DAY 20

EYES ON THE GOAL

MATT CIARAMITARO, GENERATIONS PASTOR, THE WOODS CHURCH

Let’s start with a question: What is your goal? Not just your immediate daily goal, or productivity goal, or health goal, but your life goal. When it comes down to it, what do you want your life to be about? My friend Bob Goff said, “If you don’t decide what you want your life to be about, someone else is going to decide for you.” In other words, if you don’t get intentional and specific about it, then you are going to fall short of your hopes and dreams. As I often tell our students, “everybody ends up somewhere, but only some end up somewhere on purpose.” Which type of person do you want to be?

What’s crazy is, God has given you the amazing gift of life, and He is leaving it up to you to decide what to do with it. (He wants to guide you and direct you, but it’s your choice.) This might stress you out.  In fact, some of us would rather somebody else decide for us, but that’s not how it works. Paul, author of much of the New Testament, shares about his life’s goals, and I think we can learn from them:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him… Philippians 3:7–9

Let’s break this down. Paul says that whatever he thought was important before doesn’t matter anymore; in fact, they don’t even come close to what he wants now, which is knowing Christ.  He’s so committed to that goal that he would lose everything just to attain it. He goes on to say…

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal [emphasis mine], but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal [emphasis mine] to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12–14

Paul says that he is straining toward and pressing on toward the goal. This is pretty physical and committed language. To Paul, the goal means everything. It is not something he decided to come up with to check the box. He’s not going through the motions or just giving wishful thinking dressed up as direction.

People and companies do this all the time. They throw out nice-sounding goals, but they don’t really mean anything. Just look at many big companies like McDonald’s, Facebook, Nestle, BP, or Amazon. Their stated goals sound aspirational, but in reality, profit sets the direction for their decisions.

This is why your goal is so important. What you make your goal, you give power to. In other words, whatever you pursue is what controls you. It’ll control your heart, attitude, emotions, schedule, finances, everything.

Oftentimes, we will get distracted from our goals by lesser things. This is why defining and reminding yourself of the goal is so important. The moment you take your eyes off the goal, the moment you start to drift away. When I was younger, I used to mountain bike often with my friend Tony, who was an excellent rider. Me? Not so much. I often found myself off trail, slamming into trees or bushes. Tony would tell me to focus on the path, and the bike would steer in the right direction, but as soon as I took my eyes off the goal and looked at the obstacles, the bike would steer me into trouble. The lesson here, keep your eyes fixed on the goal. (Hebrews 12:2)

In fact, this is one of the four core values that we teach our preteens: “Run Towards the Goal.” In addition, before we take 100 teenagers across the country on a summer trip, we have an entire pre-trip meeting to communicate the goals. We spend time discussing both what we are going to do to accomplish them, as well as what we aren’t going to do, so we don’t miss out.  For example, if the primary goal was to have as much fun as possible, then we would stay up until 2:30 am, eat whatever we want, and laugh at others’ expense. However, that’s not the goal. The goal is to grow in relationship with the Lord and grow in relationship with each other. When every single person is running toward that singular goal, it’s a beautiful sight to see, and the difference is obvious.

As we close, I want you to ask yourself the question, “What do I want?” It’s not selfish, it’s strategic. Follow Paul’s example, and get clear about what it is that matters in your life. Use accurate language. Finally, do it again, but ask yourself, “What does God want?” One goal of prayer is to have the answer to these two questions look more and more the same.

PRAYER: Jesus, my heart is pulled toward so many goals, but I pray that You would help me rest in the simplicity of being with You as my highest pursuit. As I sit with You and reencounter Your perfect love for me, I’m reminded that You count me as righteous because of my faith in You. What more could I ask You for that You haven’t already given to me? Your forgiveness, grace, and mercy are all I need to sustain me. God, all I want today and for my life is to remain in Your love and to see all other pursuits as worthless in comparison to Your goodness. Amen.