Out of Focus?
Does your life seem out of focus? Are you struggling to get things done—or even to figure out what things really need to get done?
One of the most important things that I've learned in life is to ask some simple questions:
1. Do you know the most important thing that you need to be doing?
2. What must happen in your life?
3. What goal must be achieved with excellence or nothing else matters?
Answering these simple questions will help you in knowing what to focus on, in establishing what some refer to as your “wildly important goals.”
Is the answer to these three questions really clear in your mind? Do you know what your “wildly important goals” are?
Think about applying these questions to various areas of your life: What are the answers in my family life? What’s my response when I consider my calling in life? Most importantly, what’s my reply when I think about my relationship to God?
Have you ever asked yourself questions like these? It can be thought-provoking—eye-opening even. I’ve discovered in life that when we pursue wildly important goals, very often other, smaller, less important goals get met too. It’s sort of the opposite of collateral damage. We might call it “collateral blessings.”
I really believe that in life we often try to do too much. Instead of narrowing things down, and honing in on what is critically important, we tend to scatter our minds, our hearts, and our activities over a vast spectrum of goals and objectives.
Sometimes that’s because we’re trying to please others too much. Sometimes, to be honest, it’s because we’re prideful or greedy. We think too highly of ourselves, or we want too much.
But sometimes, it’s just because we’re all a little bit like activity magnets. It’s not necessarily intentional. We just keep collecting new activities in our schedule without ever shedding any of the old ones. Our schedules get busier and busier, and less and less focused. And when we haven’t taken the time to step back, really examine our lives, and ask ourselves what we really want to achieve—or better, what God really wants us to achieve—with our lives, then we build “scattered” lives for ourselves.
When that happens to me, and I start to think about how unfocused and diffused my life can be at times, I like to think about the beauty of Jesus. He lived a life—for me, as my perfect substitute—that was focused on just one thing.
He knew the most important thing he needed to be doing. He knew what must happen in his life. He knew, precisely, what goal had to be achieved with excellence or nothing else mattered.
And so he actively obeyed every commandment perfectly for me, and you.
And also, he suffered every punishment and penalty due to me, and you.
So now, I am free. I am free to focus fully on the wildly important goals Jesus has for me. Want to hear one? Here you go.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33, NIV)
Look closely. I think Jesus might be promising collateral blessings there!