Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/beginning-with-the-beginning-in-mind/ 

This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org

When I was a kid, my dad was a certified instructor for Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, primarily in corporate settings. As a result, nearly every car ride of my childhood was soundtracked by Covey’s measured voice via cassette tape.

One of Covey’s central principles was this: Begin with the end in mind.

It’s a solid rule for business and planning. Most Americans don’t. Retirement gets delayed. College tuition sneaks up. Health is postponed until it can’t be. We drift without design. That’s what Socrates spoke of as the “unexamined life.”

And there is biblical wisdom in that instinct—to begin with a view to the end—but with a crucial difference. In Scripture, the “end” does not originate in our minds. It exists in God’s.

He is the main character of the human story. We are not the authors; we are the supporting cast. Friends and villains alike, we are forever moving across the stage of His purposes.

I think this is an important distinction.

This afternoon, during an online RENEW.org Learning Community event, I heard Dr. Carl Williams of Harding University—co-author with Bobby Harrington of Trust and Follow Jesus—speak on discipleship. (If you’re unfamiliar with this simple, effective, reproducible disciple making guide, order a copy.)

But in Dr. Williams’s presentation, he offered a perspective that lodged in me: focus on making your beginning.

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