Action Drives Purpose

I was the guest speaker for a social justice advocacy development dinner, and I offered this insight. Have you ever woken up in the morning and turned on the news or opened a newspaper and after reading the paper or watching the broadcast asked yourself, “What in the world is going on” and instantly became depressed? You almost feel like Rip Van Winkle. For those unfamiliar with that name “Rip Van Winkle was a character in an old German folktale written by Washington Irving, published in The Sketch Book in 1819–20.

Rip Van Winkle is a farmer who wanders into the Catskill Mountains, where he comes upon a group of dwarfs playing ninepins. Rip accepts their offer of a drink of liquor and promptly falls asleep. When he awakens, 20 years later, he is an old man with a long white beard; the dwarfs are nowhere in sight. When Rip returns to town, he finds that everything is changed: his wife is dead, his children are grown, and George Washington’s portrait hangs in place of King George III’s.” Rip had awakened to a world he barely recognized. Again, have you woken one morning asking the question, “What in the world is going on?”

If you have ever asked this question and did not have an answer, may I offer you the road to POWER? I am a student of Gamaliel’s philosophical and sociological definition of power which is organized people + organized money = power. From a theological and hermeneutic premise, Power = Prayer + Praise. An example of this is in the book of Acts 16 When Paul and Silas were in prison for casting out a demon that messed up the master’s income. The Scriptures say, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison shook, and all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose (Act 16: 25-26). Thus, philosophically, sociologically, and hermeneutically—Power gives you the ability to act, and effect change which drives your purpose in life.

Conversely, some folks like to talk about issues but do not act on them. They like to pontificate the possibilities of promoting justice but do not act with POWER. They like to rationalize broken relationships instead of building bridges. They like to resuscitate bad ideas instead of birthing innovative ones because birth comes with pain. So let me offer one simple growth idea with three actions. Grow your ministry or wealth by DOING SOMETHING. One, take a calculated risk. The markets have out-yielded a savings account even during a depression or inflation. Two, try a new or innovative idea for at least a full year before abandoning. Lastly, evaluate that idea two or three times in that year to improve its outcomes. More tips are on the membership page.