Targets vs. Legalism

So here we are a week and a day after I boldy proclaimed September to be a month full of blogging. And how many posts have I written between then and now? One. So much for SMART targets.

Increasingly I am coming to the conclusion that the only targets worth acknowledging are those inspired by God Himself. And even then, perhaps we shouldn't drive ourselves to 'fulfill' them as I know I often do. I'm not talking about aspirations, which I think are a more general desire for something to happen. I mean targets. Sometimes they involve numbers. Sometimes they involve the phrase 'every day'. Often they involve some sense of timescale ("by Christmas we want the church to have grown to 20/50/100/1000").

I'm gradually becoming aware of how targets affect my life, even my relationship with God. Mostly, I set unrealistic targets. That means I often feel let down by myself. But even when the targets seem SMART at the time, there is the odd occasion where we were simply mistaken. Often we find in those times that the targets themselves have become the goal, even though there are much bigger things at stake, and even though targets are only a means to and end. The problem is not targets themselves, it's our reaction to them. When a target isn't met we feel dejected and let down by all sorts of people. Often we forget to give thanks for the good that has happened, and we discover a man-centredness in the way we think. When a target is met we can feel elated and full of joy. But even then we can forget to give God thanks, and again we find the man-centredness buried deep in our hearts.

The more I think about it the more I think that the one big aspiration we all need is a relationship with God. To be living in the grace of God, diving into the Bible and lingering in His presence is pretty much what it's all about. And we can take or leave the other things. Genuinely. Even the God-inspired targets, or the promises we hide in our hearts. Yes, we need to aspire towards the things God speaks to us, but I think too often I turn them into targets, and start to measure my performance. Often the result isn't pretty. And the result is not good for my God-centredness.

Performance measurement is something the world is really pursuing. There's probably nothing wrong with that, really. But I felt so released recently by a prophetic word which basically said "stop trying to analyse how you got here, how you're going to do what God's called you to. And get on with it!" I think God looks at direction more than performance. Questions like: is your life heading Godwards? Are you heading in a missional direction? Are you worship-orientated? And is your Godward-ness growing or shrinking?

Take the promise God has given to the Newfrontiers churches in the UK that we are to be churches of thousands and have thousands of churches. It would be easy to set a target for each of the next 10 years, as if the target would get us there. Instead, I think the right approach is to say 'are we heading in the direction God's got for us?' There will inevitably be the day, week, month or decade during which a particular target is not being met. Though that in itself is not a problem, it is if our reaction is legalistic. It's incredibly easy for even the most Spirit and grace-filled promises to turn into target-idols which fuel legalism in our hearts.

To abandon targets is not to abandon the promises God has given, and it is not to neglect to plan for the fulfillment of a promise, even to work towards it (it's direction, not performance that's important). But the question I've started asking is 'when we turn a command or promise from God into a set of targets (even if they're the SMARTest...), are we on the first step of the ladder of legalism?