A good friend of mine, Mark Simon, conducts strategic operating planning sessions, or “Strat Ops.” These Strat Ops sessions can last for several days, venturing deep into a person’s motivating principles. The goal of the planning process is to help people optimize the investment of their time, energy, and resources to align with a preferred outcome. Over the years, Mark has walked denominations, corporations, and individuals through these Strat Ops processes, helping align people and organizations with their God-ordained mission.

Mark asks the participants a critical question at each stage in the Strat Op process – “Is it investment or waste?” The question asks if our investments in the mission waste valuable time, energy, and resources on things that will not bring us to a measurable finish line. Mark’s goal is to create strategic thinkers. Knowing the difference between investment and waste is critical in understanding the effectiveness of our life-mission and our ability to work with God to accomplish His assignment for our lives.

While this may sound a bit heady and something a corporation or executive would be involved with, it is a spiritual reality that applies to each of us. In my lifetime, I have come to realize the seasons of my life where I wasted my Kingdom potential and missed the mark when making choices regarding my life-resources. Today, I see people with great Kingdom potential wasting their lives chasing things perceived to be of value that has been defined, not by God, but by culture and the unrestored parts of their personality. To arrive at the end of our days, realizing we wasted the potential of our calling would be a sad ending.

As the New Year approaches, regarding each area of your life, ask Mark Simon’s question – “Is it investment or waste.” You will be amazed at how simple and focused your life will be and how productive you will become in the things that really matter. A life of Kingdom potential is not something we should waste.