What’s behind your “WHY”?

For some time, I’ve been reflecting upon the “WHY” behind Chris Arnold and, in particular, the past month, people and organizations I’m associated. Yes, a Google search will quickly identify thousands of articles, YouTube videos, and other resources expressing the importance of a business, organization, or individual understanding their “why”. So, I hope this isn’t just another blog post to add to the collection.

One of the reasons I likely have been reflecting on the “why” more so this month is that it’s a month of goal setting. In particular, in Truth@Work, we encourage our members to declare BHAGs at the beginning of the year. I won’t go into a full explanation right now, however, in our environment they are Big Hairy Audacious God-sized Goals. God-sized goals being those things that you can’t achieve on your own and only can be achieved through devine intervention. When you challenge yourself to think in this nature, you have a tendency to really get to the heart of the matter. In essence, what is the true heart behind your BHAG? Is it to glorify self or glorify God?

Taking this a gigantic step forward, what is the true heart behind every thought, feeling, and action you take in your daily walk? Wow, ponder that one for awhile! Back in my manufacturing days, I learned the technique of problem solving where you ask “why” 5 times. If you’re not familiar with this process, try it. Normally, you can get to the root of most anything by asking “why” 5 times. It drives my wife and kids crazy when doing it, so exercise with caution.

If we’re truthful with ourselves, the answer behind the “why” of our thoughts, feelings, and actions more often than not is due to selfish motives. As much as we try to make it not about us, the root, root, root, root “why” always seems to point back to our selfish motives and personal pride.

Most Christian’s would agree that the ultimate “why” we have is to love and glorify God. The way we do this is expressed in John 14:15 NIV as well as many other versus, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Adding to this:

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 NIV)

Wow, this is tough stuff if you truly absorb what is being said. Then, once you acknowledge the need for evaluation and obedience to God, what does that practically look like in your daily walk or even moment by moment thoughts? Are you picking up what I’m laying down?

Seriously, why do you:

Get out of bed in the morning?
Go to the job you have?
Have difficulty with a co-worker?
Live in the house you live?
Have the car you drive?
Desire to have money?
Spend time with your family and friends?
Post on social media?
Serve in ministries?
Lead a life group?
Read your Bible and Pray?

Having challenges with any of these? What else might fall on your list? At the end of the day, I encourage you to truly spend some time asking these questions. As stated above, this has been something on my mind intensely for several months, if not years. So, it’s not an overnight fix and I am the first to admit a need for continued heart change.

One of the things we enjoy most is helping people understand their ultimate “why” and how to identify their God-given purpose and intentional fulfillment of this God-given purpose. If you could use some help in this process of asking “why” or identifying your God-given purpose, we’d love to see how we could help.

So, what will you choose to do with this blog post and “why? why? why? why? why?”?