I am committed to sharing what has worked in my life in order to be a blessing to someone else. But sometimes, I have to share what didn’t work to accomplish the same goal. If you want to be successful you can’t have a divided heart. Many times I didn’t have a clear focus on what was most important and I wasted a lot of time and energy.
Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
Psalm 86:11 NIV
I once read a book about success that suggested that we need to find what it is that we do well and do that the majority of the time. The analogy was given of a baseball pitcher who came to a new team and was meeting with the pitching coach. The coach asked the pitcher, “What is you best pitch?” The pitcher responded, “My fast ball.” The coach then recommended that he practice perfecting that pitch 80-90 percent of the time.
How does that apply to me?
To apply it to my life, I once had a job where I had to collect tiny pieces of paper and organize them. This is not my strong suit. So for me to spend large amounts of time trying to perfect something that I am not as gifted in would not be the best use of my time. Instead I should become a world class singer or songwriter. These gifts already come easier to me than most things and so I should become excellent at them. Then I should hire or collaborate with others who are gifted in other areas and let them do those things that way we all are doing the things we are best at.
My mom use to say that you can be a jack of all trades but prince of none. In the spiritual realm we must be clear on what and who is most important. When we begin our day we should start in a way that shows what our greatest priority is. In the scripture above the psalmist asks God to give him an “undivided heart.” He didn’t want to displease God by having a heart that sometimes puts God first and other times puts self or other things first. If we want to see God shine brightest in our lives we have to be focused on Him.
How do I change?
How do we focus on Him? What do we listen to? What do we read? How do we spend our time? How do we take care of our mind? How do we take care of our body? The answers to these questions reveal what is important to us and how important God is in our hearts.
Do you have a divided heart? Do you want help changing it? Come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about ways to make this better.
I love you, God loves you more and I look forward to seeing you here tomorrow. Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any posts.
