“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NLT
How do you measure success? That’s an important question as you review your goal progress. Your perspective can encourage or discourage you.
When you are discouraged, you will not be motivated to keep moving forward. If you measure success by check marks next to goals achieved, you may find yourself discouraged more often than not. Are you discouraging yourself?
When you set a goal, you want it to be specific and measurable. However, we often set goals that are outside our realm of experience. You don’t know what you don’t know. That means your goal may turn out to be idealistic. We should set completion dates for our goals, but our information and experience are sometimes not enough to help us set realistic timelines. That may lead to discouragement.
Encouragement is a propellant. It is the wind in your sails and the gas in your motor. Encouragement is the needed fuel for this journey. Goal setting is not an exact science and goal achievement requires flexibility. You need a perspective that allows for that to properly measure success.
Keep an eternal perspective. You need to remind yourself that any goal you set is temporal. It only matters if it has impact that lasts beyond you. The goals that matter most are the ones that have to do with helping others know Jesus. Keeping that in mind can go a long way toward proper evaluation of your progress.
Remember why you set that goal to begin with. If you have included God in your goal setting process, then your primary goal is to honor Him. Regardless of what boxes may or may not have checked off on your goal list, if you have remained faithful to honor Him you can count yourself successful.
Give yourself grace. The only way to give yourself grace is to receive it from God. You and I must receive grace from God before we can offer it to anyone else, even ourselves.
I can be pretty hard on myself. It has taken time for me to learn how to receive God’s grace. It started with recognizing that only one perfect person ever walked the earth and His name is Jesus. He knew I could not meet God’s perfect standard and paid the price for my failure. Accepting His sacrifice as payment for my failure helped me begin to receive grace.
I can give myself grace when I remember that I can offer every effort to achieve as an act of worship. God receives the offering whether I achieve or not because the heart is what matters most to Him. Receiving His grace allows me to give myself grace.
Dear friend, staying motivated results from encouragement, and encouragement comes as you focus on what matters most. It’s only then that you can clearly see just how far you’ve come. You are on the right track. Keep it up!
Key Question: How do you measure success?
A Scripture to Consider: “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NLT
A YES Challenge: Prayerfully evaluate your inner monologue. What needs to shift so that you maintain an eternal perspective?
Prayer: Lord, help me accurately measure success. Help me keep an eternal perspective as I work toward the goals I believe You have guided me to pursue. Help me remember that my primary goal is to honor You and fulfill the potential You have put within me. In the end, that means that the Gospel is my goal. Help me receive Your grace and allow it to keep me motivated for Your honor and glory.