When you follow Christ, goal-setting gets simpler …

Just because you become a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean you stop setting goals.

Christians can have all kinds of good goals they pursue, like:

“Become a mature Christian.”

“Be faithful and obedient to God.”

“Consistently share my faith with others – be a disciple-maker.”

“Live a life that glorifies God.”

“Be a good spouse.”

“Be a good parent.”

There are any number of “good goals” a Christian can set and pursue in their lives.

But there is one that rises above others.

The Apostle Paul helps us with this “primary goal.” This goal helps us know what to do with our sin-stained past, and how to look to the future. It comes from Paul stating that nothing in life is as valuable as knowing Jesus:

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him …” Philippians 3:7-9a.

Then he reveals how this “infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus” as Lord has impacted his goal-setting:

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us,” Philippians 3:10-14.

This wasn’t Paul’s only goal. For example, he had a goal for his teaching:

“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith,” 1 Timothy 1:5.

And he had a goal for his evangelism work:

“So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me,” Colossians 1:28-29.

Paul had other goals, but the one that drove him at the deepest level was the one that had his greatest focus:

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us,” Philippians 3:13-14.

It would have been EASY for Paul to get mentally and emotionally mired down in his past — he had vigorously and viciously persecuted the church, resulting in Christians being thrown in jail and even dying. I imagine it was a mental battle for him to not want to constantly beat himself up for the man he used to be. But he wasn’t that man anymore! God had changed him, and the Holy Spirit was continuing to transform him, and THAT was what his primary focus was on.

Could there be any greater goal?

While there may be all kinds of goals you set for yourself as a follower of Jesus, setting that goal that captures your primary focus should get easier. We all can benefit by learning, like Paul, to forget the past (learn from it, but don’t get mired down in it, move on!), and look forward to what lies ahead, letting that motivate us to “press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Is that anything like your big goal in life?

Scotty