The Bible’s Best Wisdom for Setting Goals That Actually Glorify God

Audio By Carbonatix

Setting goals seems, on the surface, like it’s a simple process. But it involves more than just writing down your dreams in a planner and getting to work. That’s because it’s important to line your goals up with God’s purposes for your life. When you set goals, you’re deciding how you’ll spend the most valuable resource God has given you: your time.

If you set goals without consulting God, you risk building a life that looks successful to the world but doesn’t actually help you fulfill God’s purposes for you. The good news is that the Bible is overflowing with wisdom on how to line up your goals with God’s kingdom. Here’s the Bible’s best wisdom for setting goals that actually glorify God.

Photo Credit: Unsplash/lilartsy 

1. Seek God right away.

Before you set any goals based only on what you want to achieve, let go of your own agenda and offer your life to God in prayer. Pray like Jesus does in Luke 22:42, saying to God: “not my will, but yours be done.” Remember that you aren’t trying to build your own kingdom; you’re here to learn and do important work in God’s kingdom. Ask God to help you want what he wants for you. Keep in mind that God promises you a hopeful future when you seek him.

He tells you in Jeremiah 29:11-13: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” When you seek God’s plans for you from the start, you’re more likely to hear from God than you are if your own ego isn’t trying to get your attention.   Instead of asking him to bless your plans, you are asking him to show you his plans so you can join him. 

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/FG Trade 

2. Ask God to make you truly wise.

Don’t settle for setting goals based just on what you think will make you happy; aim to set goals that come from wisdom. Ask God to give you the wisdom you need to set the very best goals for your future. James 1:5 promises: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” As you go through the process of discerning the best goals to set, keep Proverbs 3:5-6’s advice in mind: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Sometimes you can set goals that seem good (like getting a job promotion or buying a house) for the wrong reasons, like pride or insecurity. God will give you wisdom to see what’s truly motivating you. Once you can see your real motivation, you can stop chasing things that don’t matter and start focusing on what matters most from God’s perspective. So, do all you can to get God’s wisdom while you’re setting goals. Proverbs 4:7 points out: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/pcess609 

3. Make sure your goals help you love God and people well.

Every single one of your goals should ultimately help you fulfill what Jesus says are God’s most important commands. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-39: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 

When you consider setting a particular goal, ask yourself how it will help you love God or your neighbor more. If you’re considering a goal to save more money, is it so you can be more generous to those in need? If you’re considering setting a fitness goal, is it so you can have more energy to serve in your church and be more present for your family and friends? What matters most is letting God’s love flow through your life, to help you build more loving relationships with God and with other people. Every goal that glorifies God will help you love God and people well. 

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/SeventyFour 

4. Plan hard, but stay humble.

The Bible encourages you to plan, but it warns you against thinking you’re in ultimate control over what happens in your future. Only God can control your future. You can’t assume that all the goals you set now will really become reality. James 4:13-15 gives you a reality check: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” While you’re planning, you should realistically consider the resources required to achieve the goals you’re considering setting.

In Luke 14:28, Jesus talks about the importance of preparing for the future: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” Glorifying God through your goals involves communicating closely with God as your personal guide through the whole process. You may go in directions you didn’t expect to go, at times that are different from what you expected. Proverbs 16:9 reminds you: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” So, plan diligently, but hold your plans with open hands in case God wants to change them along the way to achieving your goals.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImagesMaskot 

5. Focus more on your heart than on your achievements.

From this fallen world’s perspective, a goal is only successful if you reach the finish line. But from God’s perspective, the process – and who you become during that process – is often more important than the destination. Many people’s goals focus on doing, but the Bible focuses most on being. Colossians 3:12-14 reminds you of what your goals for becoming who God wants you to become should look like: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

There’s the focus on love again! Since God’s core nature is love, what’s most important to God is how loving you become. If you achieve a goal to lose weight, but you become irritable and impatient with your family in the process, has that goal really glorified God? If you reach your financial goals but lose your compassion for the poor, have you actually succeeded? As you set your goals, make sure they include objectives for becoming a more loving person while you work toward those goals. God measures your success not by how much you do, but by the kind of person you become.

Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus/ThitareeSarmkasat

6. Work for God’s purposes to be accomplished.

As you work toward the goals God leads you to set, follow the advice in Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” When you view your goals through the lens of how they’re helping you serve God well, you don’t need any validation from other people to keep going. Do your work with excellence, even when no one but God is looking.

Put your best effort into all the work you do on the goals God leads you to set. Work with integrity and use your time and talents to the fullest. This kind of work ethic glorifies God and points other people toward God. As Matthew 5:16 says: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” The more you work well on achieving your goals, the more you can contribute to the world in the ways God intends.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/People Images

7. Trust God with the timing and results.

Finally, it’s important to trust God to bring your goals to life in his timing, and in the best ways. Fast results can be good sometimes, but God’s kingdom often moves much slower, because it includes many different factors from an eternal perspective. While you wait to accomplish your goals, wait with hope. Galatians 6:9 encourages you: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a goal takes longer than you expected, or it changes along the way. You can glorify God by trusting that his “no” or his “wait” is just as loving as his “yes.” If you don’t reach a goal by a self-imposed deadline, don’t assume you’ve failed God. God may be doing work you can’t see yet that requires more time. Isaiah 40:31 promises: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” As long as you’re focusing on God’s will, you’ll be successful from God’s perspective. Don’t worry about trying to control the results of your goals; release the results to God and enjoy the freedom of just doing your best and trusting God to do the rest. 

In conclusion, remember that the best goals are those that move you closer to God. As you look forward and dream about what this next season could hold, remember that God loves you completely and unconditionally. You don’t have to achieve any goals to earn God’s love, and you can’t lose God’s love if you fail to achieve your goals. Just do your best to stay closely connected with God while you set goals and work on them. God will meet you there and help you do the important work he has prepared for you!

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Renel Wackett