Coming out of the cage of responsibility

This post is from Pastor Dan Scally

Chapter two challenged me to stop getting caged in my day-to-day responsibilities and begin to passionately live out big dreams that are God-ordained. Batterson shows how important it is for us to come out of the cage of responsibility. Let’s first take a look at what it means to be responsible; it means to be accountable to someone for an action or for the successful carrying out of a duty. I am responsible to pay rent every month, show up to work, and pay my student loans. These are certain responsibilities that I must carry out or I will get into deep trouble. However, the problem is that these daily responsibilities can become distractions and excuses for us to stop focusing on our Kingdom responsibilities.

Batterson is not saying that we need to quit paying our bills, mowing the law, or planning for retirement. He is challenging the reader to stop being so consumed by daily responsibilities and to begin dreaming big things and let God give us new passions. The point is that we need to stop being so boring and concerned about all the little things in life. We need to live with a Kingdom perspective. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I believe that we need to begin to seek first God-ordained dreams and passions and stop worrying about our own responsibilities. We need to stop getting trapped by the little things of life and begin to allow God to give us new passions. For example, my family and I have a passion to do a ministry called the Production of Life. This is a drama ministry that we have preformed in the past which was a success. However, lately my family and I have all been so wrapped up in day-to-day responsibilities like college and work which have caused this ministry to get pushed aside. My prayer is to stop letting God-ordained passions get buried by daily projects and tasks. Let us all strive to do whatever it takes to rediscover those passions which God has placed within each of us and will serve as our motivation to make an impact for His Kingdom.

Dan Scally