“O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.” Proverbs 23:26 NLT

 It’s still early in the year. Have you set some goals yet? If so, did you include God in your goal-setting process? Loving God is about making Him the center of all we do. You and I know that. But do we let our love for Him dictate how we approach setting goals?

Essentially, there are two ways to approach including God in the process. The first is to set goals based on what you want and what you think is best. You may pray and believe these goals are the ones God is speaking to you, which is good. The final step in that process is to ask God to bless your efforts and help you achieve those goals.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that approach. Your desire is to honor God and that is wonderful! However, let me propose a better way.

In the second approach, you put God at the center from the beginning. You ask God what He is doing and how He wants you to participate. You ask Him to guide you in setting goals that achieve His purpose. I grow in my love for God when I focus my goal-setting process on hearing His heart and bringing Him glory. Here’s some perspective.

God-centered goals focus on what He is doing around me. Loving Him and listening to His heart means my eyes are more open to what is happening around me. I recognize when He is at work in a situation. I notice when He wants to move at a slower pace than I prefer. I hear another person’s words through the filter of what He wants to accomplish in and for them.

When I am more aware of what God is doing and wanting to do than my own desires, I can set goals that align with His. There is nothing more satisfying!

God-centered goals reveal what He wants me to do to achieve His goals.  When I see and hear what He is doing around me my question becomes, “God, how do you want me to fit into Your plan and purpose here and now?”

Honestly, I haven’t set goals for this year yet. After several years of working from home and setting my own schedule, I now report to someone else and work in an office. I am still in the process of listening to see what God is doing around me and asking Him how the different pieces of my puzzle fit together.

My book is with the editor and will be published in the next few months. How does that fit with what God is doing as I work in the church office? I still have coaching opportunities through my ministry network, but that area of ministry looks different than it did. How does that fit with what God wants to do around me now?

I am still listening and when I have a clearer idea of what God is doing, I will have a clearer idea of what He wants me to do. My goal is to keep Him at the center of my plans. My deepest desire is to honor Him and bring Him glory.

God-centered goals focus on making me more like Jesus.  Jesus’s goal on earth was to do the will of the Father. That was it. The will of the Father was that Jesus came to sacrifice Himself in payment for the sins of humanity so that our relationship with God could be restored. Jesus came to remove the obstacle to receiving God’s love. He did not deviate from that goal. He obeyed the will of the Father, even though it meant His death, the sacrifice of any personal dreams to fulfill the Father’s goal.

The Father’s goal for you and me is that we reflect the character of Christ. He wants us to look like Jesus. Following Jesus is not about doing all the right stuff. Believe me, I have been there and tried to do that! Following Jesus means I allow my character to be shaped so I respond to life as He responded. With love for God and people and obedience to all the Father required. That is the heart of God-centered goal setting.

Don’t get me wrong. God-centered goal setting will always include action. There will be tasks to accomplish. But the heart of God-centered goal setting is so much more than getting things done. It is about moving the needle on bringing God’s glory to the whole earth. You may do great things for God, but the greatest thing you can do is walk with Him and reflect Jesus. The more you know Him, the more you will make Him known. That is the goal. His glory.

God-centered goal setting is about saying YES to God’s ways. It is an expression of a heart given to Him. Including God in your process is a way to say, “I love You.” When you say YES to God He will do more in you than you ever expected and more through you than you ever imagined. That is the result of God-centered goal setting.

Key Question: Do you love God enough to do things His way?

A Scripture to Consider: “O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.” Proverbs 23:26 NLT

A YES Challenge: Set aside a listening season of several days or weeks. Ask God what He is doing around you and how He wants you to fit into His plans. Then set one or two goals that align with what He shows you.

Prayer: Dear Father, I always thought goal setting was about doing more and accomplishing great things for You. I still want to do that. But what I want most is to know You and represent You well in all that I do. Help me set goals that do that. Help me set the goals that are important to You so that I can become who You designed me to be and reflect Jesus better for Your honor and glory. Amen.