Are you looking for truths that change how you set goals?
Do you desire peace and clarify in planning your days and year?
I don’t know about you, but I struggle to make goals that aren’t selfish or that don’t overwhelm me. My soul has needed liberation from the bondage of “doing.”
Also, it’s mid-January. The high of making goals is wearing off as we actually have to accomplish those things now. (If you’re even a person who makes goals and resolutions each year).
Maybe the overwhelm is setting in. Perhaps you’ve already failed. It could be that life is blowing up in your face (or is about to) – your goals and dreams for the year are shredded.
Or maybe you’re rocking your goals and resolutions so far and you’re on a success high!
Either way – I want to draw you to Jesus as we move into 2020 together. Feast on these truths that change how you set goals.
Remember, your production does not determine your value.
Repeat this over and over to yourself. “My production does not determine my value. My production does not determine my value. My production DOES NOT determine my value.”
Dear one, you are valuable because you are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and because you are chosen, adopted, and redeemed (Ephesians 1:3-10). You cannot add anything to Jesus’ work on your behalf. He has fully satisfied the Father’s hatred of your sin so that when God looks at you, He sees your account filled to the brim with Jesus’ righteousness.
Surely, we still produce and work hard. Rest does not equal sluggardly living. We run hard that race before us (Philippians 3:14). We steward the gifts God gives us to the best of our abilities by His power (Matthew 25:14-30).
But, we don’t have to pursue completed check-lists at the expense of our children. A clean house doesn’t mean we’re more valuable than a dirty one. The next raise or promotion doesn’t give us more worth. A hyper-successful blog or ministry doesn’t get anyone extra brownie points in the Kingdom.
Jesus is enough.
The Apostle Paul knew human greatness, he had every reason to bask in his own glory (Philippians 3:2-7). Yet, he considered all the trappings of a successful life “as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8a, ESV). He then strove hard in his life, not to make much of himself, but to “know Him and the power of His resurrection, [and to] share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10, ESV).
So, dear one, you are free to rest!
Rest from the NEED to succeed and produce. Rest from your ambition driving you forward to greatness. Do not let production rule your life. Accept the peace Jesus’ offers.
You have a king and a Savior – and it’s not your day-planner.
We follow the leading of the Spirit, and He always points us to Jesus. Walk into this next year fixing your eyes on Him who gives you life and worth. Allow His truths to change how you set goals.
Your ambition can keep you from being great.
Greatness in Jesus’ Kingdom runs counter to our natural instinct. The book of Matthew traces the theme of “greatness” with surprising results:
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4, ESV).
“But, many who are first will be last” (Matthew 19:30).
“So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16, ESV).
“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26b-28, ESV)
“The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12)
Those who are to be great in the Kingdom of God are to be servants of all.
The first shall be last.
Humility leads to honor.
Dear one, what if your ambition keeps you from being great?
You desire to do great things! Good!
You may have already drawn up a list of all you will achieve and accomplish this year. You’re breathless with excitement and ready to change your life in positive ways.
Now pause.
.
.
.
Check your heart.
Are you seeking greatness through production and success, even if only in the eyes of your husband, children, or friends? Does your heart intrinsically understand greatness to be what Jesus describes?
Goal planning and dreaming are not inherently bad. God commends wise stewards to consider carefully how to best use their time and resources for His glory. But, we must be careful to have an accurate understanding of glory.
For Jesus:
Glory = servitude
Honor = last place
Greatness = obedience and death
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)
The path to greatness requires pain and suffering. We don’t get a shortcut around the excruciating road of dying to ourselves and our human ambition.
Yet, in the end, we get what we were created to long for – Jesus.
Dear one, I’m not asking you to scrap your carefully laid plans and goals. But I encourage you, consider what you’re chasing, and ask Jesus if He has another path. He will teach you truths that change how you set goals in every area of life, from devotional plans, to your job, and in your family.
Because. . .
Who you are matters more than what you do.
As you seek Jesus and the above truths embed themselves in your heart by the work of the Spirit, you will discover that WHO are you are matters more than WHAT you do.
God’s goal for your life is not “happiness” as the American dream paints it – success, production, self-sufficiency. He desires to transform you from death to life. He certainly has good works for you to do and succeed in (Ephesians 2:10). But He most wants to create in you the image of Jesus.
WHO you are will become like Him.
WHAT you do will then just be an outflow of His grace.
Dear one, I encourage you this year, focus on Jesus and cooperating with Him as He changes the fabric of who you are.
May at the end of this year you look back with joy, not just at completed goals and checked off lists, but may you linger on the life-change that has occurred. You are now more patient, where last year you were in a hurry. There is an honest joy in your life, where before anxiety and anger reigned.
This change doesn’t occur through your will-power and self-improvement, who you are changes because of WHO works in you.
“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
He gives you the desire for Him, and then He gives you Himself and changes the fabric of your being (see Psalm 37:4).
So, let’s get practical.
What does it look like to allow these truths to change how you set goals?
Dear one, the above truths are heart-truths. They are things the Holy Spirit must give you an understanding of deep in your bones.
You can do all the right things outwardly, and still:
- Look for your value in production (just maybe in production of spiritual fruit rather than check-lists)
- Seek to have your ambition fulfilled more than knowing Jesus
- Believe what you do matters as much or more than who you are.
So, as we seek to apply what we’ve learned –
First, rest in Jesus’ work.
If none of your goals or dreams for this year come to be – He will hold you fast, safe with the Father for eternity. Your soul is as secure as you are in Him.
You don’t have to perfectly craft your goals and plans for the year in order to be a success. You can walk humbly, day-by-day seeking what He has for you.
Secondly, take stock of where you’ve been and where you are.
Look for threads of what God is doing right now, and has been doing in your life over the past several years.
Admit the difficulties you have right now and anticipate in the future (chronic illness, new baby, moving, changes in routine, etc.).
Write down any themes you sense the Spirit wants to bring to your attention.
Perhaps pondering these questions will help:
- Where do you feel like you NEED to succeed and produce? Why?
- Where does production rule your life? What are the consequences of that?
- What does the “greatness” you long for look like? How does that compare with Jesus’ understanding of greatness (Matthew 18:4; 19:30; 20:16, 26b-28; 23:11-12)?
- Where in life are you most ambitious?
- How is your ambition keeping you from being great?
- Where are you confusing what you do with who you are?
- Where is the Spirit of God telling you He wants to transform and make you new?
Submit those themes and ponderings to Jesus. Use them to guide your goal setting.
Lastly, look out for PART 2 next week – How to Set a Simple Intention for Your Year.
How do we incorporate these truths into our planning and goal setting for this year? Learn with me easy ways to cooperate with Jesus as we structure our goals around who God is and who He wants for you to become.
DONNA MILLER
You are so right! What I produce does not measure me. This year the Lord led me to choose the guiding word ‘Blessed’ to help me rest, be still, and receive from Him. Every year I pick a power word that drives me. Not this year. Laid my ambitions down to abide in and with Jesus. And it’s been glorious so far! ❤
Jessica Jenkins
I love your word! As I’ve been reading through Genesis this month I’ve been struck over and over with how God blesses His people. “Bless” is probably one of the most repeated terms in Genesis so far. Cannot wait to see what God does with your word this year!