Start With The End In Mind

Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations....” - Matthew 28:18-19

If any project, business, or mission is to succeed, it must be started with the end in mind. There will need to be constant reminders of what the goal (or purpose) is throughout the process if it is to stay on target and finish well. Finally, there will also need to be course corrections as we stray from the mark we aim for, or find better ways of reaching the goal.

In the same way, we must start with God’s end in mind for us. What is His ultimate purpose for you and every person on the planet? God’s purpose is to save us and then transform our lives to be like Christ. He wants to use every circumstance, hardship, difficult person, unexpected financial challenge, and responsibility to make us like Jesus Christ. Know this! His plan is for you to be a mature disciple and to make other disciples.

If every child of God is to be a mature disciple and to make disciples, how does one make a mature disciple? Have a discipleship class? Begin a discipleship program? God chose the church as His method of discipleship, “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church” (Ephesians 3:10). A healthy body has healthy parts. God has chosen to equip and build His body, the church, by “the proper working of each part.” How do Christians grow and mature? “The whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Keep the end of making mature disciples in mind, and then every decision you make will reflect that purpose.