Photo by John Wardell (Netinho)
Category: Planning
The full title of this post would be something like: Living on Purpose—The importance of evaluating and setting goals.
I recently asked a group of Christians to identify an area of their life they would try to improve in 2009 over 2008. I got mostly blank stares. Then I asked them to name a way in which they had improved their life in 2008. Again, deadpan. It quickly became apparent that these folks were not living life on purpose. That is not to suggest that they had no stated purpose; each of them would have certainly affirmed that they live "to glorify God." They did not lack intentions, they lacked intentionality. They lacked a plan. I asked one more question—"Do you go through life in more of a proactive or reactive way?" Not surprisingly, the majority were reactors.
Our Creator intended to make the world. He also intended to send His Son to the cross to save sinners. Fortunately for us, He actually developed a plan to accomplish these goals and implemented it. As beings created in His image, we do well to imitate this pattern of formulating and carrying out plans for worthy achievements. Righteousness is not something one just stumbles upon.
While I am not a fan of New Year's Resolutions, I do encourage new year planning. In future posts, I will offer suggestions for what and how to plan for the upcoming year. In the meantime, I encourage you to give careful thought to how you would like to look back at the end of 2009 and see marked improvement in the areas most pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then consider what steps will help you get there.