Focusing EffortSample

STOP SETTING GOALS

The Apostle Paul had no defined target goals beyond preaching the good news, raising young leaders, and touching base with churches planted to keep them on point (Acts 20:24). He didn’t set a goal for numbers of people in these churches or how many would be planted. He didn’t know if he’d survive his first mission excursion, let alone be used to reach the world with the gospel. I’m convinced: Paul’s flexibility led to his productivity.

Our primary aim should be joining God, not setting goals. We need to get our life aligned with God’s will. We often think we need to develop grand plans for what we’ll do or achieve. We see influencers around us and measure our worth or our pursuits up against them. Two errors can happen when we think this way:

1. We keep stacking ourselves up against other people and feel like we fail.

2. We resign ourselves that our life won’t count enough, so we leave too many chips on the table.

Goal setting has some value but not before you know who you are and how you are. What I mean by “how you are” is God’s unique design of your life—how you are equipped by God with all your passion, gifts, and talents. When you were unfolding in your mother’s womb, God was mapping out every one of “the days that were formed” for you (Ps. 139:16).

Goal setting has value, but it’s not the most important thing you can do. Knowing your calling and where precisely to focus your effort is far more critical than goal setting. I’ve seen over time that what matters most is not lofty goals but a rigorous consistency of executing the right things in my daily life. These things are easily discerned and unique to the way God has wired each of us.

This four-day study is going to equip you to discern the way God has wired you so that you can focus your effort on what matters most and take hold of the abundant life God has promised you. In less than a week you’ll learn how to let your gifts find you and write a personal mission statement that will help you keep your eyes on “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

GET FOCUSED:

• Are you a goal-setter? How is that working for you? Does it tempt you to compare yourself with others? Does it keep you scattered, trying to tackle too many things?
• Pray and ask God to replace your hustling with focused effort on what He has called you to do. Pray for a soft heart through the rest of this study.