This morning I woke up and got ready to attend a class on Baptist Confessions. I was somewhat surprised to learn that there are over a hundred historic confessions that have attempted to define what it means to be a Baptist (Orthodox, Evangelical, Confessional, and Baptist ecclesiology). That may be a discussion for another day, but it has been a tremendously exciting ride!
What I am anxious to talk about was the frigidity of the outside temperature at my awakening. The thermometer was telling me it was in the high 30's, though I have reason to believe it might have been ten degrees warmer. Now while my friends from elsewhere may consider the upper 40's to be temperate and balmy, it is considered quite chilly here in Florida.
Because of this, it is not at all uncommon to see people wrapped in parkas sprinting from their front door to their car. It is also relatively common to see people bundled under blankets for a trip in a vehicle. Generally speaking, many of these people are then forced to make the reverse trip by taking off all these extra clothes when they arrive at their destination.
That was the situation I addressed when I was asked to wear a jacket on the way out the door. I stated that I don't want to prepare for the three foot journey to my car, but rather I want to prepare for the 8-hour day in a heated classroom. Now, certainly there are a variety of ways to prep for that. I always remember my mother pushing "layers." I am uncomfortably under-dressed for the journey to the car. And you may have your own method.
Unfortunately, I believe many of us are equally short-sighted in life. As crazy as you may think my jacket philosophy is, I think it is something we should do in our lives. Often we prepare for the next several minutes, when we have a full day ahead for which we will be ill-prepared.
My caution this week is not to do so. Do not be so concerned with the proverbial two second run to the car when you have the entire proverbial day to worry about. Now let me be as clear as I can be. Don't abandon planning for the immediate just for the sake of the theoretical future. But also don't overly concern yourself with the things that are of minimal import.
In our day-to-day lives, there are frequently things that attempt to de-focus us from our mission. Those things seem important, as they cause our proverbial trip to the car to be exceedingly uncomfortable. But if we adjust for these distractions in such a way that our proverbial 8-hour day is uncomfortable, we are being pulled away from our purposed. And nothing would excite our enemy more, than a distraction from those things which are good, true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise-worthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment