Achieving Our Objective

“The test of spiritual leadership is the achievement of its objective. In Nehemiah’s case, the record is clear, “so the wall was completed” (Nehemiah 6:15). This was the insightful summary of Nehemiah’s leadership as he led the returning Jewish exiles in the restoring of Jerusalem’s walls, set forth by J. Oswald Sanders in his classic, “Spiritual Leadership.”

Achieving the objective is crucial in our lives as well. Much could be said to identify the chief objective of the believer, but certainly Paul’s words in Romans 12 offer a helpful clarification to the believer’s aim. “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1, 2).

So, how then can we achieve this high aim and challenging objective? How may we live our lives as living sacrifices, minds renewed and expressing through our acts and motives of obedience, a heart yielded to the will of God?

First, it requires humility, a commitment to ongoing admission of our total need of His strength to shine through our weakness. It will necessitate our willingness to forget past failures and broken promises made to the Lord and press on to new heights. Wallowing in past failure is a certain guarantee that our spiritual objectives will go unmet. Along with our humble dependence upon God and our determination to leave our past behind, we must also possess an unswerving passion for spiritual progress. We must move ahead. Like Nehemiah we can attain our objective if we will walk humbly, leave our failures behind, and set our hearts on the goal.