Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small

by Mark Batterson

In every dream journey there is a point of no return.

Sometimes it’s a rule you break, a risk you take, or a sacrifice you make. And once you break it, take it, or make it, there is no turning back.

How much is your dream worth?

Everything in your past is preparation for something in your future. God wastes nothing! Even when you have a setback, God has already prepared your comeback. The God who works all things together for good will leverage every experience, every skill, every mistake, and every bit of knowledge you have acquired.

You don’t need a bigger paycheck. You need a bigger why.

Your job isn’t to accomplish the dream. Your job is to stop making excuses and start obeying.

No matter what you do, you are a priest first and foremost. You certainly have a job to do, but you also have a calling to fulfill. If you are a Christ follower, you are part of the royal priesthood. That means you are a priest-entrepreneur, priest-athlete, priest-entertainer, priest-politician, priest-coach. Your portfolio is your pulpit. Your company is your congregation. And that goes for your team, your class, or your organization.

The best way to land your dream job is to do a good job at a bad job and do it with a great attitude!

Every decision we make has a domino effect way beyond our ability to predict or control. We can’t predict when or where or how, but our seeds of faith will reap a harvest somehow, someway, someday. And it’s often when and where we least expect it.

We think that what God does for us is for us, but it’s never just for us. It’s always for the third and fourth generations. We think right here, right now, but God is thinking nations and generations.

An inheritance is what you leave for someone. A legacy is what you leave in someone.

Legacy isn’t measured by what you accomplish during your life span. Legacy is measured by the lives that are affected by your life long after you are gone.

We don’t get where God wants us to go by ourselves! If we go it alone, we’ll get lost somewhere along the way. Then who’s going to pick you up when you fall down? And who’s going to push you to your potential?

Your potential will be determined by the people you surround yourself with. So hiring decisions become the most important decisions you make because they have an exponential effect.

In much the same way, if you want to grow spiritually, you have to be around people who have more faith, more wisdom. Their God-sized dreams will stretch your faith.

I need to be around people who make me feel small because their dreams are so big. I need to be around people who make me feel far from God because they’re so close to Jesus. I need to be around people who make me feel as if I’m doing next to nothing because they’re making such a big difference.

Everything God does through you is a testimony to those who have parented you, mentored you, discipled you, coached you, and loved you. You are their downline, and they are your upline.

God-given dreams are more about others than they are about you. Selfish dreams always short-circuit, but dreams that involve and excite everyone else have a long tail.

If your dream is about you, no one will rally around it. If your dream is about others, you won’t be able to keep people away.

And if opportunity knocks, answer it. But the best path to your dream isn’t seeking a position of leadership; it’s posturing yourself as a servant.

Don’t be in such a hurry to begin the next chapter of your life that you fail to ace the lessons the current chapter is trying to teach you.

But attitude trumps talent seven days a week and twice on Sunday!

The key to dreaming big is thinking long. And the bigger the dream, the longer the timeline.

Before you were born, God was at work in your life by working in the lives of those who would influence you.

God’s goodness and mercy are chasing after you.

Jesus didn’t die just to keep you safe. He died to make you dangerous!