One of my 2020 goals is to restore a 1969 Ford Mustang with my grandson, Isaac. I started on the goal on Friday by working on a little add on to the back of my shop for a place to put the car so we have a covered and warm place to work on it. The car that I bought for $1,500 this past summer is in pretty bad shape right now, with a lot of rust, but it is all fixable, with some cutting, welding, and grinding it will look good. Here is a picture of our goal end result.I recently bought 5 different restoration manuals just for 1965 to 1969 Mustangs with lots of pictures and detailed instructions. I also found several full length “YouTube” Videos of restoration projects on 1969 mustangs, from the beginning of the project to the end, and several of the cars were in worse shape to begin with than ours.

I am excited about this project for 3 reasons, first, I love to make a goal and accomplish it, it is incredibly rewarding. Second, I am excited about spending time with my grandson working on the car, which will be his when it is finished. Third, I enjoy, very much, learning new things and new skills which will be mandatory if we want this car to run well and look nice.

It is The middle of December, time for all serious people to get started on their 2020 goals. A dozen Nobel goals is good for most people, some can go for a higher number and a few for a smaller number of goals for the year. Goals are the most effective tool available to us to accelerate our personal growth in character and the number of significant accomplishments that we do.

Today we had my Mom’s memorial service up in Trout Lake, Washington at Jonah Camp which is the Christian camp that my Mom started about 20 years ago. Mom, my brother Jeff and his wife Beki sold the family farm and used the money to buy the old school, the one I graduated from High School at, and started the camp, so it was fun to have the service there. It was a great service with lots of stories told about Mom. I knew that she was ambitious, and a dreamer, but hearing all the stories all together made her seem like super woman, like a legend. I was blessed with such great parents who influenced my life so much. I had read in the last couple of months quite a bit of material that mom had written or others had written about her life, and I put it all together, organized it, rewrote it, and reduced the length a little bit to come up with her life story. Each of us 4 brothers took a section of it and read it in the service today. It took about 40 minutes to read it all, but it sounded so good and so honoring to her. It was a good day together with all of us kids there, most of the 24 grandkids, 85 grandkids, and many other people who had been influenced by Mom over the years.

It is always a mystery to me as I think about the huge difference between people and the reasons why some are so productive, like my Mom, and others do very little with their life, and are mostly just consumers. I want to be a person who bears much fruit in my life, but even more than that I would like to influence many others to be very significant people. That was the most impressive thing today, to hear from so many high performance people who, at least in part, are champions because of Mom’s influence. My Mom lived her life well and finished strong.

A solid theological view that I have is that “Who and what we are in character the day we die or Jesus returns, is who and what we are for eternity, God isn’t going to fix us.” To say that He will fix us makes the purpose of life merely treading water. The admonition to pursue maturity has no purpose outside this life. There is no real motivation to sacrifice, be diligent, press on, take up our cross daily, and be faithful to the basic disciplines of the Christian life if it doesn’t matter. The reason so many Christians today are lukewarm is that there is no compelling reason not to be.

So, let’s say that I am right in this view, though more than a view, a major conviction of my life, you enter eternity as a baby, not physically, but in character, what does it matter. Heaven is still heaven, and freedom and joy from all the pain and hassle of life is still freedom and joy, so no big deal.

Let’s go back to the beginning, “Let Us make man in our image and in our likeness”, why? Part of the answer is in John 14:1-3, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” “WHERE I AM THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO.” God created us to be with a Him, to fellowship with Him, to dine with Him, to rule with Him, and to enjoy Him and Him us.

A basic fact of intimacy in relationship is that the more like each other we are the more we will enjoy each other’s company. The most basic purpose of man is to “Glorify God by enjoying Him Forever”. Enjoying God isn’t something we choose to do, it is something we do because of our relationship with Him, and our relationship is greatly influenced by our sameness in character.

While Jesus was on this earth as a man he had levels of relationship with those in His life. John was called the “beloved”, he was given responsibility to care for Mary, Jesus Mother, he was closer to Jesus than any other, Peter was an obvious favorite, as well as James. From there you have the remaining 8, (we will leave out Judas), then there was the 70 disciples that Jesus sent out in pairs, the 120 who were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, invited there by Jesus, and then the 500 who saw Jesus after His resurrection.

