Goal Setting, Long Range Planning and the Wrong Focus

I visited a 'Christian Book Store' this weekend and found on the 'top sellers' bookshelf more than one book about how to plan out your life and your church ministry and set your goals, how to make it all purposeful and in Gods will, how to over come your difficulties and all that sort of stuff. I kind of shook my head and chuckled a bit (trying not to make it too obvious to anyone there that I found the best sellers topics sadly humorous).

It was a sad kind of chuckle -- kind of under my breath.

It amazes me that the 'Christian' market for books often mimics the secular 'self help' and 'success' books of the world. Seems that everyone has one focus: get your life right. They think that if you can just get the right goals and the right values and the right formula... sadly, I think the 'Christian' reader seeking these things is missing the point. They are hungry for something that they see on the covers of books, both Christian and secular -- How to live a successful life. And the current Christian religious culture feeds that need. They provide all these great ideas about setting your goals on your principles and (rightly so) your principles should be focused on God.

I do not deny that our principles... our world view guiding principles should be derived from the Bible and God Himself... I just don't know if the next step that these books take is needed.

From my experience in the religious organizations many call "churches", the next "logical' step after setting your principles on God's Word is to set a goal by those principles (either a ministry goal or a personal goal) and then determine steps toward that Goal. This formula seems present at the personal and the institutional levels of religious organizations.

I however want to present another possible path. Goals are great... and founding them on God's wisdom and standards is even better... but I think our BIGGEST goal (and quite possibly our only real goal) should be to seek and know God better!

You might think that is a pretty nebulous and immeasurable goal... maybe it is too simplistic or too 'churchy' sounding. maybe you think it is just not enough. But I think maybe that the reason we get so frustrated trying to do things for God is because we are so busy trying to do something that we think God wants us to do (and we expect Him to bless it) that we miss out on the thing He wants most of us -- He wants his children to be close to Him and LISTEN to him.

If you set a 'ministry' goal of any kind out there and then plan and do things to try to 'build that ministry' and achieve some level of 'success' that is measurable (many 'churches' usually measure that by the three B's... Building, Budget and Butts in the pews) and see God as standing along side that path to the goal or walking with you in it... (as if God thought your plan was better than His). then you have set your focus on this plan, this goal... and not on God.

I know, you figure that God gave you that goal and vision... but I really don't know if God works that way. Seems to me that all the stories in the Bible tell of a different method. IF (Big 'IF') God even tells us His long range plan it is usually not the most detailed picture. and there is rarely a step by step plan to get to that goal. He simply tells us 'the next step' and often the next step does not make a lot of sense.

Jesus told Nicodemus (recorded in John 3) that the people who are Born Again will be like the wind... you will see the effects of their presence and power but you will not know where they are going or where they came from.

I really think that if we simply set knowing Jesus as our long range goal... and listen to him... He will keep giving us the next step in the plan. But the Human 'problem' with doing this is we often never see or understand how a simple daily act of obeying his gentle call to write a note, or say hello to someone, or pray for someone... we often do not see how that really fits the bigger strategic plan of God. We might never meet people or know how our simple act of faith transformed them or planted a seed in them.

I think that might be why setting goals ourselves (even if they are based on Godly Principles) is simply a form of self gratification. Especially if it is measurable... now you can indulge in quantifying how your goal setting and efforts 'for the kingdom' are making a big difference... as if you think God will be impressed.

But just being like the wind... being directed here and there because you are tuned in and seeking God, and he is telling you to do this or that... things that you do not know how they will be effective... that is TOUGH! That is sometimes unrewarding in an achievement sort of way. If we think of it in this way we miss the real reward. HE is our great reward! We should derive our reward by simply laying down all our plans and getting to listen to God's every whisper and prompting -- because when we do that we are relating to God! We are living WITH HIM not just 'for Him'.

I never watched an episode of "Joan of Arcadia" before today. But today a friend showed it to the small group of Christians whom I gather with. In this episode Joan does something to be helpful (which God asks her to do) and gets 'set up' as the one who did something wrong. She ends up having to serve time in a community service project and keeps questioning God about what good she is doing and why she is there. the answer she gets is simply "accept the sacrifice". she never sees the people she touched and the good she did. She in fact tells God she thinks she did no good there. But we see multiple relationships and people touched, all because she was willing to do what God asked her to do.. .a simple thing... pick up some trash - an egg carton) on the ground that someone might slip on... (which puts the eggs in her hands and gets her accused of egging the school principles car) this one thing puts her in the place to bring other people together and achieve God's goals.

She acted like the wind... she did not know why it happened. She did not get the gratification of seeing the results. She just obeyed God and did a few simple things.

If we make Jesus our 'goal', and listen to him, we may never know all the people we touch and how our simple obedience served God's purpose... but that didn't matter anyway. We got the biggest prize. We got to walk with and listen to God!