The Value of Goal Setting
My guess is that New Year’s 2019 was probably the last time that most of us had any hope of following through on our New Year’s resolutions, as 2020 hit us like a freight train. The pandemic caused us to shift our lifestyles, and therefore, either adjust our goals or drop them all together. And as we rolled into 2021, our focus was less on bettering ourselves with New Year’s resolutions and more on survival. However, as life settles into a new normal and realization that we are simply living in a messed-up world where there is little focus on God in the culture around us, I am looking forward to starting the year 2022 with a fresh set of goals for the New Year. More than ever, I’m excited about the prospect of a new start.
As I enjoy the Christmas season, I like to take some time to think about my family, career, ministry, and spiritual life. There is something about reflecting and being around family that helps me think of ways I want to challenge myself and grow in the coming year. Not only do I jot down my own goals and thoughts, I take time to listen to what the Lord may be wanting me to focus on improving, or other ways I can serve Him and be available for Him to work in and through me to draw others into a personal relationship with Him. Sometimes, God nudges me in a direction I wasn’t contemplating, and I’ve learned to open my heart to His leading. While planning is always good, the most important thing we can do is to be ready to surrender our daily agendas and plans, and align our hearts with God’s will and what He has in store for us each day.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
By setting goals and asking God to direct your path, He will lead you in what to do. God has big plans for all of our lives, and we must be attentive to what He is trying to tell us. Having goals that you align with God’s will can bring you closer to God. By praying and reading His Word, your personal relationship with Him will strengthen.
James 4:13-17 says: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. ’Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
So it is critical that as we make our plans and goals for the New Year, we seek God’s will, and then always be ready to change course later if it turns out that God has a different plan for us than what we anticipated, rather than blindly charging on. James continues in verse 4:13 by saying, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” So when you know that God is putting on your heart and asking you to proceed in a certain direction, and you refuse, it is a sin. As a Christian, that doesn’t mean you lose your salvation, but it will hinder the ability of the Holy Spirit to work in your life to provide you the abundant life here that God intends for you. All sin has consequences.
In these last weeks of 2021, take some time to reflect on the goals you had set in the last couple of years that you did not get to see through. Ask God if those are goals you should be focused on, and to help you finish them if it is something you still feel God is calling you to do. Also, during this time, take a moment to think of some new goals you want to accomplish in 2022. Ask how you can be utilized in 2022 as His vessel to help bring others to faith or help them grow in their faith with the Lord.
Pray and ask God to direct your path so that your goals are aligned with His will and can be achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Remember, all we have to ask is for God to make us willing to be obedient to His will. And then He will give us the will and the way to accomplish His goals for us! (Philippians 2:13). He has already prepared good works for us to live into in 2022. Ephesians 2:10 says: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The question is: Will we allow that to happen in 2022?
May God continue to bless you and your family in the New Year!