Life Goals

My high school teacher advised me to make a choice. He knew that I had many interests and God-given abilities. He said, “You need to decide if you want to know a lot about one thing and very little about everything else — or to know a little bit about everything and be an expert in nothing.”

Throughout life, I’ve wavered. I wanted to know a lot about everything — an unattainable goal. So also is the goal to know a great deal about one thing, although this is the choice of many. Being interested in much has scattered my attention and left me with that ‘pillar to post’ sense of never being able to focus on anything.

However, God has finally got it through my head that skills, interests, fields of endeavor, careers, and so on will not last. I painted only to find that even artists live in a cut-throat realm. I’ve taken many other routes and found them to be distractions rather than a way that meant something.

Initially the Bible pointed me in the right direction with verses like these, yet it has taken years to get in step with the choice God had for me . . .

“Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:23–24)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28–29)

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

Enoch had the goal. He walked with God, not contrary to God, not his own way, not the way others thought he should go. The verses from Genesis indicate that his walk went from earth to eternity without death being a big deal. He was already hand in hand with God.

As a new Christian, God blessed me with the goal from Romans; be like Jesus. Let all things carve and shape me to that end. However, my activities seemed separate from that choice. Did I want to be an artist? A writer? So many routes I could take. Where do I focus? It took a long time to realize that I’d already been given the focus. Occupations, career choices, etc. were incidental.

The third passage, Philippians 3:14, seemed too vague. What does “the prize of the upward call” mean? Will I know when I have it? Yet this is it, something more purposeful than any other decision, choice, occupation. Seek His face. Determine to reflect it. become more like Jesus. make that the primary goal of life and everything else falls into place. First is first. Second, third, fourth are not really the issue. Delight in God and He helps me sort it out. Trying to sort it out without putting Him on the throne of my heart is futile.

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Jesus, You are the prize. Seeking You is the main thing, the only thing that lasts forever. The rest of it is fluff, temporary, prone to fire, rot and rust or to be stolen. Nothing else matters. Only You are worthy. Only You are eternal.

Figuring out a Focus for Life

Over the years, I’ve saved a few things with the idea that I was going to use them in some way. I kept an old table leg, envisioning it as a large, freestanding candle holder. I’ve kept a box full of upholstery samples, envisioning them as tote bags to be used as gifts. I’ve kept a stack of Bible studies that I used in various classes with various ages, without a plan but hating to throw them away.

People my age are down-sizing. Some are doing it because they are moving to a smaller place or a seniors’ residence where they will not have space to keep their ‘collections’ — hoarded or sentimental. We moved six years ago and deleted loads of stuff, but now it is time to do it again. My stuff is distracting me from my focus.

The problem is deciding my focus and then sticking to it. Whether I have adult ADD or some other ‘excuse’ this interest in everything has a strong, negative side. It distracts me from any ‘main’ thing.

Paul had a similar decision to make regarding what was the most important thing in his life. After making a list of whatever could give him ‘reason for confidence’ in himself, he decided to dump it all and press on with one focus:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:8–11)

(Note: In this and other NT passages concerning ‘hope’ the word is not a “I hope so” uncertainty, but a sure thing. “Heaven is my hope” means I’m looking towards eternity as a certain destination. Here, Paul is not unsure about being raised from the dead. Another way to say part of this passage is: “All I want is to know Christ, namely to experience the power of his resurrection and share in his sufferings. I want to know Christ by becoming like him in death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.” Or verse 11 could be a complete sentence which could begin “In this way I can hope,” or “In view of this, I hope.” From Loh and Nida’s, “Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.”)

His focus was knowing Jesus Christ, particularly regarding his standing with God. His salvation was not about his heritage or anything else, only Christ. He gladly dumped everything that he might have counted on to make him important in anyone’s eyes, including his own.

In our culture, people value lots of things — nice home, new car, achievements, popularity, etc. As I read these verses, I need discernment. What would I write as “the loss of all things” and what would I say is my biggest gain? Paul’s list was not a list of sins, but of prestige or things that answer the question: What have you that gives you confidence in yourself? Appearance? Intelligence? Skills? An abundant life?

Paul considered everything on his list was garbage compared to gaining gain that which he valued the most of all, Jesus Christ and confidence in Him. In this time and place, what is God asking of me? What is the most valued thing, the thing which should be my focus?

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Jesus, this are unexpected thoughts. I’m not certain where they will take me, but am okay with being stripped of anything that keeps You from being glorified in my life. Show me what to say YES to, and what needs to go in that give-away box.