I once watched a documentary about the life of Warren Buffett, the famous billionaire investor. Several years ago, Buffett attended a dinner party where he was introduced to another noteworthy billionaire, Bill Gates. There were a dozen or so highly successful people around that table, and before dinner was served, the dinner host asked everyone there to secretly write on a notecard what they believed was the single most important factor to their success. Later, everyone was invited to share what they’d written on their cards, and Buffett and Gates were surprised to find that they’d written the very same word: focus.
I used to hear stories like this one about great men and get really depressed, because I’ve always wanted to become great at something, but focus hasn’t exactly been my forte.
I was always a day-dreamer and a creative. When I was a kid, I could spend hours looking up at the clouds or the stars and just thinking. I was told this meant I lacked focus. Later in life, I was diagnosed with ADD. I spent most of my life thinking that, while I was good at some things, I was bad at focusing. But more recently I’ve learned something about focus, and about myself: focus isn’t a static skill that you either have or you don’t. Focus is a muscle that can be stretched and strengthened through discipline and desire. Some of us might be born with a stronger focus muscle, but all of us are capable of building our focus muscle with a little discipline and hard work.
Focus begins with purpose. The times I struggle most to stay focused are when my sense of purpose is unclear. If I don’t know what my mission is, or what the goal is, I’m more likely to fall into one of those Google rabbit-holes where I start out looking for one thing and end up finding a hundred different things but not the one thing I was looking for to begin with. But when my purpose is clear and I understand my mission, I’ve realized that not only am I focused, I’m dialed-in. I’m a warrior.
In 2015, when we set out to start The Story Church, Pastor Geo and I sat down with our Launch Team to talk about a mission statement for this new community. We had a lot of good ideas, but they were all too unfocused. They were generic mission statements, like:
“We exist to welcome everyone into the story of Jesus.” So vague!
“We exist to tell the world a love story.” So cringy!
So we kept pressing toward our passion – that one thing that brought each of us out of our comfort zones to risk starting a new church. What was it? It was a feeling that the church was missing something. The knowledge that, any given Sunday, 85% of our friends aren’t gathering in Christian communities. So we prayed on it, and God’s Spirit gave us the courage to claim our mission: We exist to inspire nonreligious people to follow Jesus.
And this mission sets my heart on fire. Every day, I wake up thinking about it. Our staff sits in meetings talking about it. Our worship leaders plan their music based on it. Our whole community thrives on answering the question: how can we inspire skeptics, cynics, and other unbelievers to follow Jesus?
You don’t have to be a super-organized, Type-A personality to be focused. Focus is simply where desire and discipline meet purpose and passion.
When you look at Jesus, you obviously see a man driven by purpose, but it’s important that we understand what his purpose really was. If you close your eyes and picture Jesus’ life, as he and his disciples went from town to town, what do you imagine him doing? I’m afraid too many of us imagine a healing crusade with Jesus up front like a tent-revival preacher – dressed in white, healing people, putting on a show. Jesus healed people, but healing people was not his purpose. Jesus drew large crowds, but putting on a show was not his purpose.
That evening, people brought to Jesus those who were sick or demon-possessed. The whole town gathered near the door. He healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases…Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer. Simon and those with him tracked him down. When they found him, they told him, “Everyone’s looking for you!” He replied, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there, too. That is why I’ve come.” He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and throwing out demons. – Mark 1:32-39
These events took place early on in Jesus’ ministry. He was in Capernaum, at the home of Simon Peter. Simon Peter’s mother in-law had fallen ill that night, so Jesus healed her. I imagine that miraculously healing one person is like feeding one stray cat; pretty soon every stray cat within a two-mile radius will be knocking at your door. So later that night, every sick and disabled person in and around Capernaum showed up at Simon Peter’s house, begging Jesus to heal them.
Jesus spent hours healing many of them, but at some point in the middle of the night, with the house still full of people, Jesus slipped out the back door.
Think about the scene Jesus chose to leave behind that night. The whole town had his name on their lips. I imagine his disciples were forced to manage the growing crowds like they were Secret Service agents protecting the president. And then, just as the evening reached a fever pitch, Jesus said, “I need a bathroom break,” and then he escaped through the bathroom window.
Peter and the other disciples probably apologized to the crowd, making excuses for their leader, and promising that he’d be back on stage momentarily. But the reality is that they panicked. Mark’s gospel indicates that they went out hunting for Jesus. The phrase “they tracked him down” was most commonly used to describe how predators track down their prey. Simon Peter and the disciples weren’t casually looking for Jesus that night; they were outraged and afraid as they hunted Jesus down.
What were they so upset about? The context clues in this passage point to the fact that Simon Peter simply couldn’t believe that Jesus would walk away from an entire city full of adoring fans. He had hundreds – if not thousands – of people eating out his hand that night. After 30 years of living mostly under the radar, Jesus was finally getting famous. That’s why Peter said, “Everyone is looking for you!” In other words, why would you walk away from the glory of the limelight?
In response, Jesus said, “Let’s go to the next town, so I can preach there, too. For that is why I’ve come.” Sometimes we think of Jesus as essentially a miracle-worker who also had some good things to say. But in reality, Jesus came to us as a teacher and a leader who happened to work a few miracles. This distinction is important, because if you understand Jesus’ real mission – to tell the whole world about the good news of grace and forgiveness and salvation – then no matter what miracles happen or don’t happen to you, you’ll still have Jesus.
For Jesus and his followers, the message is always more important than the miracles.
This should tell you something about Jesus’ intentions. He never wanted to be a miracle man or a circus act. He came to tell the world that God doesn’t want to be feared from a distance; God has chosen to come near to us, to forgive us, and to love us. He came to show the whole world that the will of the Father is to be reunited with His children. That’s the purpose that got Jesus out of bed every morning, and he never let anything distract him from that purpose.
Jesus came to reveal the Good News of God’s salvation.
He declared the Church’s purpose in Matthew 28:19 – go and make disciples!
He led The Story Church to claim our purpose of inspiring nonreligious people to follow Jesus.
He inspired my wife and I to define our family’s purpose as well: we are raising up leaders who lead new generations of people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
If I asked you about your life’s purpose, could you summarize it in one or two sentences? If you can, please reply to this email and share it with me!
If you’re not sure what your purpose is, I would love to come alongside you in prayer as you seek guidance from the Spirit of God about your life’s purpose. Please reply to this email and let me know how I can pray for you.