When we get to heaven there will be those who are near Jesus, with Him, at His right hand, and there will be those who are not near. It has nothing to do with love, I loved each of my children when they were babies but I didn’t take them fishing with me until they could enjoy the experience, and I would enjoy their company.

The pursuit of character and maturity in this life is all about our relationship with Jesus forever, it is much more than just getting into heaven, it is how close we will be to Jesus when we get there.

The more we love Him the more we will want to be near Him, and the more mature our character the more capacity we will have to love Him.

The average Christian’s theology is pretty simple. “I believe in Jesus therefore I am going to heaven, and in the mean time I will try to be good. I don’t have to be good because I am saved by grace, but I will try because I am supposed to be good.” That pretty well sums up the theology of most believers. It not only is simple, it is woefully inadequate and incomplete. The result is that most people who call themselves Christians are continually trying harder, but continually failing to grow in character. Very few bear much fruit, that is influence others to become believers or do anything that results in changes and growth in the lives of others.

So a believer who lives their life with this theology dies, and stands before Jesus with very little character developed in their life because of this theology. The question now is, “Will Jesus fix them, will He zap them and make them perfect, does it matter that they enter heaven as a baby in character?” I would guess that about 90% of all those who call themselves Christians think that what they do in this life, what they accomplish, the fruit that they bear, the person they become on the inside doesn’t ultimately matter, because they are saved by grace and God will change everything about them when they step into glory.

I like to ask the question “Why?” as I read and study the Bible to help me understand it better. Let’s do that to a few passages.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

Why? What was the purpose, the reason God decided to make man in the first place? I am sure it wasn’t simply a “good idea” or a whim, God always has a nobel purpose for all that He does, and the creation of man seems to be at the center of all that He created and did. Why?

Hebrews 6:1  Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,

Why should we press on the maturity? What would motivate me to do that if it really doesn’t matter that much if I do, or I don’t. Pressing on to maturity takes effort and sacrifice and self-control so why should I make that sacrifice? It seems reasonable to me that God has a very good reason for giving that command other than just giving us something to do.

James 1:2–4  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Why? I don’t like trials, problems, and tribulations so why should I rejoice when I experience them? Very few people do rejoice in the midst of a trial so most must feel the same way. It says in that passage that the end result is that we will “be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”. That is describing a mature character that is grown up, and like that of Jesus. But if God is just going to fix me at the end anyway, why not just grumble and complain like everyone else when I go through a trial.

Most believers are greatly lacking in motivation to press on to maturity because there is no compelling reason to do it, and as long as they stick with their simple theology it will stay that way.  I am pretty sure that God doesn’t fix our “baby character” at the end of our life, but that we are stuck with it.

To be continued:

Principle #1 – God has a perfect will and plan for my life.

Principle #2 – Inside the realm of God’s sovereignty I can choose to live outside God’s perfect plan either because of pride, self-sufficiency, rebellion, or ignorance.

Principle #3 – I will be successful and bear much fruit inside the will of God for my life, and I will fail and be miserable outside the realm of God’s perfect will and plan for my life. It doesn’t take a highly intelligent person to understand that principle.

Principle #4 – God wants me to know His will and plan for my life more than I want to know it, and it usually takes failing before I am motivated to seek His will.

Principle #5 – God expects that I am going to seek His will diligently, I won’t find it if I don’t. My ignorance of exactly what His will and plan is for my life is generally a result of apathy and laziness in seeking it.

Principle # 6 – God communicates His will to the person who He knows will actually do it.

Principle # 7 – The wise man will most often figure out what God’s will is.

Principle # 8 – God will reveal his will for my life to me through others in my life if I am humble enough to seek it from them.

Principle # 9 – Get close to God and do what you want

Principle # 10 – writing is an amazingly powerful tool to capture our random, unfocused, and fleeting thoughts, to sort them out, and to figure out the source of them.

Principle # 11 – A goal is the expression of a desire that is in my heart that I believe was put there by God

Principle #12 – knowing what God’s perfect will and plan for my life is, is not all about me, it is about all those other people around me who are at the center of God’s will for me.

Principle #12 – knowing what God’s perfect will and plan for my life is, is not all about me, it is about all those other people around me who are at the center of God’s will for me.

