“Jacob loved Rachel, so he said [to Laban], ‘I will serve
you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel’”(Genesis 29:18, NASB).
You probably know the story. Jacob falls head over heels for
Rachel, works seven years to have her as his wife and then gets tricked into
marrying her older sister Leah. What did Jacob do? Give up on the desire of his
heart? Not hardly. No, he just kept on working. For seven more years – a total
of fourteen – he worked to have Rachel as his wife. Jacob set his heart on a
goal and worked to achieve it. And there’s a huge word of truth in that for
someone reading this study right this minute.
Do you have a goal? It’s impossible to achieve one if you
don’t. Imagine a basketball player lobbing basketballs across a court with no
baskets. Imagine a family going off on vacation with no road map, no GPS and no
written directions. Such is a life without a goal. You can’t head “there” until
you know where “there” is.
Yes, our ultimate goal is heaven; but as long as the Lord
has you here, there are goals for you to reach right here and work for you to
complete here, too. He has called you to serve Him. Serve Him wholeheartedly
and daily. After all, do you want to just get to heaven or do you want to
arrive knowing you’ve “fought the good fight?” (II Timothy 4:7, NIV).
“It is a
paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most
likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some
more ambitious goal beyond it.” (Arnold Toynbee)
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God
has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, NIV).
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