Let Jesus be your Goal
“Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 WEB)
It is easier to do tasks well when there is a goal to focus on, especially for projects that need lots of time to complete—your morale can dip after many days of repetition with minimal progress.
The world teaches goal setting, but their goals are things like milestones. We have something much more powerful.
We are taught to “look unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith”—He is our goal to focus on.
No matter what race you’re running in this season, when you feel weary and like you’re going to faint in your soul (mind, will and emotions), “consider Him”. Think about Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures and aim to be like Him. Then, do your task as worship unto Him.
“even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38 WEB)
While He was on earth, Jesus went about doing good in the power of the Holy Spirit. He foiled the works of the devil. Jesus didn’t rely on His own divinity, but fully submitted to the Father’s will and depended on the power of the Holy Spirit. He did this to teach us how to live by faith in obedience to God.
When you feel discouraged, you can think, “What would Jesus do in this situation? My goal is to be like Jesus.”
The answer will come, and then you can straightaway receive the empowerment from the Holy Spirit to walk in that reality.
For example, let’s say that you’re a parent who is dealing with an unmotivated child who doesn’t want to study for his exams.
Your flesh may be tempted to feel angry or discouraged when you’re trying your best to teach him and he’s not even taking it seriously.
Pause and focus on Jesus, seeing Him as your goal. What would Jesus do? He would be very patient and loving in teaching your child, and He would have the wisdom to know exactly what would motivate your child. Perhaps there are underlying reasons for this behavior.
After knowing these, you can pray and receive the fruits of patience and love from the Holy Spirit, as well as any knowledge and wisdom to discern underlying causes for being unmotivated in studies.
Another scenario: It is a busy season at work. Your colleague at work suddenly talks very rudely to you, snapping at you and blaming you for her stress.
Your may feel that surge of indignation and anger rising up in your flesh, driving you to shout back at her.
Take a deep breath and focus on Jesus. What would Jesus do? Like how He spoke to Martha who was occupied with much serving, Jesus knew that she was stressed out because she was relying on her own strength to serve. He didn’t shout at her, He understood.
Then pray to have an understanding, patient and magnanimous heart like Jesus, not taking offense at those who lack the revelation of relying on the grace of God. Working only by the flesh leads to stress and burnout. You’ll realize that you won’t get angry, and instead become compassionate and empathetic.
It is good to have a goal to help you focus and perform your tasks better in life. Let Jesus always be that goal. Steadily look to Him and rely on the Holy Spirit to supply the power to live like Jesus. This is a very practical way to experience more peace, joy and fruitfulness in your life!
Learn more about the way of faith and see more long-awaited miracles happening in your life: https://www.miltongoh.net/store/p21/messiahs-miracles-the-power-of-having-faith-in-jesus-christ-milton-goh.html
