What day of the year are more goals set than any other day of the year? This coming Friday or New Year’s Day. Michael Hyatt in a video series called 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever says that traditional goal setting doesn’t work. He backs up this statement with these facts:
1. 95% of those who lose weight on a diet plan regain it and some gain more than they originally lost.
2. 25% of people abandon their New Year’s resolution after one week and 60% after six months.
3. The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 times in a row without success.
I read about a recent medical study that reported nearly 600,000 people undergo heart bypass surgery each year in America. Because the procedure is a temporary fix, afterwards patients must make lifestyle changes by eating healthier, quitting smoking, exercising, reducing their stress. It becomes a life or death issue! But the study revealed a shocking result. Ninety percent of heart patients don’t change. They continue the same path prior to their surgery. They know change is important and consequences are life-threatening, but they stay the same
(Reginaldi, Paul; Dodson, Amanda (2013-08-20). Revitalized Church, How To Leave A Legacy Church (Kindle Locations 1316-1322).
Is goal setting Biblical? Did you know that God planned the universe with a goal? In eternity past, He planned the ages to come, the death of Christ, our salvation, the church, and end time events. Listen to Jesus confirmation of what I just wrote in Matthew 24:36: “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled…. but of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Theologian A. H. Strong wrote: “He foreknows the future which he has decreed, and he foreknows it because he has decreed it. His decrees are eternal, and nothing that is eternal can be the object of foreknowledge” (Systematic Theology, chapter three). Theologians call God’s plan the decrees of God. There are three views of the decrees of God: Supralapsarianism, Infralapsarianism and Sublapsarian. My view (sublapsarian) is that God decreed to create, permit the fall, make a provision for all, and then to save them who believed. In other words, God plans and if we are going to be God-like, let’s plan for 2018.
Isaiah wrote of God’s plan with a goal in 46 :10, 11: "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure .... yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I hare purposed. I will also do it." The apostle Paul also wrote of God’s plan with a goal in Ephesian 3 :11: "according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our lord."
What is the GOAL of God’s plan? That “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God” (Philippians 2:9). Luke recorded one of the apostle Paul’s goal in Acts 19:21: “Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” About six years later, in Acts 28, Paul achieved this goal. Two of those six years were spent in prison (Acts 24:27). But this did not stop Paul. Goals are not easily achieved. It takes sacrifice.
Much has been said about SMART goals, which is an acronym that gives five criteria for good goal setting: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound. One of my SMART goals for 2018 is to read through the Bible in 2018 and lead Open Door Baptist through the Bible in 2018. I am going to preview each Sunday the chapters to be read for the coming week so our members can get more out of reading God’s Word. My Biblical goal for 2018 is to read the Bible through in one year.
1. It is Specific
I challenge you to set one specific goal for 2018. Not “I am going to read my Bible more in 2018.” But “I am going to read through the Bible in 2018.”
2. It is Measurable
We have a guide that tells us how many chapters to read each day. It is usually four chapters a day.
3. It is Actionable
This goal starts with an action verb “Read” rather than a to-be verb: “Be” a better Christian. Of course, I believe reading God’s Word more consistently will help me and our church “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
4. It is Realistic
We can read four chapters a day, which for most of us is going to take about 30 minutes each day. For some this is going to stretch us and force us out of our comfort zone to be better followers of Christ. J. C. Penney once said, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk” (Dave Ramsey. EntreLeadership (Kindle Locations 664-666). Howard Books).
5. It is Time-bound
This goal will be met December 31. Again, the goal is not “read my Bible more in 2018.” It is “read through God’s Word by December 31.”
About the blessed man in Psalm 1, it is written, that he “delights in the law and in His law does he meditate day and night.” Moses commanded Joshua in 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.” Reading and studying through the Bible in one year is one way to practice these verses on reading and meditating on God’s Word.