As I was reading My Utmost For His Highest this morning, this question popped in my head:
What if the start of this new year was less about gearing up for goals
and more about settling into surrender?
Rather than beginning the new year with the “have to” pressure to set goals like losing weight, eating healthier, drinking more water, spending more time with family & less time on work, etc., what if instead I approached the new year with a “get to” heart of surrender? A heart surrendered with a determined and resolute purpose to be My Utmost for His Highest - my absolute best for His glory in all areas of my life?
I then read Philippians 1:20 where Paul writes from jail, “It is my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing - no thing - shall I be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so that Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Whew! Talk about surrender! It’s not just his expectation, but his earnest (ardent, zealous and fixed) expectation!
Oswald Chambers writes this of Paul:
“To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or reasoning. It is the absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will…”
For those who know me well, I am a Goals Girl.
I love goals
I love working towards goals
I love the thrill that washes over me once goals are achieved
I mean just putting these thoughts in a bullet list brings about sheer joy bubbles in my belly!
In my head, I know that goals are a good thing, but I am beginning to realize that if my heart was truly submitted to the will of the Father, and if my will was irrevocably surrendered to the ultimate goal of becoming My Utmost for His Highest, then all of the other little goals will follow. :) Happy New Year!