We Need Goals

 

Goalposts, Durdham Down by Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What first caught your eye? The beautiful field, the homes in the background? What thoughts and descriptions went through your mind? Oh - you paid attention to the the goalpost!! Good. Because you read the title, or because it is almost in the center of the graphic, and the largest item?

I have goals on my mind today due to a conversation I had with a young lady who changed one of hers in midstream. During our talk, I asked her what she was going to do next summer. Her answer was a job that often offers room/board, but not much money, if any. Fortunately, for her there would be a small income on top of room/board.

"What will you do with it," I asked.

"I intend to save it," she said.

"For what," I insisted, still wondering about her goals.

"I'm saving it to have on hand," she quizically replied.

Knowing she had not made application for college, and also knowing she hadn't mentioned anything about her new path for her future, I had to get a bit more basic. Eventually we discussed possible employment, along with transportion. We both live in a rural area, without an ounce of public transportion.

Thus, I've had goals on my mind - and realized 1) how few I really set in my own life, and 2) how many times mine changed due to events outside my control. I would wager these same items happen in most people's lives.

Yet the Bible tells us of a young, important, probably royalty, with more of a future than others in a kingdom, who came to purpose one thing in his heart that we all can do - Daniel.

In the first verses of Daniel (please, take time to read them on your own), we find Babylon overpowering Israel, and as part of their "peace agreement," the king's children and princes were taken to Babylon, ostensibly as teachers but no doubt hostages. There, they would eat the king's meals, as royalty would expect. But one chose otherwise:

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (Daniel 1:8 KJV)

Jews had laws as to what they should eat, and what they could not eat. There were also Jewish laws about drunkenness, which was prevelant. Daniel set a goals for himself that he would not break God's Law. He achieved his goal, his purpose.

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. (Daniel 1:15 KJV)

What sent me to the Bible for examples was a verse in Proverbs:

Where there is no vision, the people perish: (Proverbs 19:18a KJV)

The Amplified Bible translates "vision" slightly differently:  

Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; (Proverbs 19:18a AMB)

I like that extra explanation. You see, as Christians, we believe that God has a purpose for our lives. We are where we are because God has something for us to do. Paul explains very well in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (again, I ask that you go to your Bible for the whole reference - I'm using the one verse I have highlighted in mine):

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 KJV)

Just as each member of our own bodies have a purpose, so does each Christian. The difference is, the members of Christ's body have free will not to follow what God has in mind for us, but to make decisions on our own. Some members (think church, as well as "body") have actions that not only end up embarrassing them, but is an embarrassment to the congregation where they worship.

That's why Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, and why we would do well to do the same - purpose in our hearts to never be an embarrassment to Christ, unto whom we are baptized. That should be the first goal in our hearts, which will fulfill the most important commandment:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38 KJV)

This is our primary goal. The second, of course, is to love our neighbor (see verses 22:39-40.) The third really falls under the first, which is to live the life God has planned for us. To do that, we must keep in touch with God, and hear His plans for us. Some of those were hidden from people during their early lives - such as Joseph, Daniel and Esther. Who would think a brother sold into slavery, a captive prince, and a woman to replace a rejected wife would follow God into royal palaces and literally save their people? 

Not all of us must make such sacrifices, but in each case here, there were rewards. Jesus followed God's will after praying that He wouldn't have to, for the joy that was to follow:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 KJV)

Like my young friend, set your goals to match what God has told us how to live, for we, too, are receivers of the joy set before us in heaven.