What do you stand for?

We all have an expiration date. One day, every single one of us will take our last breath. When that moment comes, what do you want your life to have been about? What legacy do you want to leave? What did you stand for?

Most of my life, I couldn’t have answered that question. I was chasing society’s scoreboard—prestige, status, money, fame—thinking if I could just get enough of it, I’d finally feel whole. I didn’t. And along the way, I became a chameleon. I shifted my beliefs, my stances, my voice depending on the people in the room. I tried to say all the “right things” so I’d fit in and stay in good standing.

A lot of people live this way. There’s too much at stake not to, right? If you don’t bend the knee to the mob you’re dealing with, you risk losing everything—your job, your finances, your reputation… the very things we’ve been told to chase.

But in that process, you lose yourself. Your soul weakens. You start to feel like a fraud.

I’ve been there.

So ask yourself honestly: What do you stand for?
What would you die for?

Because whatever you would die for is exactly what you should be living for. That’s your mission. That’s why you’re here.

I don’t believe anyone’s grand purpose is to be the richest, the most popular, or the most admired. Those are hollow awards. The real question is: What impact do you want to have? And you can’t answer that if you don’t first know who you are. 

“But I can’t find my purpose or my mission—I don’t know who I am.”
Have you listened?
Have you silenced the noise long enough to hear your own soul speak?

Or are you being drowned out by the very things designed to distract you—sports, “reality” TV, entertainment, porn, social media, alcohol, gambling? These things numb you just enough to keep you drifting further from your true self.

A lot of us have drifted. We’ve been swept up by the ways of the world. But look at the people who have “won” society’s scoreboard—are they truly at peace? Are they fulfilled? Most aren’t. So why keep chasing a path that doesn’t lead where you want to go?

Make a commitment:
Silence the noise.
Listen for that still, small voice inside of you.
Seek out who you really are and who God made you to be.

And when you find it—live it. Unapologetically. Unwaveringly. In every room, in every group, in every arena.

Do that, and you’ll pass the pillow test—the one that matters when you lay your head down for the last time. You’ll know deep in your soul that you did your best and lived for something worthwhile.