Why settings goals is a spiritual activity

Life is full of spiritual activity. You pray, you worship, you go to church, you listen to sermons.And then you set goals. Is setting goals a spiritual activity? Do you need to exercise spiritual muscles in order to set goals and complete them?You already know my answer by reading the title of this blog post. The more I set goals, reach goals, and study the science behind goal-setting, the more I am convinced that setting goals may be one of the most spiritual activities you do.Why? Why is goal-setting spiritual?Answer: it is an act of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."Faith has to do with two things:1.Things hoped for2. What you see with your spiritual eyes but you don't see in your current realityBefore you set a goal, you begin to see something about the future. You begin to get a sense about how things should be. You get a picture of a future-reality that doesn't yet exist. And then a sense of hope emerges within you that tomorrow your future will align with this picture.When you set a goal, you are articulating that future reality. When Elon Musk of SpaceX says, "Our aspirational goal is to send our first cargo mission to Mars in 2022," he has a picture of the future in his head, and he is hoping that he can actualize what is currently just a vision.He could have sat around dreaming about going to Mars, but instead, he set a goal, and by doing so, he began to live with a confidence in what he hoped for and an assurance in what he couldn't see.A goal brings you from a place of hoping that things will work out and dreaming about what you cannot see and says, "This thing that I am hoping for is going to become a reality by such and such a time, and although I can't see it now, I am sure I will see it in the future."Of course, Hebrews is talking about spiritual things that God has promised (vs. taking a trip to Mars). But if you involve God in your goal-setting process, you will have dreams, hopes, and desires that are directed and led by him. Setting a goal is an act of faith, in which you articulate how your future will come into alignment with the vision of the future that he has shown you.The next set of blog posts is going to deal with how to be more intentional about setting goals with God. The outcome will be to more closely align your life with the goals and purposes that God has for you.I wanted to start out this series and make sure, though, that we were on the same page in believing that your goals are an intensely spiritual activity. As you grow in faith, you grow in goal-setting. As you grow in goal-setting, you must be a person of great faith.How do you see the connection between goal-setting and faith?