Think Clearly

“So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing” 1 Cor.9:26

Human beings are very impulsive. The average person acts impulsively. They just go with the wind and the whim of their emotions. But you do not have to be average. God wants you to act strategically. God wants you to act based on clear thoughts and not based on what is thrown at you. When you find yourself in situations where things are being thrown at you, God wants you to think and think clearly. When the farmer’s dog is restless and the farmer wants to wear his dog out, he simply takes the dog to a large field with rabbits. The dog spots the first rabbit and chases it. But while it is chasing that rabbit, it spots another rabbit. So it stops chasing the first one and starts chasing another one. This happens repeatedly and at the end of the day the dog is exhausted but it has not caught a single rabbit even though it has chased many.

Sadly, this is the story of many lives. They are just chasing rabbits. A lot of people are not living with intention. Do not let life and its curved balls wear you out like the farmer’s dog. God wants you to run with purpose in every step. God wants you to live with intention. But you cannot live with intention if you do not have clarity of thought. You have to think and you have to think clearly.

One of the most important life skills you can develop is the ability to focus single-mindedly on an issue. We all have legitimate things that distract us – the need to care for your family, the need to perform and excel at work, the need to advance your business and investments, the need to improve your standard and quality of living. But the truth is that these legitimate needs will always be there. Yet the ability to focus single-mindedly on an issue and think it through, is one of the greatest life skills you can ever develop. Sometimes in counseling sessions, you ask folks simple question, and their response will be that they have not thought about it. If you have not even thought things through then what is the basis for your worry? The first thing you and I need to do to simplify our lives, is to think and think clearly.

Prayer: Father, I pray that beginning today, I will run with purpose in every step.