Best, Good Enough, and Just Enough

The desires of good people lead straight to the best, but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration. (Proverbs 11:23)

Desires go a long way in determining the end results. Integrity - lives lived out according to God's plan and purpose, with honesty and humility. Anytime we have "twisted desires", it leads to "twisted hearts" and the outcome will be less than good. I think twisted ambition is what gets us so frustrated most of the time. We get our undies in a wad - either at another individual, over something we cannot control, or totally because we are mad at ourselves - all because of some "twisted" desire or ambition. When we learn to "untangle" our lives a little bit, it is amazing how much differently things actually appear! Life is filled with all kinds of choices. There are "good" or "best" choices, aren't there? Sometimes the difference between the two is a very fine line. I have been guilty of making a whole lot of "good" choices in life, but I really have to wonder if I have always made the "best" choices. If I were to perfectly honest, not every "good" choice has been the "best" - but the outcomes were pretty amazing anyway. I can honestly say some of my "worst" choices yielded some pretty awesome things in my life - not because bad choices produce good results, but because God is able to redeem even the worst to create something good out of it.

Ambition is kind of a fickle thing - it is okay to have desires, but when they drive us into actions without any forethought, they become detrimental to our well-being. Think of ambition as a "driving" force. Imagine desire as the feeling behind ambition - it creates the sense of "need", while ambition sets our feet into motion to see the need fulfilled. This is probably why our studies have focused so much on controlling our feelings! The way we "feel" about a certain thing makes all the difference in determining if we will pursue it or not. Sometimes I don't "feel good" about some particular option available to me - if I ignore those "intuitions" I might just come to an end result which I would have liked to have avoided. You may have realized this in your own experience, as well. God's plan is for us to learn to align our desires with his purposes - this is what truly brings safety into our lives.

The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped. (Proverbs 11:25) Work hard - get a paycheck. Have a paycheck - pay your bills. Help others - you are helped yourself. You see, hard work is a good thing - having money in your account is awesome! Getting a paycheck is tremendously satisfying - living debt-free is overwhelmingly liberating. Reaching out to others in need is rewarding - seeing a return on your investment in the blessing another receives is priceless. Search for good - find favor.
Search for evil - you will find it. Desire for what is right and good leads to finding favor with God and our fellowman. Ambition misdirected toward evil just ends in evil. The reward of right choices is something we experience here and now on this earth - contentment. Favor is experienced in both the mind and in our actions - we get our minds set straight and our steps ordered. When these two things occur, contentment is certainly not far behind. All forms of discontent are really linked to either not having our minds at peace, or in engaging in some missteps along the way.

Sometimes we fail to recognize the value of what we have been given. We have been given all kinds of "good" in life - but what awaits us is really something pretty "great" - the "best" is our target. If you look at a target, there are concentric rings which come to focus on some really small circle in the middle. All the outer rings have "hallow space" in between them. Getting anything inside one of those spaces is good, is it not? Yet, the "solid" circle in the middle of the target - the small circle - is the best, isn't it? The "best" is not the biggest, nor the easiest to hit - the smallest is. Did you ever stop to ask why it is a solid circle in the middle? I think it might just be to help us focus on it! All the other "hallow space" just leads us to looking directly at "dead center" on the target! Best is always going to be "dead center" in our lives. Whatever, or whoever, controls "dead center" determines the "score" in our lives. Just sayin!

Know Your Target

Michelangelo reminds us: "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." Yup, this is so true - it isn't that we don't aim - it is that we settle for aiming low. What is your aim in life? Whatever it is, you always want to aim a little higher than your target if you ever expect to hit it. If your target is moving, you track a little in front of it because you expect that the target will move into your aim. The thing is that God doesn't give us 'moving targets' to aim at in life, so his target for us won't move into our aim - we have to adjust our aim to hit his target! The purpose of aiming is to hit something, not hope whatever it is will just happen into our aim!

My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

My eyes are on the crown - this is a clearly defined target, is it not? The first thing we have to know about aiming is that there needs to be a target. Without a clearly defined target, we will just pursue anything that moves into our view. If you have ever watched any of the special forces train for their missions, they are repeatedly practicing to hit the 'right' targets. They are presented with targets symbolizing the ones they want to hit and the ones they need to purposefully avoid. In other words, they learn to be aware of their environment at all times and they adjust their focus so as to be able clearly identify the right target in their path.

I want to win the race - we are now given a little insight into what is behind hitting the target. There is a strong desire to acquire the target. A target in our focus is not enough - it must be acquired and then achieved. In the military we spent hours on the practice ranges learning how to differentiate between the environment and our target, then to actually acquire it in our scope, and fire upon it with accuracy. Those hours of practice were not so much focused on just our aim, but also on helping us to differentiate the right target - to spot it when it seemed to 'blend in' with the environment around it. What we wanted to do was acquire it before we were stopped in our pursuit.

