Walter on Being Single-Minded
On Being Single-Minded
January
9, 2005
Dear Paul,
One thing I
have wanted to write you about is what I am going to call "single-mindedness."
I well
remember watching Donovan Bailey run the 100 meter dash at the 1996 Olympics in
Now one thing
is for sure. If you had been there, sitting in the front row alongside the
track at, say, the 60 meter point... then shouted out as Donovan approached,
"Excuse me Mr. Bailey - may I have your autograph?" why, you would have gotten
no response! And rightly so! That man was single-minded! Nothing could
interfere with his gallop to gold.
I think we
all live in a race of sorts - more a marathon than a dash... but a race
nonetheless. Yet there aren't too many of us who run it very smart! Old Solomon
promised profit to the one who worked ( 14:23 ) and
abundance to the diligent (21:5), but failure and poverty to the idle and
hasty. I read the other day that we North Americans struggle from "choice
excess;" that is, we have too many options and too
many decisions to make in the course of a day. Which of the 32 different brands
of toilet paper should I buy? Should we lease a car or buy it? Which of the 736
shades of dark green should I paint my walls with? My, oh my, we really suffer
don't we? But combine this overload of choice with a culture of "I can't get
enough" and you've just made yourself the recipe for distractedness.
If you want
to sneak up on a bull, distract him by herding 50 cows into his pen. Leave him
all alone and he'll line you up in his sights tighter than a Ranger Sniper. I
think we need some of that bullock, single-mindedness. One of the great lessons
of life is learning to stay at your task and keep your eyes fixed on the right
goals.
Proverb
12:11 "Whoever
works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits
lacks sense."
I've known
men who've spent their whole life running after this cloud and that rainbow
only to reach the end and find they have nothing in their pocket but lint and
memories. Sure, quick money always looks pretty, but nothing can beat faithful
and diligent labour. The Apostle took up a lot of his parchment to shame the
idle man. Listen to that instruction carefully:
2
Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is
walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from
us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate
us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor
did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a
burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right,
but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For
even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not
willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among
you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now
such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work
quietly and to earn their own living.
"Idle hands
are the devil's tools," as the saying goes. And a lazy man will get sun-burnt
and tired begging before he works an honest day. Even the manure pile serves a
purpose, but a man who can't keep at it, whatever his task, is like a cow that
only gives milk once a week. Useless and costly. More
suited for the grill than the barn!
Now, the
first thing to be diligent at is your own spiritual life. I've had plenty of
talks in my day with folks who've grown weary and hardhearted with the Lord.
They talk all about how God has forsaken them, and how they've been abandoned...
but the first thing I ask them is: "When did you stop reading your Bible and
praying?"
I recall my
first day as a youngster working in town for Mr. O'Reilly, the handyman. He had
gotten a job taking out a patio in one fine lady's backyard. Well, after
carrying three of those 100 lb. concrete slabs up the hill and out of the yard,
I had pretty much decided this was a job that would never get done! Yet, done
it got. How? Well, we just kept walking back down there, heaving up another
slab and waddling up the hill to the truck. Now, we could've sat there and devised
all kinds of ways to speed up the job by building special cranes or creating
pulley systems and the like - and taken 5 times longer than we did! But,
there's a time for talk and a time for doing.
A man can
talk all he likes about being a fine Christian, but:
Proverbs
11: 19 "Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will
live"
Like old
Peter said, "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling
and election sure..." (2 Peter 1: 10).
Sometimes we
grow a little weary trudging up and down the hill called Spiritual Disciplines
and try to devise some easier way of getting by. But the Lord will not have it.
And we need to be steadfast and single-minded in our following after Jesus.
Hebrews
12:1-3 "Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside
every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of
the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against
himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."
I recall a
preacher saying once that a man in Jesus' day would gather up his robes round
his waist and tie them off so he could set to runnin'.
Well, I ain't ever worn a dress nor do I intend to,
but I get the point. A man runs faster with the pack off his back and the tools
out of his hand. There's plenty of weights and
encumbrances to slow us down and get us off course. A boy with his daddy's
boots on tends to waddle and dawdle - but stick him in his bare feet and shoot
a pistol in the air behind his head and watch him go!
