What goals do you have in life? Is it the corner office? A big house? Success? All the money in the world?
Or is it something more inwardly focused like a happy marriage, great kids, and being surrounded by people you love and who love you?
Some reading this post may want to serve the poor and under-resourced or address an injustice in the world. Others may have a more immediate goal of getting past COVID-19. I understand.
Tonight I had the privilege of sitting in a session taught by Piedmont Church’s family pastor Nate Galloway. Nate is a dear friend and a true model of what a godly husband, father, and man looks like (check out his family picture above). He was also the inspiration for my favorite post of 2019 24 Signs Of An Elite Preacher.
Nate was speaking on the subject Jesus Is…. He challenged my thinking as he said to him, “Jesus is the goal.” Nate then expanded on this idea and also taught on 4 Ways To Achieve Goals In Your Life. His content was so compelling I want to share it with you.
In addition, Nate also gives an incredibly unique definition of vision for Christian leaders. Check out the notes below.
- “Jesus is the goal.”
- “What salvation was when I was young when I die I get to go to Heaven. That’s all it meant. Jesus was just that.”
- “As a teenager and young adult I struggled with what it meant to live the Christian.”
- “At age 18 or 19 I had a lightbulb moment… God didn’t just save me to get me into Heaven or out of Hell but to be just like Jesus.”
- “My life was about becoming more about Jesus. My salvation is about becoming like Christ.”
- “Jesus is the goal. He is the goal for us.”
- Matthew 5:48 – Jesus said “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
- Luke 6:36 – “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
- John 13;34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
- John 13:15 – As Jesus was washing the disciples feet, He said, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
- In I Corinthian 11:1 Paul echoed these words when he said, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.”
- “A vision is a revelation from God, a word from God.”
- “Many people without direction are wandering. They are lost.”
- “Salvation is about becoming like Christ. Jesus has taken a hold of us to make us in his image.”
- “Jesus is the goal and the prize. We get Him. We get to become like Him and that is what salvation is about.”
- “I have not arrived. Honestly, in this life we won’t experience it fully but it’s the thing to go after every day.”
- “Glorification will not happen until we take our last breath but God help me, I hope to be more like Jesus than I was before… That’s the goal.”
- “We see in Paul’s like what this looks like. We have a record of what God can do in a person’s life when we look at Paul.”
In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul gave his mission statement and goal, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
In conclusion, Nate added the following 4 Ways To Help Us Achieve Goals In Our Life:
- Aim high but start low… You’re not going to wake up tomorrow and be like Jesus. Celebrate victories along the way. Celebrate the changes.
- Don’t let others set goals for you.
- Be clear on what success looks like. What Would Jesus Do is an important question and needs to be answered.
- Understand why the goal is important. Does it matter?
As I said, this is great content. What is one thing you learned about goals which will make you a better leader?
My book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is available for purchase. If you have ever wanted to become the leader God created you to be, this book is for you! By combining leadership lessons from biblical heroes like Jesus, Daniel and Joseph, along with modern day leaders like Bill Gates, Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant and multiple pastors, Timeless will equip and inspire you. This book is not to be read alone. Discussion questions are included in each chapter allowing you to develop those in your circle of influence. Click HERE or on the image provided and order your copies TODAY.