How to set your goals (5)

Discern who belongs in your life and who doesn’t. One of the toughest parts about reaching your goal is discovering that some of the people closest to you don’t share it or want to be part of it. You can spend years trying to convince them. You may even be able to buy their short-term loyalty, but eventually they’ll leave you, often breaking your heart in the process. Paul wrote, “All those in Asia have turned away from me” (2 Timothy 1:15 NKJV). “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10 NKJV). Can’t you hear the heartache and disappointment in his words? And when God gives you a great goal, you may experience the same thing. Somebody said, “In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.” How true! When disaster blindsided Job, he said, “All my close friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned against me” (Job 19:19 NKJV). David’s experience caused him to say, “My relatives stand afar off.” Solomon in his wisdom summed it all up: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth” (Proverbs 25:19 NKJV). The truth is that people who don’t respect your goal will detract from it. You can minister to them and try to encourage them with words that strengthen and bless, but if you insist on holding on to them, like an infected tooth, they will end up hurting you. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet” (Matthew 10:14 NIV). In order to reach your God-given goal, sometimes you have to do that.