Narrow... Focused.... Clear... Pruned. It seems that Jesus was saying to a group of His followers, in John 15, that He longs to bring focus, perspective, and clarity to their lives... and to our lives as well! He is challenging us to love Him more... more than our sin... more than our small goals... more than our good... more than our shoddy definitions... more than our capacities...more than our comfort... more than our view of self. More! God, the Father, is a master gardener. He prunes our lives and narrows our lives in order to allow us into His realm of great. God's definition of great and our definition may differ. Yet, He is great! His character is great. For us to live a life of magnitude, then we must allow God to prune our good and our sin and our smallness in order to release His great.
I love a book by Piper entitled 'Don't Waste Your Life'. He writes, of the focus process, that there are critical questions and thoughts that we must ask and answer. He writes that we must live with impassioned focus, because we are in the midst of an epic battle between Christ and satan, truth and falsehood, belief and unbelief... there are endeavors to be funded and lives to be spent for the most consuming glory. I need to hear this message often, because I drift into lack of focus and lack of passion and a lack of reality that I live in the midst of an intensely beautiful spiritual fray. I am wired to love the same toys that those who don't follow Christ love. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call 'earth' home. Luxuries become needs and I totally lose focus.
I don't think about people perishing... about missions.. about the hungry... about the impoverished... and unreached people groups completely drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about God-sized triumphs of grace. I am so thankful for those around me who keep pushing me back toward Christ and His Kingdom and His passion. I am so thankful for God, my gardener!
Piper writes that those with focus ask questions like: what can I do to advance the cause? What can I do to bring victory? What can I sacrifice? What risk might I take? What will it take for me to release a taste of heaven in this earth? When I am out of focus, I ask questions like: What can I do to be more comfortable? to have more fun? to avoid trouble? to make light of sin?
I want to find Christ to be all-satisfying, all-consuming and to release a taste of His beauty to those around me. I want to have focus! I want to live with passion for His fame!! I want to live, in community, with a group of people who push me back toward Christ and consistently remind me of the gravity of living well and releasing His life in and through me. That's good. That's focus.

For the Glory,
Mark