Gary North
If you do not have a compelling lifetime goal, you do not have a compelling reason to get out of debt.
You must perceive your debt-accumulating lifestyle as a threat to your legacy. Your spending habits are your enemy.
If you do not see how your lack of thrift is thwarting your achievement of something really significant, then it will be difficult for you to make the mental changes required to get out of debt and stay out.
If God poured out His blessing on your work, what should that work be?
Your #1 Lifetime Goal
What is your #1 lifetime goal? If you say, “to serve God,” that’s not specific enough.
How do you know if you are getting closer to your goal if your goal is to serve God? What success indicators do you use? What timeline do you use?
If you are not highly specific, you cannot plan effectively. You need medium-term goals as markers. The same is true for short-term goals. You need a series of temporal markers. If you don’t have them, you will not be able to pace yourself rationally.
You must match your dream with your skills. You must also match it with your capital, which above all includes time.
You could drop dead tomorrow. But if you arrange your goals in stand-alone segments, you will leave something behind that is of value, even if you die before your scheduled goal.
What is it that you would like in your obituary? On your headstone? I know what I want on mine: O deadline, where is thy sting?
You will probably not be remembered three generations after you die. Hardly anyone ever is. Even then, only a couple of facts survive in the history books. So, fame is illusive. It is probably worse than money as a mistaken goal. It fuels ambition for self.
In contrast, leaving something behind that survives physically, like a work of art, or institutionally, such as a way to get things done, is legitimate.
If you figure out a way to get a task done, and it gets imitated, you have accomplished something important.
If you put up a blogsite that helps people, and is practical enough to survive for a hundred years, that is important.
How about a video series on YouTube or another video site? The Web will keep your work alive long after you are dead. This has never before been possible for people to plan for.
The technology of leaving behind an enduring legacy is now available to almost anyone who can find this website. Yet most people do not perceive the opportunity.
What is a person’s calling? It is the most important thing he can do in which he would be most difficult to replace. Want more information on this? Click here.
Have you identified your calling? Will it lead to a legacy that someone younger will be able to imitate? Is your calling tied to your #1 goal in life? Will it be extended after you die?
Your Assignment
What are your talents? Write them down.
How much time do you think you have? Aim at age 70 (Psalm 90:10).
What assets do you own that can help you? This is your capital. Do an inventory.
If you were out of debt, would you be able to pursue this goal more effectively? Be specific.
You need motivation to get out of debt and stay out. If you can identify this motivation now, you will find the task ahead of you easier to attain.
Deliverance From Debt 