Vision and Stewardship

Setting Godly Goals "Then the Lord replied: 'Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.'"

— Habakkuk 2:2 A man without vision is a drifter. He may work hard, but he does not know where he is going. He may make money, but he does not know what for. He may raise children, but he does not know what he wants to pass to them. Life happens to him, rather than him living life on purpose.

Solomon wrote, "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18, in the older translation). The newer translations put it, "Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint."

Both ideas are true. A man who has not heard from God about his life, and who has not put his vision on paper, lives without direction and often without restraint.

God is a God of plans. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). If God plans for your life, should you not also plan with Him? Many Christian men mistake "waiting on the Lord" for passivity. They do nothing and call it faith. But biblical waiting is active. Nehemiah prayed for four months before he acted (Nehemiah 1–2), but when he acted, he had a plan. He counted the days, surveyed the walls, organized the workers, assigned the gates.

Brother, have you set godly goals for your life? Not the world's kind of goals — a bigger car, a bigger house, a bigger title — but goals shaped by Scripture and aimed at the glory of God?

Goals for your walk with Christ? Goals for your marriage? Goals for your children? Goals for your work? Goals for your giving? Goals for your local church? Goals for your nation?

Let me help you think in categories.

Spiritual goals. Where do you want to be with Christ in one year, five years, twenty years? Do you have a plan to read through the Bible? Do you have a plan to memorize Scripture? Do you have a plan for prayer? Do you have books you intend to read to grow in theology and pastoral wisdom?

Ask God to show you the man He wants you to become spiritually, and then ask Him how to get there.

Marriage goals. What kind of husband do you want to be in ten years? What does your wife most need from you this year — healing from some past wound? More time? More prayer? Better communication? Sit down with her and ask. Then write it down. Without a goal for your marriage, you will drift into mediocrity.

Family goals. What do you want to pass to your children? Not just money — character, faith, skills, a love of learning, a love of the Church, a heart for the lost. Name what you want them to know, what you want them to believe, what you want them to be. Then design your fatherhood toward those goals.

Work goals. What is God calling you to do with your hands and your mind? If you are an employee, how will you become excellent? If you are a business owner, what ethical and profitable path lies ahead? If you are a farmer, what is the plan for this season's planting and for five years from now?

Do not drift in your work. Plan it.

Financial goals. What is your plan for saving, giving, investing, and providing? Proverbs says, "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty" (Proverbs 21:5). Have a household budget. Set aside for your children's school fees. Give to your local church regularly.

Save for emergencies. Plan for old age. Avoid ruinous debt. These are not optional for a godly man.

Service goals. How do you want to serve God's people? What gifts has He given you, and how will you use them? Maybe you want to disciple three young men next year. Maybe you want to help plant a church. Maybe you want to start a ministry for widows in your community. Dream with God. Write it down.

Habakkuk was told to "write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets, so that a herald may run with it" (Habakkuk 2:2). Write your vision. Get it on paper, or on your phone, or in a notebook.

There is something holy about writing. It forces you to think clearly. It makes the vision survive when your memory fails. It lets you review and adjust. Begin today. Just a page. A few lines under each category. You can refine it over time.

Then pray over your vision regularly. Lay it before the Lord. Say, "Father, if this is not from You, kill it. If this is from You, bring it to pass. I submit every goal to Your will." "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans" (Proverbs 16:3). Remember also, "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21). Your goals are not God's orders to Him. They are your honest desires submitted to His sovereign hand.

Stewardship is the twin of vision. If God has given you a life, you are to steward it. If He has given you money, time, talents, children, a wife, influence — all these are on loan. "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2). The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30) is clear: the Master will return and ask what you did with what He gave you. The man who buried his talent in fear was called wicked and lazy. The men who invested and multiplied were welcomed into the joy of their Master.

Do not bury your talents, brother. Do not sit on your hands because you feel small. Do not say, "I am only a farmer, a driver, a clerk, a young man." God gave you your talents. Use them. Start where you are. Trade faithfully. Grow what He has given.

A simple tool: every Sunday evening, look at the week ahead. What are your priorities? Your Bible reading plan? One concrete way you will serve your wife this week? One thing you will teach your children? One person you will disciple or encourage? One hour you will give to the local church?

One person you will pray for by name? Plan it. Then do it. A year of such weeks changes a life.

Consider William Wilberforce, the English Christian statesman of the late 1700s. He set himself "two great objects": the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners (moral renewal of society). He wrote these goals down. He pursued them for decades. He did not live to see all the fruit, but he changed the British Empire. One man with a clear, God-given vision can move mountains.

Consider also our African brothers who have done the same. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Nigerian who was rescued from a slave ship as a boy, set himself to translate the Bible into his mother tongue and to plant the Church among his people. He did it. Today the Yoruba church is one of the strongest in Africa partly because a man set a godly goal and worked toward it for the rest of his life.

Dream big dreams for God, but be faithful in small daily steps. "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin" (Zechariah 4:10). The oak tree is in the acorn. The revival is in the prayer meeting of three men. The great marriage is in the daily kindness of a husband. The godly son is in the bedtime prayer of a father. Plant well and the harvest will come.

A Prayer Father, You are the God who plans from eternity past to eternity future, the God who numbered my days before one of them came to be. Give me Your vision for my life. Break me free from drifting. Break me free from mediocrity. Break me free from burying my talents in fear. Show me what You are calling me to do, to become, and to leave behind. Give me the discipline to write down what You reveal. Give me the wisdom to plan carefully. Give me the faith to trust You with the outcome.

Let my life not be wasted. Use every year, every week, every hour for Your glory.

And at the end of my days, may I hear from You, "Well done." In Jesus' name, Amen.