Driven Careers
Too often the word "driven" is associated with the word career. People are viewed as "career driven", and often seen as neglecting their families. This type of lifestyle can be evident in the world today. People want to aim higher and higher in their career, and earn as much money as they can. In some circles, this may be seen as deeply selfish. Other people may be more understanding, and see that some people need to earn as much as they can simply to make ends meet.
Driven and Consumed
I can see the logic of both sides of the career driven argument. However, I do sense that the career driven lifestyle is not all we need to worry about. In our life, you can be driven by many things, not just our career. We need to be careful not to be too swayed or consumed by these things.
Too Much of an Excuse?
How do we know what we are consumed by? To answer this question, I often like to think of the phrase "there aren't enough hours in the day." People often use this term as they don't seem to be able to fit all of their tasks into the space of one day. When I hear this, I don't always agree with it.
The Harsh Reality
Sure, call me harsh. I know there may be times in life where we really do not have enough time to complete all we need to do. However, I don't believe this is genuinely true for all situations. People spend a lot of time consumed by things which aren't necessarily important. Again, this is a matter of opinion. How many hours per week do you spend relaxing in front of the television? What about the cinema? How many movies have you seen at the cinema in the past couple of months?
A Driven and Consumed Purpose
We need to remember to be driven and consumed in what we do not for ourselves, but for the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24 reminds us of this. These verses state "whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
We then need to consider some more questions. Why are we driven and consumed in our lives? What is our motivation for this? Asking ourselves these questions will help keep us accountable of our time, and how we use it.
Natalie Van Egmond from Brisbane and is a journalism graduate.
Natalie Van Egmond's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/natalie-van-egmond.html