We need to be proficient at differentiating between the targets that distract us and those that we are really supposed to acquire. When we acquire the right ones, we take aim. We pursue that target with purpose. What target has God placed before you? Chances are that specific target is going to get you closer to achieving the main objective he has designed for your life. Ignore the right targets and you will find yourself aiming at arbitrary ones that are doing little more than confusing your life. Focus on the right one, being attuned to how it presents in your life and what it is you need to do in order to hit it - then you take aim with the intent of hitting it spot on. Just sayin!

Aiming requires more than a target

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. (Isaiah 48:17)

Directed - it means more than just being guided. Did you realize that being 'directed' also carries with it the idea of being 'regulated' or 'managed'? Yes, we are subject to receiving guidance, but we are also submitted to doing whatever that guidance requires of us. "Guided" people don't usually stumble over too much, do they? There is an advantage to being guided, but if we are fighting every step of the way to just be in control, to not be 'managed' through the obstacles of life, then we will catch our toes on all kinds of stumbling places!

A 'directed' person is one who has a determined aim in life. Did you ever stop for a moment to consider what one must do to achieve 'perfect aim'? In the military, they trained me in the use of a firearm, but let me assure you it took some doing to move from a familiarity with the many parts that made up the weapon I was issued to actually learning how to hit the target almost every time I fired it. A lot went into aiming the weapon, including my steadiness of grip/hold, my ability to focus on the target through the site, and the ease at which I pulled back on the trigger. The quieter I was in my stance, the better the aim. The more relaxed I was in my breathing, the better the aim. Learning to aim was hard, but without the advantage of 'aim', the weapon was merely a loud piece of equipment that may or may not do what it was intended to do.

Learning to use that weapon well also meant I had to learn to focus on what I was aiming at. There were a whole lot of 'targets' I could have shot out there on the practice fields, but only some of them were the ones I was supposed to be focusing on. In life, there are lots and lots of things that are out there for us to focus on - to aim at. Not all of them are the right things for us to be 'targeting' in life, though. There are just some things we don't want to mess with. There are other things that are someone else's 'focus' right now and we aren't to be aiming at those 'targets' because they are in someone else's sights! God isn't interested in us hitting every target ahead of us - just the ones he intends for us to focus upon.

As you might imagine, getting familiar with the 'right' or 'wrong' targets is a little bit of a challenge for most of us. We don't spend as much time fixing our focus on the right stuff some times and that means we are aiming at 'whatever moves us'. The problem is that 'whatever moves us' may not always be something we should be attentive toward because we will miss the things that required our more immediate attention. I became an expert marksman in the military, but today I am out of practice. I haven't used those skills in a long, long time. Did I forget what they taught me? No, but have I used these skills lately? No. What is not used is oftentimes lost - so don't lose out on what God has given you in the way of 'discrimination of targets' in life. He wants us to not only know how to hit the target, but to aim at the right ones, too! Just sayin!

Adjustment necessary

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us that we "aim above the mark to hit the mark." We might think to hit the mark we merely aim at the mark. The truth is that the only way to hit it is to really be 'on the mark' in life. The mark? Christ himself! Can we really aim higher than Christ? No, but to 'hit' the mark, we keep our focus upward, not merely on some 'point' within the bulls-eye! We aim at the highest point 'within' the mark and then we proceed to move in that direction. There is no greater 'aim' in life than to follow Christ's example - doing that by living 'within the grace' he gives us.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.  (Romans 12:3 MSG)

Our aim isn't to just 'be like Christ', but to allow Christ to become alive within us so that we have the very fibers of our lives transformed by his grace. Hitting the target is not merely our work, it is God making that 'target' alive in us - making it possible for us to 'hit the target'. Our part in this is to keep our eyes on the excellence of Christ and then we respond to God helping us 'adjust our focus' as necessary so that we are always proceeding toward the 'bulls-eye' of his excellence.

Part of what God does to help us 'hit the target' is to give us an accurate picture of what each of us really is and where the adjustments in our lives need to be made. We can look in a mirror and see a reflection of the target behind us, but that isn't the most productive way to view the target. We view the target 'head-on'. What happens is we view the target in a mirror? We are also very much in focus, not just the target! God helps us the most by turning us around so that the thing we see the most is Christ and not us! This is what helps make our aim right and true.

The target cannot be behind us, nor is it somewhere off to the side, but right in front of us. I have watched bow hunters try to take aim at something 'on the run' from them. The adjustments that must be made when something is moving away from the point where you first take aim requires that you continue to adjust your aim. They don't just aim at the animal, but slightly above the present position of the animal because it is on the move. Jesus is always moving our focus just a little bit higher, sometimes because he moves a little, causing us to make those adjustments to our focus. Those adjustments get us moving again.

We all need adjustments from time to time - because we'd just hunker down thinking we could hit the target each and every time from where we are at presently in our walk with Jesus. The fact is that we have much more 'adjusting' to do to consistently hit the target. So, Christ moves us from beyond the blind of our present faith out into the open sometimes. We aren't always able to remain 'under cover'. There are times and seasons when God will take us out of the comfort of our 'cover' and cause us to adjust our position so we remain on target with him. We should not resist this movement, because it is keeping our aim right! Just sayin!

