Reactive Response vs. Proactive Pursuit

Ian Miller | 04/07/2025

Proactive pursuit is aligning yourself with God’s calling on your life. Reactive response is aligning yourself with other people’s demands on your life. Reactive response is always easier than proactive pursuit. It connects with our need to be a hero in other people’s eyes. It makes us feel needed and useful when we react to other people’s “emergencies.” Living in emergency response mode is very hard to get out of. It takes a huge paradigm shift to go from reactive response to proactive pursuit. 

Here are a few words of encouragement to help with that shift: 

1. What matters most is God’s calling. Pleasing Him is my number one pursuit. 

2. My fears are my biggest driver in life. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (and it helps drown out my fear of disappointing others!). 

3. When I think I am the only solution to other people’s problems, I am either enabling people in an unhealthy way or I am overestimating my value. 

4. Proactive pursuit means saying “no” to many good things so that I can say “yes” to a few great things. 

5. BTW, “great” in God’s eyes is knowing and doing the will of my Heavenly Father. 

6. Last but not least, proactive pursuit means emptying myself for those closest to me, while filling myself daily through connection to Christ. 

I cannot empty myself out for others without being continuously filled and empowered through connection to Him. When serving is on the same path as pursuing Him and His calling on my life, the joy of the Lord will be my strength. Don’t burn yourself out seeking to be the hero for others. Be faithful in alignment with His purpose for you…And delight in it while you’re at it!