When Alignment Exposes the System You’re Swimming In

Escaping Babylon and shedding the stain of it all

In my relentless pursuit of alignment with the Kingdom of God and His ways, I quite by accident stumbled upon something unsettling: how deeply entrenched we all are in Babylon.

No one is exempt in the big 2026. No culture escapes it. Cheery, I know.

Last year, I sat in genuine shock at how subtly duped we’ve become. The good news? We don’t have to stay here. Remaining in Babylon is, in fact, a choice—albeit a strange one. But before we can leave anything, we have to understand what we’re standing in. And truthfully, even the Church hasn’t fully recognized what’s happening. It’s the classic frog-in-the-pot situation: the water warmed so slowly that no one noticed until it was boiling.

How Efficiency Rewired Humanity

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, industrialization quietly reshaped the world. Factories introduced efficiency thinking, and in 1911, Frederick Winslow Taylor formalized it through Scientific Management—breaking work into measurable units, timed tasks, and performance targets. Before this era, no one lived or worked this way.

For most of human history, life revolved around roles, calling, moral obligation, and community continuity. Seasons—not calendars—set the pace. People looked to the sky and to the Lord to know when to plant and harvest. Rest wasn’t earned; it was embedded through Sabbath, honored weekly across cultures.

Then something shifted—quietly but dramatically. God-ordained rhythms gave way to output and productivity. Over the last century, we’ve consumed this system without question, drifting from our original design and, at times, from God Himself.

When Faithfulness Was the Measure

Before efficiency ruled, people asked different questions: Was I faithful? Did I do my duty? Did I leave something intact for those who come after me?

No one asked, “Did I hit my Q1 objectives?”

Scripture tells us plainly: “Come out of her, my people.” Revelation 18:4

When God highlighted that passage to me last year, my response was simple: Alright. Bet. I left—only to realize I didn’t fully understand what I was leaving. The most confronting truth was discovering how much Babylon lived in my own mindset.

This wasn’t an escape. It was an unraveling.

The Goal-Setting Gospel We Never Questioned

From the 1980s onward, annual goals became sacred. SMART goals. Quarterly reviews. Vision boards. Hustle culture wrapped in motivational language.

I used to joke that I made SMAT goals—because realistic has never been my thing. Hot take: neither is God.

The obsession with measurability reduces life to numbers—pounds lost, dollars earned. And the tyranny of time-based achievement reveals the heart of Babylon itself. God marks time by watches, mornings and evenings, Sabbaths and seasons. We mark it in seconds and deadlines—and then wonder why we feel crushed by it.

Orders, Not Objectives

Soldiers don’t set goals; they receive orders. They train faithfully and trust command. When I ask my son where he hopes to be stationed, his answer is always the same: “Wherever the needs of the Army are.”

Imagine if believers lived the same way: Wherever the needs of the Lord are.

Modern goal-setting subtly teaches three dangerous lies:

1. You are in control.

2. Time is something to conquer.

3. Your worth is proven by output.

The Kingdom says otherwise.

A Better Question

In 2025, I aligned myself differently. God is my Commander. Time is my servant. Fruit—not output—comes from alignment, not striving.

Which led me to a new question: Is goal setting truly necessary—or is it simply how Babylon measures obedience?

That question is why I’m writing this. This path isn’t for the faint of heart, so we’ll walk it in small, gentle doses.

For now, sit with the question. What answer rises in you?

More to follow.