Who are you becoming in 2014?

What are your goals for 2014?

What are you going to do that’s new and exciting?

What are you going to do to make a difference in you and others around you?

What? What? What?

It’s that time of year when there are so many questions and goals having to do with action, achievement, and performance.  Especially as Americans, we can’t help but work hard and achieve, achieve, achieve, and I am the first to fall in line for this and like many others consider it a strength of mine.

But…But...But...I think you saw this “but” coming, any strength overextended becomes a weakness.  Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.  All this focus on achievement, performance, and success and what we are doing, and so quickly forget about the “who". 

Who we are becoming, rather than what we are achieving. 

What’s the character that’s actually brewing and forming within us?

Make no mistake running a marathon, quitting smoking, losing 50 pounds, learning something new, getting organized, and goals like it are all very notable and amazing achievements, and may ultimately produce deep character within you. 

Although, I wonder how many goals of 2014 were made with the intention of improving who we are?

How much of who we are actually determines the degree of what we are able to accomplish?  My guess is more than we realize. 

If we focused on a heart of discipline, would that 10k race actually happen? If we cultivated a heart of self-control, could we actually stop smoking?  If we learned patience, could we actually get along with our co-worker?  

I think it goes something like this.   

Who we are becoming establishes the platform, for the magnitude of what you were made to do. 

The maturity of your character affects the level of influence released on your destiny. 

No doubt God can use us regardless of our character flaws but I cringe at the thought of God not using me because the heart within me isn’t ready for the greater responsibility He has for me.

I am reminded of David, a man who God said was a man after His own heart and yet David often plagued by the remembrance of his murder, affair, and ultimately his sin.  He let an area of his character slip and it cost him.  I often wonder if we missed out on seeing even more of how God wanted to use David because he let lust creep into his heart.

That thought alone is enough to put a “who I am becoming goal” on my 2014 list!

Don’t get me wrong I am not a hater of the “what” goals I only wonder if we miss out on true breakthrough all together.   

If who we are becoming, establishes the platform for the magnitude of what you were made to do, than who do you need to become this year to get there?

Maybe more patient? Kind? Confident? Just? Truthful? Loving?

Who are you?

But more importantly who are you becoming?