Episode 293: I’m Talkin. . .Goal

I’m talking episode 293 for November 26th, 2023.

This is Joel from the I’m talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking goal.

Goal is a good word.

I think setting goals and trying to reach something that is out in front of you is good.

In fact, we often define people in a way that says they are goal-oriented, which is in general a good way to describe someone, unless it gets in the way of just being a person or being with people.

If everything has to be a goal, then maybe that could be bad.

Or if we see someone that doesn’t ever set goals, so there is no goal for them, we may think they’re aimless or shifty or lazy or something like that.

But sometimes having a goal is all we can think about at the exclusion of everything else.

So as with maybe everything, there is some good and bad to how we view a goal in our life.

But not having a goal at all, I think, is just as bad as or maybe worse than having so much focus on a goal that you don’t think of anything else.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

So interesting question that crossed my mind as I thought about having a goal as a Christian.

And the question that crossed my mind was, are we allowed to have a goal at all?

Aren’t we supposed to think of others first and not ourselves?

And is being goal-oriented as a Christian mean we’re more focused on ourselves?

And I think sometimes we get people that feel that way.

But the reality is that you can think of others when you’re setting a goal for yourself.

You can think of being a better dad, a better husband, a better person in general, a co-worker.

And that goal means you have to serve others.

And so I think as a Christian, we must have a goal.

You know, I think of Jesus’ time on earth, and he really had things that he was there to accomplish.

And I think that whether you call that a goal or not, I think in the end, that is what it looks like.

And I think our time on earth as Christians, we must have a goal that we are trying to attain.

The thing is, when you look at a goal as a Christian, it’s going to look different from the rest of the world.

As a Christian, when we set a goal, whether it’s to get ahead at work, which is not bad, it’s not bad to be in a position of authority.

There’s nothing wrong with that, to use your God-given talent.

But when we set that goal, we are thinking of others in that setting.

We are thinking of not stepping on others to reach the top, but of being partnered with others and have them want us to reach the top.

Using others not for our own benefit, but using others to benefit the organization or the community or world as a whole.

And so how do our goals as Christians look different?

Well, when we set a goal, it has to be tempered by things of Christ.

It has to be tempered by love of other people.

You know, the second and greatest commandment, Jesus said, is to love your neighbor as yourself.

So when we have that goal in mind, we have to be thinking of love.

I think we also have to be thinking about grace.

We have to be thinking about giving others the freedom to get in our way of making a goal and not getting bent out of shape about it.

And I think we have to be different in how we look at our goals as a Christian.

And that really is going to come down to love, grace, peace, joy, patience.

And what are those things that I’m talking about?

Those are fruits of the spirit.

And I think if our goal as Christian is tempered by the fruits of the spirit, we’re on the correct path.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.