but years later I would come to discover what he really meant by that. As people, I think, we are generally motivated by pressure. By this I mean, that I wake up in the morning thinking about the things I have to get done. I go to work because my boss will be angry if I don’t show up and because if I don’t work, I won’t have money. If it weren’t for the pressure of needing to support myself and my family and the pressure to keep my boss pleased with my performance, I would not choose to go to work on my own.

The more I think about it the more I realize that most of my day is motivated by pressure. I feel pressure to not stink so I take a shower; I feel pressure to look presentable so I put on appropriate clothing; I feel pressure to maintain a healthy weight so I eat what I should (usually) rather than what I want, etc. etc. This is not to say that pressure isn’t good, public standards of decency are a huge part of what keeps a society functional. We pressure each other to maintain standards like not stealing or destroying other people’s property. We have the police to put pressure on people to follow the laws. Pressure is good for the most part, but the funny thing is I don’t find that God puts a lot of pressure on me, and as result I don’t pay as much attention to him as I should. God is certainly not the squeaky wheel in my life.

God really seems to value free will. I don’t think that he wants followers who obey him because he nags them or constantly reminds them of what they need to do or say. I have yet to hear God pipe up in my ear and say, “I want at least an hour of prayer by the close of business.” He leaves that choice to us. We have to find, some motivation within ourselves to live our lives the way that we want, not just by what we are pressured to do. This is not to say that we quit our jobs and become dead beats, it means that we can’t wait for the right pressure to become the people that we want to be, people that love God and follow him. We have to live life on purpose, not by default. - Chris Ingersoll