“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.”–Phil. 3:13-14
Kenneth Langley said, “Film maker Walt Disney was ruthless in cutting anything that got in the way of a story’s pacing. Ward Kimball, one of the animators for Snow White, recalls working 240 days on a 4 1/2 minute sequence in which the dwarfs made soup for Snow White and almost destroyed the kitchen in the process. Disney thought it was funny, but he decided the scene stopped the flow of the picture, so out it went. When the film of our lives is shown, will it be as great as it might be? A lot will depend on the multitude of “good” things we need to eliminate to make way for the great things God wants to do through us.”
That reminds me of something my mother repeated over and over as I was growing up– “Good, better, best. Never let them rest, till you good is your better and your better is your best”. That’s good advice. The greatest enemy of the best isn’t the worst, but the good. Many people who have enough sense to know better than to choose the bad, but not enough wisdom to know that when the good crowds out the best it is bad. Even sinless things can become sinful. Remember the old saying, “A jack of all trades and a master of none”? I fear that’s the mistake a lot of folks make. Successful people avoid that mistake.
Luciano Pavarotti said, “When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ “‘Luciano,’ my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’ I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book–whatever we choose–we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”
Paul likewise chose “one chair”– “For to me to live is Christ..”(Phil. 1:21). As we think about this we need to remember that God’s will for us is the greatest thing that can happen through us!. It might not be deemed great in the sight of others, it might not win us any awards, or even a pat on the back, but it is great if it is of God’s choosing. Like the old song says, “Little is much if God is in it”. He who does the will of God, whatever it is, will hit the “mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus“. Don’t waste your time doing anything else! Keep your eyes on the prize!
