KNOW YOUR GOAL
29th Jun 2022
When you watch athletes performing, they are very focussed, aiming to win, to improve, to press on to achieve what they have set out to do. You see their passion, disappointment when they don’t succeed, and courage as they start over again with desire renewed and the goal firmly before them.
Paul likens the Christian life to a race with a goal and focus and in Philippians 3:12-14 he encourages us to keep our focus and renew our vision.
In Acts 26 you get a summary of Paul’s vision for his life. He describes meeting Jesus and being assigned his life purpose and calling - as The Message puts it,
“I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you. I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.”
What is your goal in life? If you aim at nothing, that’s what you will achieve! So what are you called to be and do?
Jesus was very young when He got separated from His parents whilst visiting Jerusalem, but He knew He had to be about “His Father’s business.” Later in John 4:34, He speaks out His goal to the disciples, “to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
Your goal could be different from mine, but you need to have one! You have been chosen, adopted, are valued and have a specific purpose designed before the foundation of the world. In general terms, we are called as believers, to walk with Jesus, to listen to His voice and obey, to know Him, to see ourselves becoming more like Him, and to please Him.
We can lose our focus. Paul talked about maintaining clear vision. I find myself praying for clarity to keep running the race set out for me. I also pray the same for the body of Christ, and for church leaders, that we all will know our goal and keep pressing into our calling.
by Joyce Sibthorpe
