Do you have any goals that you desire to achieve this year? The sad part about many people is that they are willing to wander through life without any kind of planning. They let life happen to them instead of making plans to achieve. Is planning important? Yes!

Before God ever spoke our world into existence, He had a plan. That plan would include Jesus coming into the world and dying for our sins and for the establishment of His kingdom—the church. The first prophecy of this was made in (Gen. 3:15). Here the seed of woman, (Jesus), would crush the seed of Satan. In the rest of the Old Testament, God unfolds His plans through the Patriarchs, (fathers), and the prophets. They all pointed to Christ, the Messiah, coming into the world. In the New Testament we see God’s plan fulfilled as Jesus came and dwelt among men. He suffered and died as prophesied and was raised the 3rd day. He now lives to save men and to make intercession on their behalf.

If God planned, do we not need to also? Yes! We need a plan for our personal lives. We need a plan for our spiritual lives. We must take the time to make some goals and even more importantly to actually work at them.

Sometimes we do not meet the goals we set because the goals we want to achieve are unrealistic. By this I mean they are too hard and no one would ever achieve them. For instance, many of our young people desire to play in the NFL or any other professional sport. The percentage of those who play football and make it to the professional level is about 1%. For the average athlete this is a goal that’s not realistic. And all of us have done this before. We set unrealistic goals and are disappointed, discouraged and even defeated because we don’t reach them.

What are your goals in life? What are your goals in the New Year? I would suggest you sit down and think about this and then commit your goals to paper. Write them on a card and carry it with you. Take it out and see if you are achieving the goals you set. As you read this it will help to remind you of what is important to you and you will be better at achieiving it. When you accomplish one goal, set another. And don’t give up if you’re not having immediate success. It takes time to develop and change. Some goals may take years. We call these long range goals.

One long range goal I have is to live with God one day (that is not as far off as it once was). I have short range goals that will help me achieve the long range one. What are your goals?