Seek Him at all times and to the greatest degree. Bring multitudes to His eternal kingdom.
Most successful organizations (businesses, non-profits, government agencies, religious groups) possess a mission statement. By having a strong and relevant mission statement, all within that organization can pass each decision through the filter that lies within the statement. This is very important for an organization of many people that all seek to pursue one goal harmoniously, it can also be very beneficial for smaller organizations or even individuals. Selecting a mission statement can be delicate because it must be specific enough to clearly define the purpose but also broad enough to be relevant to every decision. Above is the mission statement for my life that was revealed to me by God yesterday. The statement does not redefine my beliefs in any way, but rather gives me a clear and concise filter to pass every decision and action through. Trying to align one's will with God's word and His will can be a gargantuan task, and it is my hope that through this statement I can more easily evaluate my every decision and likewise explain the reasons for my actions and decisions to others with greater ease. By no means do I believe that living by this statement is going to make following Christ easy, learning how to seek God and therefore resultingly leading many to Him should be the lifelong task of any Christian; however, it is comforting to possess a way to quickly test every action or thought.
Everything I have written here during the last two months in some form defines how to pursue the satisfaction of: Seek Him at all times and to the greatest degree. Bring multitudes to His eternal kingdom; therefore, seeking Him and bringing multitudes is clearly complicated. However, there is another way that I have learned to evaluate everything I do: moderate every thought, action, desire, or activity that is not specifically God.
Theory of Moderation
An example can be found in golf, the key to golf is repeating the same act over and over again. If one wants to be good, he must turn his body and mind into a machine that is able to consistently repeat the same action. It is beneficial to hit it long and high, but if one can simply hit the same shot consistently he or she will be relatively good at golf. In order to become consistent, it helps to have solid technique. Technique is achieved through drills and tips, but it is very easy to focus on these drills and tips too long and they then become counterproductive. For example, if a teacher instructs one to take the club more inside, this tip may work wonders for him in the short term and one may falsely believe that he has found the secret to golf. Typically, just at the moment one believes that he has found the secret to the game is when he begins to overemphasize this tip and is taking the club too far inside. In order to combat this, one must have other swing thoughts, feelings, or indicators that will reveal when one is beginning to focus too much on one aspect of technique. The key is learning how to use beneficial practices in moderation, because if one were to focus too long on a particular tip he will soon have a host of other problems. This is why golf and many other technique driven sports can be so frustrating, much like life.
As most have probably learned, no one piece of advice is key to making one successful by itself. Analysis of one's self is critical but only beneficial if the goal of such analysis is moderation in every activity and action. It doesn't matter if one is doing a good thing, such as practicing a presently beneficial golf tip, if he does a good thing too much the result will be overemphasis and the encroachment of this thing into other areas of his life. In life, there are certain tightropes one must walk in order to live successfully. On each side of these tightropes lies areas in which one would either be focusing or trying too hard and on the other side an area where one would not be trying hard enough. As I have written before, one can easily fall off the tightrope of love. Without God's template for loving others, it is easy to either tie too much of one's emotions to the love of others, or evoke too little love for others in fear of either getting hurt or simply as a result of indifference and selfishness. Through heightened awareness of God's love for us, we begin to more easily love others as God wishes; this will not happen over night but through the aid of God we are given a steadying hand and a lamp to guide our feet along the tightrope. We are no longer learning to love others in darkness through trial and error or through mimicking the example media provides, but we are following the path of the Understander of All.
This Understander of All is also the outlier in my theory of moderation. I am sure others have theorized extensively on the benefits of moderation, but my awareness of the imperative nature of moderation has come through observing my own desires and actions. As I move through these endeavors, it is amazing to use life as a laboratory for testing this theory. No matter what the area of my earthly life, I always find that it is beneficial to act in moderation, this never fails. There is only one point of focus that is worth focusing upon with all of our being, this point of focus is God. One can never have too much God in their life; I know this sounds very cliche, but if one is to examine their own life, I believe they would agree that nothing earthly is ever beneficial in large quantities. Expensive and exquisite vacations are fun in the short term, but when the fun is over it is very easy to feel more empty afterwards than before. Water, the most plentiful and necessary resource on earth, can even be harmful in excess. However, God is the creator of all that is good, one can never have too much God, one can have too much studying, too much work, too much leisure time (all good things in moderation), but one cannot have too much God. I can not fully explain it, my only explanation is that God desired to wire us this way. He indwelt us with this sense of longing that is only fulfilled by Him and made it so that nothing other than pursuing Him would bring eternal satisfaction.
I know many are sceptical of the statements such as the previous, but as I move through life I become more adamantly convinced of it: it is impossible to focus too much on God. If we focus all our attention consistently on Him, He is going to bring unspeakable freedom and peace, and is going to speak through us and to us. I am not saying that we will be consistently happy while in pursuit of Him, because happiness is temporary and God desires to do purifying work in us that will not result in happiness in the present but happiness in the future and eternity.
As a culture we must constantly look upon our lives and be sure too much of our energy is not devoted to one particular earthly activity or desire. If we dedicate the majority of our energy to one activity, it becomes very easy to wrap too much of our pride and self-worth up in this activity. For instance, referencing back to golf--since I spend so much time playing it and the law of moderation works well within it, if I were to practice golf for 8-10 hours a day I would certainly become better technically but I could still be doing harm in regards to my preparation for a competitive round. Mental stability is critical to success in golf and if I were to devote the majority of my waking hours to practicing golf, not leading a balanced life, it would become very easy to try too hard while playing competitively and therefore become easily angered and not play to my potential.
Contrarily, drawing close to God always brings us closer to our potential. If any of us wants to be successful in any endeavor then we must draw close to God. He is the Creator of All, therefore He is the Understander of All. He sees all the angles and can thus lead us down the most direct and unobstructed path to our full potential. If we are going to have our most positive impact in anything we do then we must be led by the hand and Spirit of God. Once again, I can't fully explain it; I can only advise everyone to observe how this theory of moderation works in their own lives and whole heartily pursue God in every endeavor and witness how much more fulfillment He brings to every activity. By turning our every action and thought over to Him, we will be walking down the path He destined for us before we were conceived, we will be exuding the fruits of the Spirit, and will be moving closer to our potential every moment.
