Dear friend,
Over the last four weeks, two of my heroes have come to our church to preach for me. This has given me a wonderful opportunity to reflectively read the word of God and pray with a listening ear. Too often the weekly deadline of preaching another message pushes me away from slowly marinating in the word of God and letting Him speak to my heart and mind.
As I have been reading and praying in this manner, I have thought a lot about the future of our church and where God is leading us to go. A lot of writers and seminar speakers like to talk about the importance of setting goals. And in particular they talk about S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. is an acrostic for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-constrained or some other similar variation.
In large measure I agree with much of what these speakers and writers share. But I believe in a slightly different variation. I believe that each one of us, as followers of Christ, needs Christ-honoring goals for our lives. I believe that setting goals and planning is prayerfully seeking to know God's heart and mind for our lives, rather than dictating to God what His will for our lives should be. So let me offer you a slightly different acrostic for S.M.A.R.T.
S - Specific, but giving God room to do what pleases Him most: Goals that lack specificity can leave us without a real sense of direction to guide our actions. But we also need to understand that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are God's ways higher than ours. God oftentimes chooses to work in ways that we would have never planned. When this happens, we need to humbly yield to Him.
On one occasion the apostle Paul was planning to go to a place called Bithynia for ministry (Acts 16:6-10). But then the Spirit of God redirected the apostle Paul to Macedonia. As a result of Paul's flexibility to the leading of the Spirit, the lives of many people were changed in cities like Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. Paul's plan was to go to Bithynia. God's will was for him to go to Macedonia. Paul surrendered his plan to God's will, and today we still reap the blessing of reading the books of Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians in our Bibles.
Specific goals can be very helpful. But we need to balance this by being flexible and giving God room to do what pleases Him most.
M - Measurable and in measure with how God has gifted us: I believe goals need to be quantifiable. But I also think the measure we use needs to be in measure with how God has gifted us.
Not all of us are equally gifted, but we are all vitally important to our Master. And nothing that we do is unimportant to Him. No one should ever think that because we are not as gifted as others, that our actions no longer matter or have value to God. We need goals that properly understand our part in God's plan. And we need to faithfully fulfill the stewardship we have from God.
In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells the story of a master who goes away for a journey, and he entrusts each of his three servants with a portion of his property until he returns. To one slave he gave a portion of five talents, to another two, and to the third he gave one. According to Jesus, the master gave them a portion of his property in keeping with their ability.
When the master returned, he rewarded the first two slaves for their diligent service and doubling the portions that the master had entrusted them. But the master was deeply disappointed with the third slave, because of his wickedness and laziness. The third slave had only buried the talent entrusted to him, and so he had nothing to show his master on his return.
What are you doing with the time, talent, and treasure that God has entrusted you? What will our Master say to you when He returns? Each of us has a holy trust from our Master. We need to use it in measure with God's trust to us. To whom much is given, much is required. He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.
A - Aligned: Our goals must be aligned with God's mission for our lives: As followers of Christ, we do not get the privilege of choosing our mission for our lives. And it is hugely important for our goals and ambitions to be fully yielded to His mission and plan for us.
God's mission is for every believer to be involved in the task of making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). God wants us to make disciples who worship Him, grow in Him, serve Him, and reach others for Him.
R - Rooted in Scripture and born in prayer: When our goals are rooted in Scripture and born in prayer, we can have a greater assurance that we are truly being guided by what is important to God and with the assurance of His blessing.
When we delight in God's word, when we meditate on it day and night, then we will be like a tree firmly rooted by streams of water. We will live fruitful lives. We will have spiritual vitality. We will be successful in all that God wants us to do (Psalm 1:1-3).
When we come to God in prayer, not "dictating" to Him our will for our lives, but humbly listening to Him speak to us through His word, then we will hear God speak to us about His plans and will for us (Eccl. 5:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; and Jer. 29:11).
T - Time-constrained, but with an eternal perspective: Although it is important for us to have timelines for our goals and a right understanding for sequential action, we also need to understand that God's timeline is guided by His infinite wisdom and perfect plan. In Galatians 4:4-5 the Bible tells us that in God's perfect timing He sent His Son, born of a woman, and born under the law so that He might redeem those under the law.
What about you? What are some goals that you have for your spiritual lives? If you don't have any spiritual goals for your life or if it has been a while since you have taken time for prayerful reflection on how God wants to work in and through your life, I would like to encourage you to take some time to listen to God with a humble heart and partner with Him in how He wants to work in and through your life.
Warmly in Christ,
Pastor Gary
