Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday October 19, 2009

I came across a statement by a famous writer the other day, a statement that will help any undertaking whether it is of a "churchy" nature or a project on Wall Street. In my life I am able to the see difference in my contentment and productivity when the truth of the statement is followed compared to when it is not used as a guideline.

Stephen Covey wrote:

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

Observe a failing project or a failing life and you will find amidst the clutter the main thing being neglected. The tenacity to keep the main thing in view is the unnamed "something" people are looking for in a spouse, a church or a business. The ability and determination to keep the main thing the main thing forecasts to a large extent whether a person is winner or just another also ran.

In life and in ventures we tend to drift into paying more attention, spending more money and time on the peripherals than on the core of the matter.

The average father fails to clearly define his primary purpose in his family life. Husbands and wives also fail to clarify the main purpose. The main thing to keep the main thing is a proper relationship based on understanding God's purpose in the family and the current need of the "other." Ask any marriage counselor the most often heard phrase from a spouse is "He/she does not meet my needs." He/she has failed to keep the main thing the main thing.

I am often appalled at leaders even in the Christian realm who make bodacious assurance that they are such and such type of church, thus stating that they do not have a modicum of understanding of Paul's statement in Philippians 3:13-14:

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Notice the "one thing" is placed into balance by "those things" meaning that a clearly defined effort encompassing the teaching of God on those things important is to be properly attended to in our daily life. No sane person would say the Christian life can be summed up with an overbalanced emphasis on one aspect.

Often the entire scope of a project is reduced to "one thing" such as tending the children. Yet "tending" the children is one thing that includes feeding, nurturing, diapering, providing for the future and an encyclopedia of duties making up the one thing. Each aspect requires thought and no one aspect can be effectively neglected.

So how are you doing in "keeping the main thing the main thing?"

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.

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