Post by Tom Green on Feb 12, 2007 17:02:35 GMT -5
Does God really want you to be successful?
Q. There is something that I've been struggling with my whole life, and since I love and respect what you're doing with PTM, and your advice is always so wonderful, I thought I might bring the subject to you. I'm an aspiring singer/songwriter, and this career has brought me absolutely no success. Therefore, I'm starting to think that God does not support my dream. Why would he give me a gift that He didn't want me to use? Someone once told me that God does not put desires into your heart if he doesn't want them for you. Do you believe that this is true? I just don't know how to rectify my desire for fame and my desire to live a life that is pleasing to God.
A. There are two basic ways to interpret your lack of success: 1) God is telling you something, 2) God is not necessarily involved in telling you anything, but your lack of success could be due to simply human factors -- such as a) it's a tough business and the competition is exceptional, and/or b) you simply have not been in the right place at the right time -- for, as you know, success can also involve knowing the right people, being in the right place when opportunity presents itself.
God does not give us gifts he doesn't want us to use. Since you have not had success, if God is telling you something, perhaps his message is not so much that he doesn't want you to use your gift in the way you are trying to use it, and in the way you define "success" -- but maybe he would like you to use it in a different way -- which may not mean a "successful" career, with money and fame, but maybe something which would involve your gifts in a different way.
God is certainly not against our desire to do well -- and he is not, most probably, trying to block your success. It could well be that this issue is up to you -- and that God would be happier with you 1) continuing to pursue your dream with every ounce of your energy, all of your time and all of your resources, or 2) you deciding to pursue another career to put beans on the table, and plan for your future in the event that your musical career doesn't ever become full time -- but keeping the music alive and well, as and when you can and have opportunity.
A few weeks ago my wife and I saw the current movie The Pursuit of Happy-ness with Will Smith -- while not overtly Christian, or biblical, a good example of what it can take to get out of a debilitating situation -- and a true story about someone who did. PTM has great booklet titled In Search of God's Will which provides a balanced perspective on this subject. You can order by calling 800-309-4466, or read it at www.ptm.org/03PT/SepOct/searchGodsWill.htm.
Q. There is something that I've been struggling with my whole life, and since I love and respect what you're doing with PTM, and your advice is always so wonderful, I thought I might bring the subject to you. I'm an aspiring singer/songwriter, and this career has brought me absolutely no success. Therefore, I'm starting to think that God does not support my dream. Why would he give me a gift that He didn't want me to use? Someone once told me that God does not put desires into your heart if he doesn't want them for you. Do you believe that this is true? I just don't know how to rectify my desire for fame and my desire to live a life that is pleasing to God.
A. There are two basic ways to interpret your lack of success: 1) God is telling you something, 2) God is not necessarily involved in telling you anything, but your lack of success could be due to simply human factors -- such as a) it's a tough business and the competition is exceptional, and/or b) you simply have not been in the right place at the right time -- for, as you know, success can also involve knowing the right people, being in the right place when opportunity presents itself.
God does not give us gifts he doesn't want us to use. Since you have not had success, if God is telling you something, perhaps his message is not so much that he doesn't want you to use your gift in the way you are trying to use it, and in the way you define "success" -- but maybe he would like you to use it in a different way -- which may not mean a "successful" career, with money and fame, but maybe something which would involve your gifts in a different way.
God is certainly not against our desire to do well -- and he is not, most probably, trying to block your success. It could well be that this issue is up to you -- and that God would be happier with you 1) continuing to pursue your dream with every ounce of your energy, all of your time and all of your resources, or 2) you deciding to pursue another career to put beans on the table, and plan for your future in the event that your musical career doesn't ever become full time -- but keeping the music alive and well, as and when you can and have opportunity.
A few weeks ago my wife and I saw the current movie The Pursuit of Happy-ness with Will Smith -- while not overtly Christian, or biblical, a good example of what it can take to get out of a debilitating situation -- and a true story about someone who did. PTM has great booklet titled In Search of God's Will which provides a balanced perspective on this subject. You can order by calling 800-309-4466, or read it at www.ptm.org/03PT/SepOct/searchGodsWill.htm.