Welcome back Viphilus*
Start with the end in mind!
Why the exclamation mark? Because I don’t have a punctuation mark that conveys the sarcastic notion of, “duh.”
Nobody builds a house
without construction plans … and nobody can create construction plans without
blueprints … and nobody can create blueprints without a big-picture concept of
what the house is going to look like. Let’s face it … you seldom create
anything without having a pretty good idea of what the end looks like before
you even start; a puzzle; a recipe; a piece of pottery; a work project; a home
project ….. ANY PROJECT.
In keeping with my purpose
in this series, I want to show where Stephen Covey found his 7
habits/principles in the Bible. For this habit …. Habit # 2: Start with the End in Mind … you don’t go to the end of
the Bible, you go to the beginning. Not just close to the beginning, although
you’ll see it there. For example, in the first handful of pages of the book of
Genesis you’ll read the story of Noah and how God was angry at humanity and
decided to destroy everyone in a catastrophic flood. God instructed Noah to
build an ark (a very big boat which took him many decades) and He gave him some
construction guidelines. In order for the boat to survive the flood and serve
its purpose of keeping people and animals safe, it needed to be “made to
order.” Noah needed to know what it was going to look like before he started.
[I’ll resist getting into the discussion of a multi-decades long weather
forecast which was subsequently revised 7 days before the storm came].
If you go to the very beginning … where the Bible actually records the words, “In the beginning …” you read of God’s act of creation. In a handful of verses you see how the entire universe was created with human-beings being the ultimate act of His creation. Then you read the rest of the Bible to get the big picture … that He created everything for us, to demonstrate His love for us and to give us a space to learn about relationship. In other words, when He created everything that is, He did so with us in mind.
But it goes deeper. In fact,
because God is God, He could look ahead and see how everything would turn out
and He knew that we were going to screw up and drift away from his intent for
life here on earth … and in anticipation of that He (proactively – Habit #1)
prepared for the eventuality of our sinfulness by setting in motion a “plan”
for saving us from our own foolishness and selfishness. That plan was the
sacrifice of His Son Jesus for us, His greatest creation … a plan which He put
in place even before the beginning … even before the universe was created. 1
Peter 1:20 says that Jesus was chosen to be our “sacrificial lamb” before the
foundations of the world were ever laid. In Revelation 13:8 speaks
prophetically about Jesus as that lamb who was sacrificed before the world was
even created. In other words, since it was in God’s plan from BEFORE the
beginning … and since God’s plans always work out … then it was as good as
done. God started with the end in mind.
How about you? Do you know
where you’re going when you start out on a journey or do you just wander
aimlessly hoping to get somewhere? When someone asks me to coach them the first
thing I ask them is, “what is the goal?” “what do you want to look like or be
or be able to do when we are done?” Without an idea of the direction, you can’t
even start. For people that I coach over the longer term I highly recommend
that they create a personal mission statement; this can be one of the most
powerful actions a person can take in their life. A statement or phrase or
story that ultimately guides them can be an unbelievably powerful gyroscope for
keeping you on track for your destination … wherever that is.
The concept of knowing where you’re going … starting with the end in mind … is infused throughout Christian language. The Apostle Paul spoke about “finishing the race that was laid out before him.” The writer of Hebrews wrote about keeping our eyes focused on Jesus throughout that race because, in reality, Jesus Himself is the goal … He is the finish line … and every runner / racer knows that you have to keep your eye and mind on the finish line.
If you have nothing as your
target, you’ll hit that every time: NOTHING!
Start with the end in mind. Seems so simple and logical and obvious, yet soooooooooo few people think this way. Once you do, you'll never be the same.
I hope to see you back next
Monday for Habit # 3: Putting First Things First.
Blessings Viphilus,
Your friend, Omega Man
* Viphilus means, "lover of life"
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