We modern
folk need to learn to cut some of the extra's out of life. There's plenty to do
just staying fresh with God, going to work, minding your home and training your
children. A woman who can do all that and stay sane and pleasant is a true
saint in Walter's book. No need for adding all kinds of extra cargo to veer us
off track. Stick to the bare necessities and do them
well and you'll have bread in the winter and ice in the summer.
2
Peter 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be
found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
Now being
single-minded is important in the rest of life, too. We need to be folks who
keep our eyes, like Donovan, fixed on the finish line - whether it's getting
the laundry folded or the taxes paid. Remember the tortoise beat the hare... more
because he kept his mind on the race than anything else. It was no pleasure for
that poor old reptile to trudge through vale and forest - but he just kept at
it... stayed on the path... gave no heed to his surroundings and the likelihood he
would never win!
Now a man
who's learnt to be single-minded will be a man who puts the proper order to
things. No sense in buying the leash before the dog or storing up gas when you
don't own a car. "First things first," as they say.
Proverb
24:27 "Prepare
your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after
that build your house."
The sprinter has to tie his shoe
before he can break the tape. Part of living wise then, is learning what needs
to be done first - then doing it! I knew a city-couple that bought a big old
farmhouse near here. Nice house - except that it was empty! They spent all they
had on the house and had to sit on the floor. That is what we might call "poor
planning." A single-minded man plans well. He not only thinks about where he
needs to go, but how he is going to get there. Jesus said the man who built
half a tower then ran out of money was laughed at by every Jack and Jill who
walked by... and rightly so!
My
uncle once built a boat in his basement over the winter. He worked night after
night hammering and cutting and nailing and gluing and painting... until that
first spring day when it was time to launch his beauty. Too bad he never took
the time to measure his basement door before he started building his boat! Had
he done so, lopping four inches off the width of the boat would have saved remodeling the kitchen! "Measure twice.
Cut once." is the way the carpenter says it - probably from experience! A man
needs to plan.
But planning
can be downright hard sometimes. That must be why Solomon said:
Proverbs
15:22 Without
counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs
24:6 for by wise guidance you can wage your
war, and in abundance of counsellors there is victory.
Being
single-minded does not mean being a hermit. (Leave any man alone with his own
thoughts long enough and he'll be thinking he's a tree with wings.) A wise man
knows that having the right finish line in his sights is just as
important as keeping his eyes fixed on it! I remember golfing once and thinking
I had just made the best drive of my life... until I realized I was aiming at the
wrong pin! A man's gotta have the right goal! Part of
the way he gets that figured out is by consulting with others.
Once he has a
fair idea of what he ought to aim at, he sets himself to figuring what things
ought to be done first in order to get there. People today call it
"dream-casting" or "vision statements" or being "purpose-driven." Walter calls
it having a goal and getting after it!
I once met my
neighbour in the woods shooting off his rifle. Thankfully, I came up on him
from behind, so the bullets were going away from me. I asked him, "What you shootin' at, Tom? Did you hit it?" To which he replied,
"Sure did! I was just seeing if the gun worked." Aim at nothing and you are
sure to hit it every time.
Lots of
Christian folk are just plodding along, shooting off their guns at nothing in
particular and feeling quite happy with themselves.
Walter says, a person ought to have a target, a goal
of some kind to aim at. I've got a dart board in my basement and there's not a few holes in the wall surrounding it. Not to
worry though - I may not hit the bull's eye every time, but I'll never hit it
at all if I'm not throwing hard toward it over and over again!
However,
every man needs to remember this warning.
Proverbs
16:3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your
plans will be established.
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the
Lord establishes his steps.
Or the words
of our Lord's half-brother, James:
James
4:13 Come
now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and
spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- 14
yet you do not know
what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a
mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead
you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
That's why a
man needs to be single-minded on Christ first and above everything else. Once
that is in place, he gladly lets the Lord change all them other goals and
desires where He deems fit.
Now just what
should a Christian be shooting for? That question is
easy. It starts with the Lord Himself.
Colossians
3:1-2 "If then
you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ
is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth."
According to
Paul, there's no such thing as being too heavenly-minded. If you want to do
some earthly good, you need to get your eyes on heaven, where Jesus is. Paul
had done this to such a degree that he could actually say:
Philippians
1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die
is gain.
Mr. Spurgeon
wrote on these words of Paul the following:
Jesus is to
believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we
are willing to part with all that we have... Paul's words mean more than most men
think; they imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ- nay, his life
itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he did eat, and drink, and
sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart
of his heart, the life of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian,
that you live up to this idea? ...Many there are who carry out this principle in
some measure; but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for
Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian- its
source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word-
Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in
thee and to thee. Let me be as the bull which stands between the plough and the
altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let
my motto be, "Ready for either."
Paul had
worked out in his own mind what it was he was living for. I once took a map and
plotted out those three big trips he took to tell the world about Jesus. One
thing is for certain - he knew where he was going and why he was going there!
Even then, didn't he tell the Romans and the Corinthians
how he had intended to come to them, but the Lord had blocked the way?
You see, there is a single-minded man. He has a goal and he pursues it, but he
is willing to let the Lord alter his course as the Lord sees fit.
No wonder
Paul could write to the Ephesians:
Ephesians
5:15-16 "
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best
use of the time, because the days are evil."
A Christian life
is a life full of purpose and goals and we Christians need to get after them
with all our hearts. If there is a woman alive who ought not
be wasting time and fiddling away days, it is a Christian woman. We Christians
understand that life is short. We're not fantasizing all sorts of nifty lies to
make us think we'll live forever here on earth - no, we are spending our short
time here getting ready for eternity in heaven. And our Master said that life
was to be full of important things...
Titus
3:1-3 " Remind
them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready
for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be
gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were
once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and
pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one
another."
It is a mark
of ungodliness to be out of focus and impulse-driven. The godly man is the one
who is pursuing the kinds of things Paul described here to Titus. The truth is, most of the world is just spinning around and around
trying to feed its next urge or fascination:
1
John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or the things
in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the
eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And
the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of
God abides forever."
My Granddaddy
was just a farmer... but he was a good farmer. When I was a boy, he used to tell
me, "Son, just learn to do a few things well - rather than a bunch of things
poorly." Now, my Granddaddy couldn't read so well, didn't know much geography
and couldn't figure out how to get the batteries in and out of his hearing aid
- but boy, did he know farming and people. He was focused on them two things,
so he died a wealthy and satisfied man - successful in his business and
surrounded by lots of friends.
A person
needs to figure out a few things and do them well. There's hardly anything
worse than a boring preacher or a tone-deaf soloist at church. Somebody just
needs to tell those folks that they are off-focus. They need to do one thing
well, and leave the rest to everyone else.
The fact is,
God desires us to be folks that are focused on Him and doing what He wants us
to do. Even what we think about matters to Him! The scheming of
evil is sin in the eyes of God (Proverbs 24:9). So, a man or woman needs to get
single-minded from the inside out.
Now, I am
sure that just like all good things, someone might take this too far and turn a strength into a weakness. I've been at church picnics
where some Joe is so focused on scoring a goal for his team that he doesn't
even notice the three 5-year olds he just ran over to get to the ball. Some
people are naturally driven and focused... they were born with blinders on and
once you point them in a particular direction they'll run a straight line
through swamp and syrup to get to where they need to go. I am no psychologist,
but it seems to me that lots of these folks are running hard for a lot of bad
reasons. Yep, we need to be focused and single-minded... but not so we earn someone's
approval or get that long-desired pat on the back. Nope, our being focused and
planning and seeing things through is all so that the
Lord might be glorified in us.
True, godly,
single-mindedness is having eyes set on Jesus and following Him in the ways He
tells us to follow.
I suppose
this may not sound that important to some of your people... but I think it is. I
am at the end of life now, and looking back I see a whole field of folks who
never got this one idea figured out. They weren't the worst people I've ever
met, but their lives didn't amount to much either. Being agreeable is nice, but
being agreeable and single-minded is better.
Why do I
always write too much? Feel free to edit what you like! Hopefully this gets to
you soon - I'll have to dig out the mailbox from snow before I can mail it!
Your friend,
Walter
P.S. Tell that young lady that wrote me the nice letter that
I'll write back to her just as soon as I can. I need to think about her
questions a little more first.