Aiming on the Fly

John Maxwell reminds us that our daily agenda is what determines where it is we will be pointed that day. We start well, but do we always finish the same course we started? If you work in an environment like I do, you probably will answer that one as a resounding "NO". Our healthcare environment might allow us to "plan" our day one way, but the demands of the day can change at breakneck speed. We have to be "flexible" in our aim, but still maintain some semblance of pursuing that aim. In our jobs, this might be okay - in the direction our life takes emotionally, spiritually, and within relationships - that might just be a different story.

Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way. (Proverbs 3:5-6 ERV)

With every step we take, we have a choice - we can choose what seems best to us, or we can take a microsecond to just possibly reach out to God for his wisdom in the matter. Too many times, people tell me they don't have time to wait on God - to take that time to consult him with their steps. I wonder how that is really working for them? They may never know just how much of God's knowledge they missed out on just because they didn't ask! The truth of the matter is that we don't need to fall to our knees, get ourselves "right" in an attitude of prayer, and then spend time there until God talks to us. While there are appropriate times for this type of contemplative reflection and fellowship with our heavenly Father, he is also right there in those microsecond prayers when we merely say to him, "This way or that?"

I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he reminds us to pray continually (I Thessalonians 5:16-18). It isn't that we need to be alone in our "Prayer Closet" - that place where we spend time with God - but that we live a life of continual contact with him. This may seem hard for some who have grown up in a little bit of a "religious" bent where the church you attended had specific prayers you prayed at certain times, or specific "formulas" you followed in "getting yourself right with God". I grew up Catholic, so I come from the background of "prayer books" and all those "ups and downs" of kneeling, rising, kneeling, rising of the church service. Don't get me wrong - I am not criticizing - but I didn't actually know WHY there was these requirements for prayer. I much preferred just getting real with God, telling him like it was, and being my real self with him. The "religious" part of me just didn't connect with him - but my genuine part did!

I think this is where God wants all of us to get to in our walk with him - the genuine part that leans heavily upon him, settling into a consistent and purposeful rhythm with him. It is as though he asks us to breathe him in and out - with each breath we take being a moment of contact with him. In terms of "praying purposefully" and allowing him to help direct our choices, I think we do this a whole lot more "on the fly" than we do in those "contemplative moments" we call prayer time! "On the fly" we find ourselves face-to-face with the things we need to have answers for in the here and now. Maybe we don't get all the answers, but we get a sense of the general direction we are to aim and then we move in that direction. God helps us because we remain aware of his presence with us all day long - not just in those quiet, contemplative moments. Just sayin!

The Crown

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."  (C. S. Lewis)  I have frequently commented about each of us having an "aim" or "purpose" in this life - without one we are kind of set adrift without any real destination in mind. As Lewis said, when our aim is correct, we realize blessings beyond our imagining - when it is limited by what we can see in the natural sense, we might just not ever be able to enjoy all the things God wants us to experience. If I were to ask you what God wants you to experience today, what might you answer? If you could not really answer that, or you gave some "cookbook" kind of answer, you might just want to take a few moments to reconsider your aim - maybe it isn't high enough!

We all know that when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line, but only one will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize! Athletes in training are very strict with themselves, exercising self-control over desires, and for what? For a wreath that soon withers or is crushed or simply forgotten. That is not our race. We run for the crown that we will wear for eternity.  So I don’t run aimlessly. I don’t let my eyes drift off the finish line. When I box, I don’t throw punches in the air. I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after all this, after I have brought the gospel to others, I will still be qualified to win the prize. (I Corinthians 9:24-27 VOICE)

Are you a runner who bolts for the finish line, eager to get there, one prize in mind? I used to be that way - kind of headstrong and determined to get things done. I am not so much that way any longer - sometimes I need to step back and take in what is happening around me more than I need to make it across whatever "finish line" I have imposed. Far too many of us have our eyes set on earthly goals, all the while neglecting or forgetting the heavenly goals God has for each of us. Yes, God wants us to have an aim, but I don't think he wants these earthly aims to consume us to the point we neglect relationship with him or others. The most profound portion of this passage is the very last statement: "I will still be qualified to win the prize." In running, we can attain all kinds of prizes along the way. In making it across the finish line, we can win but one prize - the prize of having crossed the end point well.  

Unlike earthly races in which one wins and all others just "place" somewhere in the list of those who "finish", all of us will cross the finish line with Christ - all of us "winners" of the crown. As we run, our focus determines our drive - without a focus for the right goal, we can find ourselves stopping short of where God wants us to be. Lewis also said, " If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."  What is it that causes you to hunger or thirst? If it is something that things in this world can satisfy, might I suggest your hunger (and mine) is just not created by the right focus or aim.  When we find satisfaction in the things of this world, we are limiting the supreme satisfaction which God has prepared for us in his! Just sayin!