God’s Big Hairy Audacious Goals

Life. Interrupted. Week 5 Day 3

"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." Genesis 17:7-8 (NIV)

God showed Abraham that His plan extended far beyond Abraham’s life. The covenant God established is everlasting. Not only was there no end in sight, there is no end period.

The covenant involved an everlasting relationship and an everlasting possession. God pledged to “be your God and the God of your descendents after you…and I will be their God.” God will never give up on His people whether they are the biological descendents of Abraham or his spiritual descendents.

God called Abraham to something that was much bigger than Abraham. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, talks about successful organizations taking on “Big Hairy Audacious Goals.” “BHAG’s” are goals that take more than what one person or organization to accomplish and require more than a single lifetime to fulfill. Abraham was given the BHAG of all BHAG’s. Beyond the impossibility of just having a son, Abraham was the steward of a blessing and a vision that has extended for thousands of years to billions of people. With that blessing came the covenant that God would be with them.

You and I are a part of the largest organization in the world: the Church. The Church operates in every country and includes about a third of the people on the planet. But, how can you and I extend God’s love and His blessing to the whole world?

We simply need to do two things: (1) Lean into God who is always with us and (2) Do the thing that is right in front of us. Serving a neighbor or helping a co-worker times 2 billion Christians produces exponential results. As I am writing this devotional the Church is serving the nation of Haiti, including a great team from Brookwood Church. While it takes a bit of courage to travel to such a broken country, the requirements were simple: a heart to help and skills to serve.

What has God given you that you can share with others today? God has given us the BHAG of all BHAG’s. We don’t need to be intimidated by that. We just need to be available, and then God will use us.