Spiritual Goals

“WHEN a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”

These words, attributed to a first-century Roman philosopher, point to the truism that for life to have direction, goals are essential. I've used that quote a number of times in my talks or shepherding calls on the friends helping them to see the need for goals. Without goals we're going to "float" in whatever direction we're influenced. As Christians we know "the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one" (1 John 5:19) and we don't want that influence. The apostle Paul had spiritual goals, he mentioned one at Philippians 3:14 and then in verse 15 encouraged us to have spiritual goals by saying "Let us, then, as many of us as are mature, be of this mental attitude". Soon I'll accomplish two goals I set for myself some time back. First, I'm a few days away from completing my goal of reading the Bible all the way through, my 5th time doing so. Second, I've submitted my application to start regular pioneering starting September 1st 2008. It's hard to believe it's been 4 years since I discontinued my pioneering. It feels good to be so close to accomplishing these goals. At the same time it means I need to establish some new spiritual goals. One is to complete reading the Bible a 6th time, but I'm not sure what the other one will be yet.