07/09/2024
Do you ever feel overwhelmed with a big project, goal, or upcoming event? Maybe you’ve set a goal to lose 25 pounds, or read through the Bible in a year, or plan a family reunion that you haven’t had for the past ten years.
What do you do? You map out a plan the best you can, and then you dive in. But here’s what makes the difference between those who cross the finish line and those who drop out of the race: FOCUS.
When you focus on the big goal, sometimes your progress seems so slow and inconsequential, and the objective seems so big and daunting that you feel overwhelmed and simply give up.
You don’t give up right away, of course. It’s more of an incremental letdown. You skip a day in your Bible reading thinking that it’s not that big of a deal. But then a few days later you skip another day … and then another … and then another. The next thing you know is that you feel so far behind, you don’t believe you could ever catch up … and you quit. The same is true with trying to lose those 25 pounds or plan that family reunion.
When we focus on the mountain, we are overwhelmed with the magnitude of the journey to climb it. When we focus on the path we need to take today, we can experience daily victories that motivate us to continue the climb.
Hudson Taylor was a nineteenth-century missionary to China and founder of China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship, under which my son, Will, and his wife, Michaela, serve). He experienced the formidable task of serving in a different culture with a different language for 54 years, resulting in over 800 missionaries going to China who started 125 schools and who led 20,000 people to Christ (and counting).
That is a monumental mountain that could have easily overwhelmed him to the point of giving up and heading back to England. But he didn’t. He stayed the course by faithfully focusing on the little things that result in a great thing. Taylor once wrote, “A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing.”
Jesus once told a story of a landowner who went on a journey and left his possessions to three servants. To each of the two servants who were faithful in fulfilling their master’s wishes, the landowner said, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
My encouragement to you today is, don’t get overwhelmed by the big thing looming over you. Be faithful in the little thing that, over time, becomes a great thing.
I’ve referenced this a number of times over the years, but my assistant’s grandmother used to say, “Inch by inch is a cinch; yard by yard is hard.” Take it paso a paso, step by step, and in due time, you will look back and be amazed at how far you have come.
