God’s Story and Goals
Every now and then, I like to drag down the dusty tome, my high school yearbook, and take a look at that young me, seventeen and shiny-eyed, and think about where I was then and where I am now. I shake my head a little when I re-read my senior quote:
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Phil. 3:12, NIV
And it is a lovely verse, one that in many ways sums up my life. But sadly, as a baby Christian, I had gotten the wrong impression. I thought the verse meant: “Keep working hard to make myself perfect. I’m not perfect yet, but one day I will be.” Obviously, my understanding of Paul’s thoughts on goals was a little off! So, as we close this series on planning and goals, I hereby acknowledge that I’m a little leery of the word goals.
3 Dangers of Goals
Goals can be dangerous…
- When they become about self-improvement.God does have a plan for us, even an ultimate “goal,” but it’s all about his glory and our good. And the gospel provides the transforming power, not our own strong arms pulling ourselves up by the proverbial bootstrap!
- When goals rule our lives rather than love. A mom who has committed to run five miles while her kids are in the nursery at the Y refuses to stop to a friend who waves her down, because the five-minute conversation would prevent her from reaching her goal. (That would have been me about twenty years ago, when I could still run!)
- When we make unrealistic goals and beat ourselves up when we don’t reach them. “I’m going to read the entire Bible in a month” sounds like a worthy goal, but it probably isn’t realistic for a full-time medical student.
So, yes, goals are dangerous when we misunderstand and misuse them. And yet, Scripture tells us we have a planning God who has written his story plan into our very lives. Goals have a place in God’s Story Plan.
How God’s Story of Grace Guides Our Plans
As we survey the entirety of Scripture, we discover a God who created the world with a plan—a good plan. He wrote this very plan into our stories. Let’s review the story to see what we learn about plans—God’s and ours.
- Creation: As we read Genesis 1, we see that God had a clear plan in mind even as he created the cosmos.
He carefully designed Adam and Eve in the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. After he created them, he blessed them. And he gave them a story to live that teemed with purpose and plan as the sea teemed with fish. Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Subdue it. Have dominion over…every living thing that moves on the earth (Gen. 1:29)
- The Fall: Some people believe that God had to sort of “regroup” after Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As Scotty Smith writes,
Because you are the First and the Last, Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of anything between Alpha and Omega. You are God, and we are not. You’ll never have to say “Oops” about anything in world history, or in our stories. You never “try” to do anything. You never have to scratch your head in confusion. You never have to resort to plan B.” (Heavenward Blog).
Right there, in the garden, God pursues Adam and Eve in their nakedness and draws them out of hiding (Gen. 3:9). He announces his plan for redemption even as he curses the serpent:
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15).
There were consequences to the man and woman of their disobedience: now there would be pain and frustration, literal and metaphorical labor as the man and woman attempted to live God’s story plan—to be fruitful, multiply, rule over the earth. Thankfully, this is not where the story ends.
- As we saw, God did not change his plan after the Fall. All along, he had planned to send Christ to give us a new story which would bring him glory.
As people redeemed by Christ, we are called to live with plan and purpose. Consider these three passages:
- 1:9-11: His plan, for his own good pleasure, involves Christ – and us: “At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.”
- 2 Cor. 5: 17: In Christ, we have become new creation. The old has passed away. We are changed and changing.
- 2 Cor. 5:19: We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We have a mission: to call others to God.
- The word “telos” is often translated “aim,” “goal,” or “end” in the Bible. Christ will one day return and finish the work he has begun.
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Rev. 21:6)
For now, we live with intention, waiting for that final day, for the end of the story, when all of God’s plans and purposes will be finally fulfilled. We make plans to live our lives for God’s glory. We learn to live freely and fully in the hope that we have been made righteous by Christ, not our own achievements, betterment, or perfection.
This is God’s story plan. Let’s make plans (and set goals!) to go into the world and love and serve God with this brand new story!
Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash
