Choosing an Aim in Life
By B. P. Foote
Shall We Have a Definite Purpose, or Shall We Drift?—Will Not Go Higher than We Aim Few people realize what a great help it is to have a high aim,—an aim so high that they cannot hope to reach it without putting forth their best efforts as long as they live. The question of choosing an aim in life is a very important one, and should receive much more thought than it does receive from the average person. It is easy to wish and hope for the best, and still drift along; but really to choose a high aim, and then continue all through life to choose the course of action that leads most surely and directly toward the accomplishment of that aim, requires mental, moral, and physical energy. SUCCESS ASSURED UPON CERTAIN CONDITIONS
We are assured over and over again by the Bible, and also by men and women who have attained great heights, that we can succeed in whatever we choose to do, if we throw all our time and energy into the thing, and never give up. This idea was well expressed a few years ago by a noted senator. He was asked if he had ever despaired of becoming a senator. He replied in the negative, and then added: “Fix a point that you want to reach, concentrate all your faculties upon the task of reaching it, and you will get there. Nothing will stop you.” The following sentence, quoted from the pen of the late Mrs. E. G. White, is also right to the point: “Balanced by religious principle, you may climb to any height you please.” WHY NOT AIM FOR PERFECTION?
While we are choosing an aim, let us make such a choice as we shall never have occasion to regret. Let us aim high—the higher the better—even at perfection itself. God will not be satisfied with anything less, and how can we? “Only the best is good enough.” Can you think of any good reason why we should not aim for perfection? The fact that we have failed so far is no reason why we should stop trying. Instead, it should cause us to try all the harder. We know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we shall never reach a higher point than that at which we aim; and we know that those who do not, with the help of God, attain perfection, will be lost. Then, too, it is worthy of consideration that this is an aim which can be followed by every one, everywhere, all through life, with no possibility of harmful results. God never asks impossibilities of any one, does He? Yet He says, “Be ye . . . perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” While this seems an impossibility—and it is an impossibility to the unaided human being—yet God’s biddings are His enablings to those, and those only, who “seek . . . first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” Too many of us have not been making “first things first.” If we seek the kingdom of God as Peary sought the north pole, as Edison seeks new inventions, or even as thousands of others are seeking fame and fortune, we shall not fail. The way to reach our goal is not to be continually thinking and talking of the great things we are going to do sometime, but to do with our might what our hands find to do right now. Real efficiency is “doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.” This definition was given in a business journal some time ago, but it applies just as well to the life and work of a Christian as to business life. In fact, in its truest sense, it can be applied to every moment of life. There is a right time in which to do every right thing, and a right way in which to do it; and it is right that we should give much thought and study to this question from now on, as long as we live. “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” The present is ours to use just as we choose; and if we take care of the present to the best of our knowledge and ability, the Lord will take care of the future, and see that we are provided with sufficient power to meet each temptation. PLAYING AND WORKING FOR PERFECTION
While we cannot attain perfection without the help of God, yet He is not going to work a miracle to make us perfect. “God helps those who help themselves.” It is self-effort that educates, self-help that counts in the struggle for perfection. The best that others can do for us is to help us to help ourselves. We must pray for perfection as though we expected God to answer our prayers, and then we must work as though we expected to answer them ourselves.