I’ve had a paradigm shift recently, which weighs so heavily on my heart that I just have to write about it.
The misconception I’ve had about the end goal.
Now, I know that can sound vague, but in life, every pursuit we undertake has an end goal whether we are aware of it or not - though most of us don’t take time to ponder this.
What’s your end goal for your physique when going to the gym? What’s the end goal for your career? What’s your end goal for your life? What does the end goal of happiness, fulfilment, purpose look like to you?
I always thought that the end goal was about reaching a particular state. Once my body looks a certain way, then I’ll have attained the end goal. Once I’m rich enough to never worry about money again, then I’ll reach the end goal. Once I have everything that I feel I lack in life then I’ll happy, and then I’ll be fulfilled.
The achilles heel of simply reaching an end goal is that nothing in this world remains in the same state unless it is continually kept that way.
Yea, we may go to the gym for some time and see gains that we’ve never seen before, but if we stop, we’ll lose those gains faster than we got them. We may feel the happiest we ever have for a day, but what good is it if we feel miserable again the next. Indeed, we may earn more money than we ever need, but if we don’t stay wealthy, it was pointless.
Did you know that literally 99.9.% of companies that were created in the past 170 years went out of business? To put into perspective how short of a time frame that is, that’s just 3 generations of families (excluding us young people). About 50-60% of gym goers quit after 3 months, and only ~5% stay in the gym for years. Barely 10% of wealthy families keep their wealth for 3 generations. 70% of them lose their wealth by the second generation.
The end goal is not to attain something. It’s to keep what you’ve attained.
It’s not about getting fit, but staying fit. Not about getting rich, but staying rich. Not about having peace, but keeping it. It’s not enough to find your purpose, you must stay the course.
The end goal is consistency!
It has taken me longer than you’d imagine to express this in words. And I still don’t feel like I’ve said enough.
With every principle I learn in life, I’ve learnt to always ask the Holy Spirit, “where is this truth found in Scripture?”
And when I asked Him to reveal to me how and searched out the Scriptures, I was flooded with so much that it would overwhelm both you and I for me to put them all here. To spare you, I will highlight only one.
In Philippians 3:11-14, Paul writes:
…that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, 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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
ESV
We see that there is something that he is striving to attain. The resurrection from the dead. That in itself requires a whole other post to explain, but it was his end goal. The upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
What is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus? Well, let’s see what Paul wrote at the closing moments of his life here on earth.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…
2 Timothy 4:6-8 ESV
I have kept the faith.
What a statement this is, which convicts me very deeply. Will we confidently, and in good conscience be able to say this when we reach the end of our lives here on this earth?
That we didn’t just get the faith, we didn’t just have it, but we kept it.
That is the good fight we must war, that is the race we are called to run. This is the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Friends, we must have this mindset in everything that we do. To be steadfast. It requires discipline, and a realisation that the real finish line is to continue past the one that you’ve set. The end is an endless ascent.
You will keep whatever you make a lifestyle, instead of a short-term objective.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude 1:3 ESV