“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” Ephesians 3:20 (MSG)

The Bible tells us that Jesus set goals. In fact, he often announced publicly what his goal was for the next phase of his ministry.

So why should you set goals? Today we’re going to talk about three reasons to set goals, and we’ll look at three more reasons tomorrow.

You need to set goals because it is a spiritual responsibility.
If you don’t have goals, you have already decided to let other people run your life. In other words, when you don’t decide in advance what’s important, you’re letting other people decide for you. You end up wasting your life because you never clarify how you want to grow as a follower of Christ.

The Bible says that to be spiritually mature, you have to set a goal and move toward it—always keeping your eyes focused on it. The apostle Paul said it this way:

“I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. . . . I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. All of us who are mature should think in this same way” (Philippians 3:12, 14-15 CEV).

You need to set goals because they are statements of faith.
If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ and you set a goal, you’re saying, “I believe that God wants me to accomplish this by this time. This is what I believe God is going to do in my life.”

Goals aren’t just statements of faith; they also stretch your faith. The bigger your goal, the more your faith will be stretched. And that pleases God.

The Message paraphrase of Ephesians 3:20 says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (MSG).

You need to set goals because they focus your energy.
Focus is the key to an effective life. If your energy is scattered across too many things, you end up making little to no impact. But if you focus your life, it’s going to be powerful—and it can change the world.

You don’t have time to do everything. But here’s the good news: God doesn’t expect you to do everything! The key to being effective in life as a woman or man of God is to do what matters most and forget everything else. Goals help you maintain that kind of focus.

That’s why Paul put it this way about living with focus and purpose: “I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something—not just the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26 NCV). 

So stay focused on your goals and ask God to guide as you commit to living out his purpose for your life.