What would you like to have accomplished a year from now? A year is a long time! Do your plans include improving your walk with Jesus? Are you satisfied with your quiet time? Are you satisfied with your devotions and prayer time? Are you hearing from God on a regular basis? If you are like 100% of the Christians I know, you will have to confess you are falling short of where you want to be! We are never satisfied because the closer we come to God the more we realize how far we still have to go!
Whatever changes we desire to occur in our lives in the next year, we have to set some short-term goals. It is difficult to focus on a goal that is a year or more away. It is similar to looking at a painting from fifty yards away – you can see it, but not well enough to appreciate its beauty. When we can’t see the goal clearly, we tend to get distracted by those things we can see clearly – the day-to-day problems and activities. So we need to create sub-goals that are easier to see and will continually move us towards our ultimate destination.
Think through the steps that it will take to get you to that long-term goal and set your first goal close enough you can see it clearly and can anticipate the results. What do you need to do over the next six weeks to improve your prayer time? What steps can you work through to improve your daily Bible study? Maybe you need to find some books to help you gain more understanding of the topic. Maybe you need to take a weekend sabbatical to pour through God's Word to set your goals and gain direction. If you are looking for "3 easy steps to spiritual fulfillment," forget it! It is going to take some work, but it is worth every minute!
Working towards each short-term goal will bring us closer to that long-term goal we so desire. Remember the words of Karen Lamb, “A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Prepare For Tomorrow
What we do today prepares us for tomorrow. How we react to events today will affect how we react to our problems of tomorrow. What we learn today will guide our decisions tomorrow. How we interact with people today will affect our relationships tomorrow. Today is a stepping stone on the way to the future. Each day is never a moment that stands alone in time; it is the result of how we have built our lives day after day. We don't know what tomorrow will hold, but we can begin preparing for our future anyway.
Phillips Brooks wrote the following challenging statement, "Some day, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process." Don't just react to the events of the day without thinking. Instead, think about the kind of person you want to be and then react like that person would react. You will appreciate it tomorrow.
Phillips Brooks wrote the following challenging statement, "Some day, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process." Don't just react to the events of the day without thinking. Instead, think about the kind of person you want to be and then react like that person would react. You will appreciate it tomorrow.
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