Jesus said in John 4, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish the work that He gave Me to do”. That will and work was to die for the sins of the world so that that every person in the world could live in heaven forever. The will of the father for Jesus was for my sake.

So, in thinking through what God’s will is for my life I ask the question repeatedly, what difference will it make in the lives of others, what fruit will I bear, what changes will I make, and when I get to heaven will I see it in the lives of others who are there. Paul said in Philippians 1, “if I live on in the flesh this will mean fruitful labor for me”. That was the only reason Paul wanted to live, to do things that would result in the salvation and edification of others.

Finding God’s will for my life isn’t so that I can be more fulfilled, though I will be, it isn’t about being more happy, though I will definitely sense His pleasure in my life, it isn’t about my success, though nobody is as successful as the person who influences another person’s life for eternal change.

Our motive for what we do is so important to God. It determines how much power we will have, how much blessing from God we will have, and how many doors he will open or opportunities that He will give us. If our motive in knowing what God’s will is for us is all about us, we probably won’t have clue, but if our motive for discovering God’s perfect plan and will for our life is to save and edify others we will know exactly what it is.

Principle # 11 – A goal is the expression of a desire that is in my heart that I believe was put there by God.

A goal is a written down commitment to pursue diligently what I believe is the will of God for me.

A goal is a statement of faith of what I believe is my intended future.

A goal is not the expression of an obligation that I feel I have had given to me by God or others in my life. A goal is not rewriting the “Ten Commandments”. A goal is not a vow.

Goals are a “want to”, not a “have to“. Goals motivate, are exciting, and create passion, they are not supposed to make me feel demotivated, or discouraged. Goals create a strong sense of movement, and growth, not that of being a failure. Goals are a tool for training not a way of trying harder.

I wrote my first list of goals when I was 16 years old, and I wrote 16 of them. The fact that the number of goals and my age was the same was totally coincidental, and I didn’t even notice until I sat down to write my goals the next year and then decided to continue the trend and write 17 goals. I have been doing that ever since, and this year I have 71 goals.

When I am writing my goals, usually a month long process, with many hours of thinking, praying, writing and discarding, writing and discarding, writing and discarding, I am attempting to dredge up out of the recesses of my inner being the desires and dreams that God has placed there. When I get finished I feel like I have painted a beautiful picture of my future.

When I finish I declare to the Lord, “this is what I believe you have put in my heart, and I intend to pursue these diligently. As I move ahead I know I will gain new wisdom and insight, and I will make adjustments accordingly, but in the meantime I move full speed ahead.”

In order to be as motivational as possible I write my goals in a very measurable way, being as clear and precise as possible. I write grandpa goals, father goals, health goals, financial goals, ministry goals, fun goals, seek God goals, marriage goals, and for sure fishing and hunting goals. I read my goals every day in order to program my own brain on what the priorities of my life are. I keep good records on all goals where that is important in order to keep healthy pressure on myself. I share my goals with others and respond graciously and with humility to any and all accountability.

Because of my goals every day I live will mean fruitful labor for me with which I will glorify God and prove myself to be a disciple of Jesus.

Principle # 10 – writing is an amazingly powerful tool to capture our random, unfocused, and fleeting thoughts, to sort them out, and to figure out the source of them.

When I was 12 and 13 years of age we had about 4 cows that we milked by hand. We would then run the milk through a separator that we cranked by hand, and it would separate the skim milk from the cream. We would sell the cream to a creamery, mix the skim milk with whole grain, let it soak and sour for several weeks and then feed it to our pigs. As a kid I was always fascinated by that separators ability to pull the cream and the milk apart because they were completely mixed together. For years my Dad had a gold claim on the headwaters of North Myrtle Creek. For a couple of weeks every year we would go to that spot that was our claim, suck up sand and gravel from the bottom of the creek with a small gas powered dredge, run it through a sluice box and then pan what was caught in the riffles of the sluice box with a gold pan looking for gold. In the whole process we were separating what was gold from what was ordinary sand and gravel. What a dredge, sluice box and gold pan are for gold so writing is for our thoughts that are from God. What a milk separator is in separating cream from milk so writing is in separating our thoughts, the ones from God from those that come from our flesh, the devil, and the world.

