April 18, 2007
Doing What is Right
Dear Friend,
At both services this past Sunday, I shared the tragic results that befell Theodore Roosevelt’s family. Life should not be lived as a competition. We are not required to compete with unrealistic expectations—nor impersonal, inflexible or artificial standards. Our personal passion and energy is best invested when we strive to live up to our fullest potential.
In his book The Life You Always Wanted, John Ortberg teaches us how to distinguish between unhealthy competition and growing into our full potential. Ortberg wrote, “A disciplined person is someone who can do the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right spirit.”
Ortberg’s definition permits us to “reality check” ourselves against what is right—rather than by what others in our family, business, or even church have achieved.
The prophet Isaiah wrote that God is a “Wonderful Counselor” who guides us to our full potential.
If I could reduce these ideas to a cliché, I might say: “Drop out of the rat race and live like a human being.”
Doc
Dr. Dave Collings
Lead Pastor
Christ Church
