What (G)god are you serving?

This idea rocked my world the first time I heard it.

“All people serve their ambition. In that matter, there are no atheists. There are only people who know, and don't know, what god they serve.” - Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

The claim that Dr.Peterson is making in this tweet is that whatever goal you are pursuing is functionally the same as a god. You might say, well those are just goals, that is not the same thing as a god or a spirit, but let’s explore that a little bit.

What does a goal do to you? The first thing is does is grip you or call to you. You might say that you pick your goals and your aims, but if you pay attention, that is not how it usually works. Usually what happens is something grabs your attention, inspires(in-spirit) you to move toward it and forces you to sacrifice to it.

The first part of that is that it catches your attention. Anyone who has been obsessed with a goal knows that it can take up a lot of real estate in your brain. I used to want to be a navy seal and I would spend hours on end watching videos, reading books, listening to podcasts, or whatever other material that involved navy seals that I could get my hands on. I tried to observe navy seals, their actions and behaviors as much as I could. If you have a goal, you begin to give all of your attention to it. There is not much difference between this and worship.

The second part of that equation is that it compels you toward action. When you are pursuing a goal, it dominates your actions. Every goal has an implicit morality baked into it. There are actions that move you toward your goal (right actions) and actions that move you away from your goal (wrong actions.) If you want to get in shape, eating pizza everyday is a sin. Why is it a sin? Sin means to miss the mark and eating pizza everyday when you are trying to lose weight is missing the mark.

The third part is that it forces you to sacrifice to it and for it. Anyone who pursues a goal knows this. If you want to get in shape, you have to sacrifice certain foods, time with family and friends and number of other things to achieve that goal. The example that may not be so obvious is the person sitting on the couch pursing pleasure and comfort. What are they sacrificing? Well, they are sacrificing who they could be if they were to aim higher. They are sacrificing their future self for their present comfort. Each and every moment presents us with the need to sacrifice. Whatever god you serve is going to dictate the price of that sacrifice, and the reward.

That begs the question, which god(s) are you serving? Do your goals serve God, or something else?

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