Spiritual Goals

Hi everyone! I'm still here but life's been hectic and finding time to write has been hard. Lord willing I plan to work on (and hopefully finish!) the next post about Biblical femininity vs. false femininity in the next few days, but just now I want to encourage you about having spiritual goals.


In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul exhorts, "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Sometimes it's possible, dear sisters, for us to be solely focused on the first part of that verse - fleeing "youthful lusts." We concentrate our spiritual efforts on putting off our old man - that is, our old nature - as we are instructed to in Ephesians 4:22, while forgetting that we must also "put on" the new man in its place. We get caught up in the "do's and don'ts" of the Christian life and feel we have so many things to overcome. Our energy is spent beating down our sin nature and fighting the devil so that we have nothing left with which to actually grow! 


Let me begin by saying that victory over sin, albeit challenging at times, begins in the mind. It starts with the simple determination to believe what the Scripture says about you: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." You are a new creation, beloved! Not "will be... someday;" no, you are a new creation right now! God made it so when you entered into Christ. In other words, your old nature is dead so you don't have to waste your time and energy on "crucifying" it over and over again. It's a done deal. Listen to Paul's words in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." So you see - you no longer need to "obey" your old self; you are now free to obey the Son of God and let His life shine through you.


Before we move on, though, here's yet one more verse that speaks of the present reality of who you are: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Today I'm asking you therefore - begin with the starting point of confidence in who you are in Christ. Then, and only then, will you be able to focus on moving forward in your faith.


Secondly, don't try to do anything - at least not in your own strength; unless you want to fail miserably. No, instead you and I must go daily to the Lord and ask Him to fill us with the strength and wisdom that He provides:


"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11


"And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' " 2 Corinthians 12:9


"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5


"Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11


Now, when you've grasped this and begun to truly empty yourself of yourself so that God can fill you, you'll be ready to pursue spiritual goals. With this in mind, the Bible gives us many "lists" of things we should focus on becoming. As Christian women most of us are familiar with Proverbs 31, Titus 2 and 1 Peter 3. Then, of course, there is probably the most well-known and widely written-about passage on spiritual growth - Galatians 5, which describes for us the fruit of the Spirit. However, as great as those passages are (and they certainly are) - I think in 2 Timothy 2:22 we have a wonderful, short list of things that Paul actually encouraged Timothy to pursue. So let's look at that list again, "...Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace."


Now, this is where I'm going to encourage you to do your own study. Many wonderful resources are available online to help you discover truths about what each of the things mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:22 really are. Personally I love the website Biblos.com. On there you'll find various translations of the Bible; commentaries; a Bible atlas, concordance, dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus - as well as gazillions of other great stuff! If you browse around on it I think you'll find it absolutely rich with tools to enhance your study of Scripture. 


So then, when you have a pretty good understanding of each of the virtues Paul lists, write your insights in a journal of some sort and prayerfully consider which one God wants you to work on. Ask Him to give you specific things to do. For example, you might end up noting something like this: "This week I'm going to make a point of waving and smiling to my unlovable and difficult neighbor whenever I see him outside." And here's a journal entry that I actually wrote on May 10 - about a month ago - that was a particular challenge to me that day: "This morning I felt reminded of John 12:24,'...Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit.' Will I die today?"


Friend, please remember that these are goals and therefore must be pursued intentionally. Make a game plan for each day. Write it down. Then again pray for strength, wisdom, and insight. The next morning reflect on your progress and the previous day's events. This is very important! It will alternately encourage and chastise you along the way. And finally, consider confiding in a godly friend to hold you accountable to your goals. If you should fail one day (or two!), ask God to forgive you - then get back up and go forth in His strength! The bottom line that I want to encourage you with is to actually have spiritual goals that you are intentionally pursuing. Don't be lulled into thinking that spiritual growth just happens. Generally speaking, it doesn't. Usually if we're not careful - that is, if we're not taking a daily "spiritual inventory" of where we're at - it's all too easy to fall into complacency and a dead, static Christian walk. And I don't want that to happen to any of us dear sisters!


If you have any comments I'd love to hear them! Go in peace this week my friends!