We all have goals! Some of us write them down and live our entire lives in pursuit of those goals. Some of us have goals that are easily accomplished in a matter of minutes. For example, when I am hungry, my only goal is to find the nearest Taco Bell! Don’t judge me! We all have weaknesses and one of mine involves a silver bell. When I went off to Basic Training for the Air Force my only goal was to get through without being noticed. Get in, do my best, don’t draw undue attention to myself and get out! I was so focused on accomplishing my goal that I was noticed! I was made an element leader of my Flight and graduated top in my class.
Sometimes the pursuit of your goals leads you to the exact outcome that you were hoping for. Other times, your goals end up better than you could have imagined (like my basic training goal) or they went completely wrong! Setting goals and having a plan is a good thing! I would encourage everyone to have some idea of where they would like their life to go. I have goals: influence goals, family goals, experiential goals, physical goals, financial goals, travel goals and goals for OGC.
However, the problem comes when our goals are pointed in the wrong direction. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” – Proverbs 19:21 (ESV) Are your goals focused on the Kingdom? We just finished our “Royals” sermon series and our duty as a Child of the King is to represent Him! To be an extension of the King! Everything we do in life, every goal we set, every plan we pursue needs to have a Kingdom perspective! I would even go as far to say that every goal not focused on the Kingdom doesn’t matter! They are worthless! There is a lyric of a song I have grown to love it says: “The greatest threat anywhere, is climbing high to nowhere.” “I don’t want to waste my life, don’t want to succeed in things that don’t really matter. Help me to choose my fights and lose my skin in the game that alters forever.” Every goal set that focuses on ourselves will lead to emptiness and discontentment; our dreams can easily turn into disasters!
So what does this mean? Should I trash all my current goals and make new ones? Maybe! Or maybe all you need to do is modify them a bit. Are your goals circled in prayer? Do your goals help advance the Kingdom of God? Are your goals Gods goals? I can’t answer those questions for you. I don’t know your heart or your motivation. However, I do know that goals circled in prayer and aligned with the Kingdom will succeed. They may not look the way we imagined and the journey may be full of trials and pain but our King “is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” – Ephesians 3:20 (BSB)
Make your goals God’s goals!
Pastor Josh
If you want to know more about how to set Kingdom goals I highly recommend the book, The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.
Greatest Threat by Substance Variant
