#246. Rev. David Hockett - October 16

This week we conclude our study of Mike Slaughter’s Dare to Dream, by reflecting upon what Slaughter calls, “a no-quit perseverance.” He suggests that the way we persevere in pursuing God’s dream for our lives is not by mustering up some superhuman strength, it is by maintaining our focus on the mission. This is what Jesus means when he says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! No one can serve two masters.”(Matthew 6:22-24) Jesus is speaking here about the importance of maintaining clarity and focus on that which is most important – the dream of God’s Kingdom. Our eyesight, our vision has to have clear focus on God’s mission. We can’t serve competing visions for our lives and if we lose sight of the vision we are likely to perish, that is, we will miss out on living a life that really is life. Moses succeeded because he remained focused on the God-sized dream he had been given. He was able to persevere because he was clear that it was God’s mission, and not his own, to which he was called. “Perseverance means remembering who empowers the mission” and trusting God to sustain us knowing that the mission is not ours to begin with and the mission is possible because God is with us.