Thursday June 30, 2021

We live in a very busy world. There are basically two kinds of people who operate in this world–one ring circus type people who can only do one thing at a time and multiple ring people who are multiple-tasters. I guess you could say that I am a one ring circus person. I hated the circus when I went for the first time. There were three rings in front of me and all the rings were going simultaneously with different acts and I got so frustrated because I felt that I was missing out on so much of the circus that I determined I would never go to the circus again. A few years later my kids begged me to go to the circus and after much persuading, I went reluctantly. This time was different. The circus had three rings as before, but they only had one ring going at a time while the other two were getting ready when the spotlighted ring had finished. It as a one ring circus experience and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My focus was not divided. When you think of being in this world, you might think that the person with multi-tasking skills is better suited for working environments than those with one ring circus skills and in some situations you would be right.

I was reading in Psalms this morning and there is one area in our lives where dividing our time with multiple things is not a good thing. David writes, “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) When I read this passage my mind began to ponder the phrase “give me an undivided heart.” It is impossible to have a multi-tasking mentality when it comes to connecting with the Lord. Jesus speaks to this issue when He says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) This divided heart can work well in some working situations, but it never works well when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. God wants our undivided attention when we come to Him. He demands our undivided attention. Nothing but undivided attention will get His attention and cause Him to begin to listen to us. Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters. It is impossible to worship God while you are multi-tasking. God makes this clear when He said to us in the ten commandments that we are not to have any other gods before us. The bible is full of this concept when it comes to serving and connecting with the Lord. We need to be one ring circus people with our undivided attention on Him.

On this journey, cultivate the skill of being singularly focused on God that gives direction, knowledge and wisdom for the journey ahead.