My grandfather used to chuckle at this joke:

A father took his son out squirrel hunting for the first time and the boy was super excited (and pretty nervous)! They saw the first squirrel of the day and the father pointed it out. The boy raised his rifle, and as he tried to steady the heavy barrel, he seemed to have a hard time keeping the point of aim in any one spot. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, and with no warning…BANG! Sure enough, the squirrel toppled out of the upper branches. “Look daddy, I got ‘em!” the boy exclaimed. The bemused father replied, “Well you ought to have, you aimed at the whole tree!”

Sometimes our lives feel a little like that don’t they? We have our attentions pulled in so many different directions that we seem to struggle to pinpoint one unified objective. God gave instructions for the soldiers in Israel’s army to be of a singular focus. For this reason, in Leviticus 20, he said that anyone who had just built a house and not yet dedicated it, anyone who had planted a vineyard and not yet enjoyed the benefits thereof, and anyone who was betrothed to a woman, but had not yet married her should all return and be exempted from their military service. They had things that could draw their focus away.

Additionally, he excused anyone who was not fully vested in the objective due to fear, as their conversation of tentativeness could cause others to lose their courage as well, detracting from the resolve of the army as a whole.

God doesn’t want soldiers in the Christian walk who are sidetracked, distracted, or tentative. He wants those who have a resoluteness in their lives. That’s why we are commanded in Hebrews 12 to “lay aside the weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” Similarly, Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:4, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

If you find yourself being pulled away from being “one-minded” take comfort, you aren’t the first to struggle with that, but you CAN become a powerful force for God. Look at Peter! He stood with James and John on the mount of transfiguration and was so enthralled with the spectacle before him that he suggested setting up tabernacles to Jesus, Moses, and Elisha. This same Peter also denied Christ three times after emphatically denying that such a thing would NEVER happen.

Yet Peter, in spite of his early moments of impulsiveness, hastiness, and impetuosity later became a man on a mission. That mission was to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” If God can mold Peter’s (sometimes misplaced) tenacity into a focused warrior for His kingdom, he can work in spite of whatever distractions might be pulling at you as well.

So what can you do to become this type of focused person? Start in the right place. I was just talking to a coworker about how different my day is if I don’t start in the Word of God. Even if I get around to reading my Bible later, my day is just not the same because I didn’t start in the right place. Then evaluate your priorities. Is there anything that is so important to you today, that if it comes down to pursuing that ambition or following God you’re going to have to think twice? We need to lay those things aside. And finally, remember who you are fighting for. Paul’s instruction to Timothy comes with a purpose: “…that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Do you need to recalibrate your focus today?