So what is going to be the primary reason for doing all that I do today? What’s going to be my dominant motive? If it’s going to be something other than indulging myself in five minute increments with what feels good, then three conditions seem absolutely essential.
First, I need to define for myself the kind of person I aim to be at all times and in all circumstances. That is, the kind of person I would so value being that I’m prepared to commit myself to making endless sacrifices to become that person.
Secondly, I pray something like, “Lord, today, according to your awesome power at work within me, I commit myself to being that person. Please make me that person.”
Thirdly, I cement the goal of being that person as my life’s dominant motive. That is to say, I use that vision as a light whereby I constantly scrutinize my thoughts and decisions to see if they line up with it. Then I make the needed adjustments. I want my aspiration to be that person to always explain why I do what I do.
The more my thoughts and actions correspond to my life’s ultimate aim — to the person I truly want to be — then, like a child, the more of me will be present in all I do. The more singleminded I will be. And, biblically, to be singleminded is to be pure in heart and joyful: As Jesus put it, “Blessed (gk. literally, “O how happy”) are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8) I also stand to “see” something more of God in his absolute purity. “To the pure you show yourself pure.” (Psalm 18:26)
This task is so demanding, however, that it can only begin to be addressed upon restricting my attention to today: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34) That is, I suggest, the trouble of overcoming being impure, of being divided, double-minded, of not being fully present in everything I’m doing. Hence, like the psalmist, I say, “My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” (Psalm 25:15)
