In his book, Developing the Leader Within You, John Maxwell tells the following story attributed to William H. Hinson.
(There is a reason) why animal trainers carry a stool when they go into a cage of lions. They have their whips, of course, and their pistols are at their sides. But invariably they also carry a stool. Hinson says it is the most important tool of the trainer. He holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the wild animal.
Those who know maintain that the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. In the attempt to focus on all four, a kind of paralysis overwhelms the animal, and it becomes tame, weak, and disabled because its attention is fragmented.
Amazing! And yet, this makes perfect sense. Not only to you and me. But also to Satan. In an ironic twist of fate, the one whom the Bible calls a prowling lion (I Peter 5:8) has learned to cow us the way a lion tamer does his own quarry.
In our modern lives, he skillfully orchestrates things. We find ourselves with so much coming at us at any given time that we are simply overwhelmed. As a result, the important gets mixed in with the trivial. As it does, those things that ought to really matter get lost in the confusion.
We get so busy. We feel overwhelmed. Thus, we recoil. We back away. And when we do, the things of God suffer in the process.
From this little lesson, I hope you will learn the critical significance of being focused. In truth, some things in life are simply more important than others. This is especially true of spiritual matters. Make certain no to allow the genuinely significant things in life to get crowded out by the insignificant ones.
As D.L. Moody once said, “I’d rather say this one thing I do, than to say these forty things I dabble in!” Above all else, place your priorities on doing what is right by God. All else pails by comparison.
(There is a reason) why animal trainers carry a stool when they go into a cage of lions. They have their whips, of course, and their pistols are at their sides. But invariably they also carry a stool. Hinson says it is the most important tool of the trainer. He holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the wild animal.
Those who know maintain that the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. In the attempt to focus on all four, a kind of paralysis overwhelms the animal, and it becomes tame, weak, and disabled because its attention is fragmented.
Amazing! And yet, this makes perfect sense. Not only to you and me. But also to Satan. In an ironic twist of fate, the one whom the Bible calls a prowling lion (I Peter 5:8) has learned to cow us the way a lion tamer does his own quarry.
In our modern lives, he skillfully orchestrates things. We find ourselves with so much coming at us at any given time that we are simply overwhelmed. As a result, the important gets mixed in with the trivial. As it does, those things that ought to really matter get lost in the confusion.
We get so busy. We feel overwhelmed. Thus, we recoil. We back away. And when we do, the things of God suffer in the process.
From this little lesson, I hope you will learn the critical significance of being focused. In truth, some things in life are simply more important than others. This is especially true of spiritual matters. Make certain no to allow the genuinely significant things in life to get crowded out by the insignificant ones.
As D.L. Moody once said, “I’d rather say this one thing I do, than to say these forty things I dabble in!” Above all else, place your priorities on doing what is right by God. All else pails by comparison.