Nehemiah 2:12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem

Psalms 16:7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

1 Chronicles 28:12 and the plan of all that he had in mind, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the surrounding rooms,

1 Chronicles 28:19 All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern.”

God created words and writing. He is the one who wrote the “Ten Commandments” on stone with His finger. He is the one who prompted men to write the books of the Bible, and preserved it in writing.

This particular principle in discovering the will of God for my life will be practiced by very few because it takes effort, time, and thought and most simply won’t do it. As with many things, that which is most difficult is also most important.

Principle # 9 – Get close to God and do what you want.

Back when I was struggling with knowing whether to be a pastor or not, I asked a missionary to the Philippines named David Yount for some counsel and advice. I asked him because whenever he came home on furlough and spoke at our church in Trout Lake, Washington, he always motivated me, convicted me, and taught me how to live for God. When we went out for lunch He gave me the simple little slogan, “Get close to God and do what you want”. At first I didn’t get it, and responded by saying, “I don’t want to do what I want, but what God wants”! He said to me, “If you are close with God, what you want is what He wants, because He put it in you”, he then quoted Psalms 37:3 to me, “Delight yourself in the Lord , and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

God puts His will for my life in my mind, but I have to dredge it out. Principle # 5 is important here, “You have to seek it diligently if you expect to find it.”

Psalms 16:7 “I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.”

God puts His perfect will for me in my mind and it will create in me a desire, a want, and a dream. The tricky part is sorting out what God put there as opposed to what my own flesh wants, what the world has brainwashed me into wanting, and what the devil puts into my mind as he masquerades as an angel of God. The desires of my flesh, the desires of the world, evil desires, and God’s desires are all running around in my head and my thinking. The person who thinks figuring out which one is from God is easy is naive and a fool.

Tomorrow I will write about principle 10, how to sort out the desires and wants in me to figure out which is from God.

Principle # 8 – God will reveal his will for my life to me through others in my life if I am humble enough to seek it from them.

The definition of Pride in the Bible is, “I can do it by myself, I don’t need you!” Obviously we would all acknowledge the fact that if we say or think that about God we would have a major pride problem, we definitely all desperately need God in our lives. But what many don’t realize is that same definition of pride applies to others around me. God has created us incapable of accomplishing much by ourselves without help from others. His will for us is that we developed healthy interdependent relationships so that we can become successful and grow in maturity. In the Bible He uses the physical body as an illustration of the church, and calls each person in the church a part of the body, a hand, foot, ear etc. Obviously no part in the body can survive cut off from the body, we must be connected to function properly and succeed in life.

Asking others in our life for counsel on things we should change and grow in, in our Christian life, for advice on decisions we need to make, and counsel on how to succeed in various areas of life like marriage, managing our money, raising our kids, and success in our jobs requires humility. A key, is to understand that this is how God works, when we choose to humble ourselves and ask others for guidance God will often prompt them on what to say to us, He will speak through them.

When I was struggling with whether to leave the farm and pastor at Jefferson Baptist Church or stay and do what I loved most in life, I decided to ask my Dad for his counsel. I decided to do this after reading Proverbs 23:22 which says,

“Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.”

And also Proverbs 1:8 which says,

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching”

I was 28 years old and I didn’t like it when my Dad told me what to do, which is probably true of most young men. So I think he was very surprised when I asked him to sit down with me at the kitchen table and give me some counsel about a decision I needed to make. Things at the time were going very good on the farm and also between us as we worked together, so he was surprised again when I told him I was considering leaving the farm and being a pastor in Jefferson, Oregon. I explained to him the history of my involvement in the church having helped start it while going to Bible college in Salem a few years earlier, and my struggle in knowing what to do in responding to the opportunity to become the Pastor of the church following the resignation of the founding pastor. He thought about it for a minute and then said, “Go do it for one year, and see what happens, it is hard to know for sure if you will be good at something and enjoy it unless you give it a shot.” Then he added this little tid bit, “What will probably happen is that the people in the church will be super critical of everything you do, you will be miserable, and then you can come back and farm with me.” The counsel resonated with me, so Patty and I, and our 1 year old daughter moved to Jefferson the next week, and we have been here for 43 years.

Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Proverbs 24:6 For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in abundance of counselors there is victory.