Zig Ziglar is quoted as saying, "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." I truly believe that goals are absolutely necessary in each area or aspect of our lives. Some of the areas that you will want to establish goals are in the physical, financial, career, material, and spiritual areas of your life. Without making this post a "class" on goals, let me say that goals should be:- Achievable - unachievable goals demoralize and destroy opportunities and your heart. Regardless of how high you are "aiming" make sure that your target is obtainable. Goals that are out of reach or beyond your personal capabilities are really not goals.
- Describable - by this I mean, be able to identify the goal (s) clearly and describe the steps that will be utilized to achieve your goal (s). Map out the route in detail of what needs to take place each step of the way
- Accountable - you must frequently monitor your goals. There are times that they will be achieved and new goals will need to be set. Other times your goals will no longer be necessary. There may be times that the steps you delineated were not sufficient to achieve a particular goal and they need to be adjusted.
- Expendable - goals will many times fluctuate. God has a tendency to change our hearts and our desires. God may ask you to jettison some of your long term and cherished goals as He works to establish new goals and desires. We are to delight ourselves in God and He will place His desires in our heart making them our desires. (Psalms 37:4)
Having said these things, I have set down in the last few days and mediated on the desires of my heart. Mind you I desire my children and grandchildren to know Christ and Him crucified. I desire my marriage to continue to flourish. I desire to know Christ intimately and deeply. However, I have truly set aside four life goals that I am actively "aiming" for. I trust that when my life is ended it will be said that as nearly possible, I truly was guided by and "accomplished" these goals in the power and strength of our Lord Jesus Christ:
My Desires and Goals are...
- To teach the New Testament verse by verse in its entirety. (Matthew 4:4; Acts 2:42a; Heb 4:12)
- To train men for leadership and service. (II Timothy 2:2)
- To tell the gospel story to as many people as possible for as long as possible. (Matthew 28:18-20)
- To travail in labor until Christ is formed in you. (Galatians 4:19)
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What are your goals or desires?
Have you set goals in various areas of your life?
Do you monitor your steps and goals in order to achieve them, adjust them, or adjudicate them?
What personal goals have you thrown overboard in order to come in line with God's goal for your life?
6 comments:
I think goals are a must, my goals are to get this second book published.....just finished the first proofs and ready for posting,
and to find out why my prodigal son don't want me. It's nearly 6 months since he last spoken, though I have written, emailed, rang up .....and he hungs up, I won't give up.
Have a good day Gregg.
Yvonne.
Several years ago at a conference at First Baptist Church of St. Peters, I heard the pastor of that church, Joe Braden say this: “My ministry goals are simple. I want to finish. I don’t want to be famous; I don’t want to be powerful; I don’t want those things. I just want to finish!” That's my goal: To finish the race. To fight the good fight. To keep the faith. Everything else falls under that heading.
Hmmm! worth thinking about!!!
Very thoughtful and clear, Gregg. I appreciate the questions, too.
Great questions. No way I could answer them in this tiny comment box. :-)
my goal is to live a life honoring to God. I'm still thinking about the short range goals to help me get from here to there.
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