Is It Ok to Set Spiritual Goals?

For the first 16 years of my life, I lived my faith pretty haphazardly. Actually, let me rephrase that. For the first 16 years of my life, my faith basically existed because my mom, God bless her, took me to church every Sunday.

That’s probably more accurate.

Other than that, though, there wasn’t a whole lot of prayer coming from me. Sure, I talked with God when I needed something, when a test was coming up, or if I was interested in some girl. But other than that, I wasn’t too engaged with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, that’s not too say I wasn’t a good kid. I got good grades. I was a volunteer umpire in the local Little League. And I generally stayed out of trouble. But to be honest, I always felt like something was missing.

Something Changed

As I approached 17 years old, something changed. I experienced my first church retreat, and for the first time I began to realize that it wasn’t enough to settle for good. I wanted something deeper. I wanted to be holy.

Fast forward a couple years. I became a high school youth minister at my church where I served for more than 9 years. And eventually I worked for a large youth ministry organization where I had the opportunity to speak around the world about the Christian faith to thousands of teenagers and adults. My faith was pretty active, and my prayer life had to be as well. After all, when you work for a church or ministry, part of your job is to pray.

But to be honest, my prayer life was still pretty haphazard. Yes, I prayed. And I prayed often. But really, I still prayed either when I felt like it, or when it was connected with the ministry I was involved in. I just wasn’t intentional about it.

A New Direction

Over 5 years ago, I started down a path of goal-setting in which I would set measurable goals with a deadline that I would track regularly. And I began setting goals in 7 categories: career, financial, physical, intellectual, social, family, and spiritual.

Do you know which one I struggled with the most? Spiritual goals. Why? Because it felt like if I had my own plan of spirituality that I wasn’t going to be following God’s plan.

But that’s not true. After all, I could still pray about those spiritual goals, ask God what they should be, and allow the Holy Spirit to move if He felt the need to change those goals.

And, so I did it. I set spiritual goals and have been doing so for the last 6 years. These goals have centered around things like how often I pray, what spiritual books I read, and when I read the Bible. For the most part, I’ve done well, but I haven’t been perfect.

The Results

So, what have been the results?

I’ve become a better husband, a better father, a better employee, and more patient (which is something I’ve always struggled with). But, to be honest, I still have a long way to go. After all, I still get impatient with my kids, I still have an issue with using bad language, and I still get lazy in my prayer life (among a long list of other things).

But above all, I’ve recognized one thing through this process: If I don’t set spiritual goals, I risk becoming comfortable in my faith. And that may be the most dangerous thing of all.

So, try it. Set some spiritual goals. Start simply, but be sure to stay open to the Holy Spirit. Because if you want to accomplish anything meaningful in your life, you’ll need the Lord to be with you. After all, without him, you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Question: What are some of your spiritual goals? (Share in the comments below.)