How do you react when you achieve something? Do you take time to slow down and appreciate the triumph? Or see it only as a stepping-stone to a bigger goal? If done in a healthy way we can have a never-ending cascade of goals that we work towards in our life. As you pass each milestone, I hope you can see the things you learned along the way that made that achievement possible. And as we recognize them, we can see how they lead us to do bigger and better things.

However, there is another option. For some people, reaching a goal means they’ve made it. It is time to quit! I have achieved the thing I was working towards and now I don’t need to do anything else. But when we decide we’ve made it we quit learning we quit growing. “I already know everything there is to know about that! Why should I bother?”

And this is why it so important to put our focus on things that matter. Goals of self-improvement and Godliness have no clear end point. We can continually grow and help people we meet along the way. Growing in Godliness is called righteousness in the Bible, and it is an area that needs constant attention in our lives.

As we gain more knowledge and experience, we usually learn just how much more there is to learn. Even someone like Paul, who many would point to as someone who had it all figured out, continually pointed to the constant journey we face as we grow in faith.

In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says, “12 Not that I have already obtained [righteousness] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Set your eyes on Jesus and strive to live out his call on your life.