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Why You Need Goals in 2022

Building a Better Life

Daily Hope Devotional: 365 Days of Purpose, Peace, and Promise

The Purpose Driven Life Book

Most of the people in our congregations are stepping into 2022 hoping it will be better than 2021. Many have already identified specific changes they want to make in their lives. They want to get healthier, heal their marriage, or get serious about their spiritual growth. But despite their best intentions, many of those changes will fizzle out. That’s where goals come in. It’s critical that you have a vision for what God wants to do in your life. You have to see the goal before you can reach the goal. But once you’ve seen it, you must believe you can achieve it. That’s where your faith in God comes in. A few years back, I asked a world-famous psychologist, “In all of your work over the years, what has been the most helpful thing you’ve given to people that has made a difference in their lives as they were seeking change?” His answer was surprising. “There’s no question about it,” he said. “I’ve discovered the most helpful thing I can do for people in a personal or relational problem is to help them set personal goals.” While I believe personal goals are incredibly important in helping us make significant changes in our lives, the goals you find in self-help books or at goal-setting seminars aren’t what I’m talking about. I’m interested in the spiritual dimensions of your goals. The goals you set in faith are the goals that God will use to change your life. Why are faith-filled goals important?

Goal setting is a spiritual discipline.

Just like prayer and Bible study help us grow spiritually, setting goals in faith is a discipline that helps us become more like Christ. Even God sets goals. He has a plan and is moving history toward a goal. Paul wrote, “[God] planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:10 GW). God is a goal-setter. When we set goals in faith, we grow more like Jesus.

Goals focus our energy.

Diffused energy doesn’t have much impact, but focused energy has enormous power. Paul described this idea in 1 Corinthians 9:26, “So I run—but not without a clear goal ahead of me. So I box—but not as if I were just shadow boxing” (GW). Paul wasn’t just running in circles. He had a purpose and was moving toward it. Goals help you focus on the things that are worth doing. We don’t have time for everything. The good news is, God doesn’t expect us to do everything. Too often we waste our time on second-class causes. Most of what we see going on in our culture today won’t matter next week. As leaders, we need to help people see the difference between what the world says is important and what God says is important. The truth is, what the world says is almost never important. The Bible tells us to “Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days” (Ephesians 5:16 GW). Pastor, are you modeling this practice for your congregation? You can do this when you set biblical, purpose-driven goals for you and your church.

Goals stretch our faith.

Goals are statements of faith that affirm your trust in God. When you set a goal that you plan to accomplish by a certain date, you’re doing so in faith. Dreams won’t do you much good unless you wake up and go to work. Resolutions can be important, but you need other things behind them, like a team, accountability, and the power of God. Goals, on the other hand, are specific and measurable. In fact, goals with parameters are what makes them steps of faith. Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV). You haven’t really trusted God until you’ve done something that can’t be done in your own strength. That’s the story of Saddleback—ordinary people setting and attempting extraordinary goals in faith and watching God go to work. We’re not any smarter or more talented than other churches. We’ve simply set large goals and trusted God to help us reach them. Setting goals in faith means taking risks. If you’re not taking risks, your goals are too small and not pleasing to God.

Goals build our character.

The best part of goal-setting isn’t what you accomplish. It’s what God accomplishes in you when you pursue faith-filled goals. This is the plot of a thousand movies you’ve seen. It doesn’t matter whether the goal in the movie is to climb Mount Everest or to fall in love. As the hero chases the goal, the pursuit changes the hero. The hero grows up. That’s what God wants to do with you. He wants you to grow up. When you get to heaven, you won’t take any of your accomplishments with you. You’ll take you and the character you’ve developed on earth. It’s the process of chasing your goals that God uses to develop the kind of character he wants you to have. Paul was honest about this journey in his own life. He wrote in Philippians 3:12: “I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his” (NCV). God’s number one goal for your life isn’t that you’ll grow a large church and have a thriving ministry. He doesn’t just want to make you happy, either. He wants to make you like Jesus.

Goals give us hope.

We all need hope to survive. You can go without food for many days. You can go three days or so without water. You can go without air for a minute or two. But you must have hope to live. It’s essential. Life is tough. It’s full of losses, accidents, and illnesses. Pastor, I do not know what you’ll face in 2022. I don’t know what I’ll face either. But if we have goals, they’ll get us through the tough times. Goals are magnets that pull us forward. Without goals, we have no reason to move forward. Job recognized this in Job 6:11. He had lost everything and asked, “What strength do I have left that I can go on hoping? What goal do I have that I would want to prolong my life?” (GW). Just like Job, you need a goal to help you keep going when you’re struggling. Pastor, set some goals for 2022, but don’t stop there. Encourage those you lead to do the same. It may be one of the most important acts of leadership you’ll do this year.

