We’re just a few days into January, and new year’s resolutions are already breaking all around us like campaign promises after election day. This year was going to be the year you drank more water, exercised more regularly, watched less TV, or gave up coffee and sodas. So how are you doing so far?
What about your spiritual goals?
If we’re honest, most of us never even think about setting goals for our spiritual lives, but did you know that it is God’s will for us to have spiritual goals? Consider a few things from Scripture:
1. God is goal-oriented
Think about God’s plan for redeeming His people through Christ. Before Man even fell, God had a goal in mind to redeem us, and He alludes to Christ as early as Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” In addition, Acts 17:26 says He determines the exact times and places where we should live, and Ephesians 1:9-10 says that His goal is to bring all things in heaven and earth together under Christ.
2. God created us with goals in mind
We were made in the image of a goal-setting God, and right from the beginning He spelled out some specific goals for us in Genesis 1:26-28: Be fruitful. Increase in number. Fill the earth. Subdue it. Rule over the fish, the birds, and the animals. And that was just the beginning!
3. God’s people had spiritual goals
In Phil. 3:10-14, Paul clearly states one of his spiritual goals: “I want to know Christ.” Then he compares his spiritual journey to a race in 1 Cor. 9:19-27 and explains that instead of leaving his spiritual life to chance, he takes a logical, detailed approach to spreading the gospel and growing in Christ.
4. God’s will is for you to have spiritual goals
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (2 Peter 1:5-9).
Peter gives us a clear command in 2 Peter 1:5-9. He says that we are to “make every effort” to grow spiritually and to possess fruits of the spirit in “increasing measure.” If we don’t, we risk becoming spiritually “ineffective and unproductive.” And who wants that to happen!
I definitely believe in taking a proactive rather than a reactive approach to personal spiritual growth, but there are also a few “disclaimers” that need to be considered both now and regularly throughout the year.
1. Check your Motives
There are definite benefits to a logical and detailed approach to spiritual growth, but don’t forget the underlying motivation. You want to know Christ and to grow spiritually. If you find your spiritual life becoming nothing more than a check-list of tasks and to-dos, then it might be time to reevaluate.
2. Remember Grace
If a few weeks go by and you realize you’ve gotten off course, don’t condemn yourself to inactivity or write yourself off as a worthless cause. We live under grace, not under the law, so avoid the pit of legalism when analyzing your progress. The best thing you can do is pick up where you left off and move forward.
3. Don’t forget the inside!
If your spiritual goals are not leading to a changed life on the inside, it could be that you’re just going through the motions. Remember Christ’s word of caution to the Pharisees: “You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28).
Thanks for sharing my planner! I struggle with remembering grace. Which is why my planner was named Growing in Grace 😉 I am really working on that this year! I am one woman. I am imperfect. I am never going to accomplish everything perfectly. I am HUMAN!! I am really trying to focus on that this year. God shows me grace; I need to show myself grace and perhaps not set my own personal standards so insanely high!