What does a “Godly” goal look like?
After establishing the “Why” of setting godly goals that God desires to bless (they give us hope; focus or energy & efforts; stretch our faith; and build our character), we’re continuing the series by answering the question “What does a Godly goal look like?” Not every goal that you set is a good goal, much less a Godly goal. God hasn’t said, “Go out and set any old goal you want - I’ll bless it no matter what.” God will only bless goals that meet certain criteria:
1. It needs to be based on God’s purposes for your life - not yours or anyone else’s. I think most of us approach God incorrectly by saying (either explicitly or implicitly) “God, here’s my goal, my purpose, my dream, etc. - I’ve worked it all out, figured it all out, down to the nth degree - now, all I need You to do, is bless it!” God doesn’t work like that. God is God and you (and I) are not! He has a unique plan and purpose for your life. His purposes for you are much bigger than what you think they are for you! Also, His purposes are eternal - they are not just for the here and now. Since this life is preparation for the next life in eternity, God’s purposes in our life have that in mind.
2. The aim of a Godly goal is to bring glory to God. “… whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10. And the “whatever” encompasses so much more than just “religious” stuff. As long as you’ve got the right attitude and the right motivation, everything you do can be done to the glory of God. The right attitude says that “no matter what I’m doing, I’m grateful to God for the opportunity.” There’s tons of things you for which you can thank God. Live in an attitude of gratitude. Secondly, you’ve got to have the right motivation - not “I gotta do this” but “I GET to do this”. “Lord, I want to do this so that my life is pleasing to You.”
3. A Godly goal MUST be motivated by love. Goals can stem from so many different motivating streams - greed, pride, ego, arrogance, resentment, anger, guilt - the list is exhausting. But because God is the epitome of love, and He wants us to be like Him, our goals MUST be motivated by love. And the way that this works itself out practically is that RELATIONSHIPS TAKE PRECEDENT OVER ACHIEVEMENTS. Don’t fall into the trap of “loving things and using people” - do the opposite: “love people and use things”.
4. Godly goals are only achieved with God’s power. There are so many “self-help” books out there on the market, that you couldn’t get half of them read if you spent an entire lifetime. But their weakness is in the meaning of the title of the category in which they’re placed: SELF-help. Broken things don’t “fix themselves” - and neither do broken people. We’ve failed miserably at many of the goals we have set in and for our lives simply because we were trying (and maybe STILL are trying) to achieve them in our own strenght instead of trusting in, asking for, and acting upon the power of God. You want to be a success in life? The Bible says “You will not succeed by your own strength or your own power, but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6, NCV) … the biblical “formula” is found in Proverbs 3 - “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart; do NOT depend on YOUR own UNDERSTANDING. Seek HIS WILL in all you do, and He will direct your paths.”
A wise person once said, “When all else fails - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!” God has clearly instructed us in His Word about what it’s going to take to fix what is broken … and He’s already taken the first and biggest step. He’s already initiated the “cure” - how will you and I respond?
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