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Joy Returns When Christ Is First

Pastor, a lot of people—including those of us in ministry—are looking for joy in all the wrong places. We chase after bigger churches, more effective programs, or the applause of peers and congregants. But joy never shows up there.Misplaced priorities can eliminate your ministry joy.Paul explained this in his letter to the Philippians: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7–8, NIV)That was Paul’s “profit and loss statement.” Everything that once seemed like a gain now counted as loss compared to knowing Christ. Even while sitting in a prison cell, Paul could rejoice because his priorities were centered on Jesus.Notice the word “rubbish.” The translators were being polite. The original word means dung, manure. Paul wasn’t mincing words. Without Jesus, everything else—fame, money, or power—is worthless garbage. Only Christ brings lasting joy.You will lose your joy in ministry if you let lesser things distract you. People will let you down. Plans won’t always work out. Attendance will fluctuate. If you keep your focus there, joy will evaporate.Paul reminds us that life is about tradeoffs. He surrendered everything so that he could be found “in Christ.” Jesus said the same thing: “No one can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24, NIV) Many of us want Jesus plus something else. But you can’t have two #1s.Here’s the reality: When we come to Christ, we give up everything. That may feel restrictive at first, but it’s really the doorway to joy. When we surrender, Jesus reshapes our gifts, reforms our goals, and gives them back with greater purpose than before.Missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life in Ecuador, put it this way: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”So what are you holding on to that keeps stealing your joy? Has your ministry—even your goals for it—taken the place of Christ?It’s time to reorder your priorities. Put Jesus back in the center. When you do, you’ll discover again the joy you’ve been missing.

Faith Before the Miracle

Ministry often feels like standing on the edge of a fast-moving river—uncertain, overwhelming, and too deep to cross. You know what God has called you to do, but the next step still feels risky.That’s where Joshua found himself as he prepared to lead Israel into the Promised Land. God had given him the assignment, but it required courage. That’s why God said not once, but three times: “Be strong and courageous. . . . Be strong and very courageous. . . . Be strong and courageous!” (Joshua 1:6-7, 9 NLT).Fear can keep you from starting.Discouragement can keep you from continuing.But God has already given you what you need to move forward:God is with you. No matter what meetings, hospital visits, hard conversations, or leadership decisions await you this week, you won’t face them alone. “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you” (Joshua 1:5 NLT). God keeps his promises. He hasn’t brought you this far to abandon his work in you or through you. “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance” (Joshua 1:6 CSB).God has called you to this. This isn’t a job you picked for yourself. You’re not in ministry by accident. “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 CSB).When the priests arrived at the Jordan River, God didn’t stop the water in advance. He told them to step into it—and then the waters would stop. He asked them to trust him, not the circumstances.Sometimes the miracle happens after the step, not before.Pastor, is there something you’re hesitating to do because you’re waiting for God to clear the path first? Is there a conversation you’re avoiding, a change you’re delaying, a vision you’ve shelved?Be strong. Be courageous. God has not changed. He is with you.And he’s still parting rivers when his people step forward in faith.

Is God Waiting on You?

Pastor, as you step into another week of shepherding God’s people, remember this: God wants to bless you and your ministry. But he ties his blessings to a condition—obedience.The Bible contains over 7,000 promises where God essentially says, “If you do this, I will do this.”If you confess your sins, I will forgive you.If you call upon me, I will save you.If you obey me, I will bless you.When it feels like you’re waiting on God to move in your church, he may actually be waiting on you—to trust him more deeply, to walk in obedience, and to follow his lead in your ministry.Take Deuteronomy 28:2-6 as an example. Notice the blessings and the condition: “You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed” (NLT).You may not tend fields or flocks, but you do tend the flock of God. This promise still applies. God will bless your family and the work of your ministry. He will sustain you in preaching, in counseling, in leadership, and in carrying the unseen burdens of your congregation.God not only wants to bless everything you do in service to him—he also wants those blessings to be visible to others. His goodness in your life becomes a testimony to his faithfulness.Psalm 31:19 reminds us: “How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. In the presence of everyone you have acted for those who take refuge in you” (CSB).God already has blessings stored up for you as a pastor—encouragements, provisions, fruitfulness—that he intends to pour out as you walk in obedience.As Ezekiel 34:26 says: “I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing” (NIV).That’s what God wants for your life and ministry: showers of blessing.So don’t miss what he wants to do this week. Lean into obedience. Follow his directions. Trust that he is faithful—and watch him fulfill his promises in your life and your church.

Why Your Quiet Time Is a Pastoral Lifeline

“Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” Proverbs 8:34 (NIV)Mondays can feel like a deep exhale for many pastors. The adrenaline of Sunday is gone, the sermons have been preached, the conversations had, the crises handled—and now you’re left with both the joy and the fatigue of pouring yourself out for your people.That’s why God’s promise in Proverbs 8:34 is so vital: “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway” (NIV). He blesses those who daily come to him, not just for personal refreshment, but for the sake of the people they lead. Shepherding God’s flock is never meant to be done on yesterday’s strength.Your “quiet time” is more than a devotional habit—it’s a lifeline. Whether it’s five, 10, or 15 minutes, set aside time today to meet with the Lord. Find a quiet place and ask him, “Father, what do you want to say to me as I lead your people this week?” Bring him the names and needs that weighed on you yesterday. Lay before him the decisions you face.Read his Word slowly, letting him speak through it. Be still enough to listen for his guidance. Let him shepherd you before you shepherd others.For many, mornings are best for this sacred appointment. But if your Monday mornings are slow to start after a long Sunday, don’t force it—find the time of day when you can be most alert to his voice. The key is consistency.Psalm 31:19 reminds us, “How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world” (NLT). That “watching world” includes your congregation, your community, and even your family.When you give God the first and best of your time, he blesses you with wisdom, peace, and strength that overflow into every sermon you preach, every meeting you lead, and every hurting heart you comfort.

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