Goal-setting according to Bible teaching

Have you made your new year’s resolutions yet? It’s that time again. If you are like Esmie and me, we met some of last year’s goals, but fell short of others. But, they are important. Let me offer some suggestions.

Set goals in your life: finances, career, family, church, community, education, recreation, and health. Keep your life in balance. 

However, one area is of utmost importance. Paul wrote, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day…” (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4).

Paul stated the Gospel, and pointed to the personal spiritual area of our lives. He called it of, “first importance”. 

Our problem is that we are drowning under a deluge of demands that devours our time, and crowds out the important things of life. Paul said to put first things first. 

So, as you take time out to list your goals for 2010, could you give special attention to the spiritual area of your life? 

Look at it this way. Christ thought you were important enough for Him to leave heaven, and come to earth at that first Christmas. His goal was not to provide profit for the retailers selling Christmas presents! Then, He went to the cross to die for your sins, and rose from the dead to give you eternal life. Wow! You are really important to God!

Consequently, doesn’t it make sense to make Him important in your own personal life? Let me suggest one way to make that happen.

Daily carve out a decent section of time to personally be with God and visit with Him. Read and meditate on His word in the Bible. Listen to the insights, confidence, and perspective that the Holy Spirit gives you.

Be sure to talk to Him in prayer. We don’t like to be in one sided conversations, and neither does God. Thank Him for His presence in your life, and the blessings He has given you. Confess your sins. Intercede for those in need, like the flooding in the Philippines, and now the Mayon volcano spouting off. Oh, be sure to ask God for your own needs to be met, too. 

Your spiritual life is the core of your life. The saint of old, Brother Lawrence (c. 1605-1691), said it this way, “I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence…an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God”.

May God richly bless you in 2010.

Dr. Newman, married to Esmie, a Filipina, teaches at Faith Evangelical Seminary, Tacoma. Their website, www.Bible-teaching-about.com, includes an online Bible academy, free Bible studies, and affordable ebooks. Log onto the website, and email us your questions. We will answer! Scripture from the New American Standard Bible, © the Lockman Foundation, 1960-73, used by permission.