Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Multiethnic Ministry

a breathing portrait

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I just came back from an amazing and encouraging time at my small group. We are studying Erwin McManus’ Soul Cravings, and as we were talking about destiny and our dreams for the future, a breathing portrait entered my mind. Here is my attempt to paint it out for you:

…God smiles and looks at us with excitement…

He extends his hand towards us as he begins to run,

although we reach out and grab hold of his hand,

we pull back and attempt to slow him down.

“How can we leave now?” we ask God, “what about all of our responsibilities and commitments?”

…God smiles and looks at us with excitement…

God motions to run with us, but we pull back and refuse, saying,

“Are you sure we are going the right way? I see so many people going that other way! They must be right.”

…God smiles and looks at us with excitement…

He reassures us that there is nothing to worry about and that we should trust him.

As he begins to run with us again, we hold back and say,

“Can we go tomorrow?


Here is my question for you:

If you have committed to follow God, are you really trusting him with everything? Are you running? Or are you still stretching, hoping that no one realizes you are just stalling time?

significance

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One thing that unites us all as human beings is a desire or a craving for significance.

When you search deep down inside of your soul, you will find a deep hunger for significance. In fact, you don’t even need to do much soul searching to discover that craving for significance. Think about today, was there a moment when you wanted someone else to see what you were doing? Did you do something to please someone or to be pleased by someone? All of these are inklings of our craving for significance.

For example, even my act of writing this post or creating this blog hints at my deep craving for significance.

We all have this craving for significance. Some of us ignore it, some of us surpress it, and some of us even flaunt it. I believe that do any of those would be less than human and less than noble. What we need to do is embrace our craving for significance and honestly look at it.

In what one area do we really want significance? Is it in your career? relationships? academics? Let’s get a bit more detailed. What do you really value? What is the desire of your heart? What is the one thing that you want to do on this earth before you die?

When we embrace our craving for significance, look at it long enough, and peel back all of the layers, we see one thing…

…the fingerprint of God.