Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

This is often a classic question in selection processes.

It is used to assess whether a person knows how to set goals, or whether he or she is ambitious, farsighted or a planner. And, by the way, to see how he handles unforeseen events and pressure. Because it is not a question that many people ask themselves.

And it’s interesting, because when you do it you can realize what’s in the other person’s heart.

They usually tell you that they want to progress professionally or academically, that they want to be responsible for a team, that they want to take on new challenges and the like.

But what is important is what they do not say.

Hardly anyone tells you that they want to learn to work in a team, that they want to start a family, that they want to increase their collaboration in an NGO or a church, or that they want to be a better person.

Perhaps for fear that they might think that all this will take up your time or that you are acknowledging that you are not a “good person”.

But the truth is that what it shows is that you are your own goal.

That you do things thinking about your own interests and what benefits you.

Your goals clearly reveal who you serve, who controls your heart and mind.

When we live apart from God we have a heart full of desires, and our mind full of rebellion against Him. First me, then me, and later me, and then, maybe… but better me too.

And yet, none of this ends up giving us true happiness. Because when something fails, and it will fail, or when another “I” takes what we consider ours, we are filled with resentment.

Therefore, one of the first things God does, when we accept him as Lord of our lives, is to transform our own nature, so that we can live a full life at his side.

Let us see what the apostle Paul tells us in the second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The new is here

When the Holy Spirit enters our lives He changes our old approaches to life, and our values are changed by the life and freedom that God gives us.

And when this happens, our goals will also change. Goals that will now focus on fulfilling God’s will.

And mind you, I am not saying that a Christian cannot have goals in his natural life. But they must take into account what God has for your life.

Because we have changed our Lord. We no longer have a heart full of desires, but of gratitude.

For our sins have been forgiven, and all the old things, our old way of being, have gone, have been forgotten.

We no longer have a mind full of rebellion against God, but our thoughts seek Him continually.

Of course all this is a process, that our old self must gradually die.

But it is something in which we must put all our efforts, since we have changed our kingdom and this implies a change of essence.

If you do not become a fish, you will drown, but if you allow yourself to be transformed, a new world will open up before you.

God bless you.

Cover image by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash

La entrada The old has gone se publicó primero en David Gómez.