Three Characteristics of Godly Goals
By Rick Warren
“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
God cares about what kind of goals you set. In fact, he wants three things from your goals:
Godly goals challenge your faith. The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). In order to please God, you need to set goals that require faith. In other words, you should set goals that are too big to reach on your own.
If you set a big goal, God will work in a big way. If you set a medium-size goal, God will work in a medium way. If you set a small goal, God will work in a small way.
Goals stretch your faith. They affirm that you trust God, but they are also statements of how much you trust God. The Bible says, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV).
Godly goals develop your character. When you set a goal that requires faith, you change along the journey as you work to reach that goal.
It’s the plot of a thousand movies—whether the characters’ goal is to win the war, to go to the moon, or to climb Mount Everest. During the movie the characters face obstacles to reaching the goal, and, as a result, their character changes. They grow up.
God wants you to grow up. When you die, you won’t take any of your accomplishments with you to heaven. But you will take your character. Godly goals develop the kind of character God wants you to have.
The apostle Paul says, “I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that. That is the reason Christ made me his” (Philippians 3:12 ICB).
Godly goals give you hope. I once read a study about Holocaust survivors who had been through the hell of death camps. How did they survive? All of them had something in common: They had something to look forward to.
Godly goals give you a reason to endure, even through the most difficult times. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (NIV).
When you have goals, you have the hope to keep moving forward, even when you feel like giving up.
I don’t know what you’re going through today. But no matter what life is like for you, you need a godly goal. Pursuing it will challenge your faith, develop your character, and build your hope.
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