It was something I should have learned in High School football. After all, I played tackle; it would have made my experience more meaningful if I knew it then. But I didn’t. It was a lot of years after high school; when I was in business and a mentor shared it with me.
“The secret of success is in the blocking and tackling. Focus on the blocking and tackling and everything else will come along.” I didn’t miss the football analogy. What my mentor meant was that in business, like in football, you can’t win the game if you fail at the basics.
Everybody enjoys watching football when there’s a hundred yard kick-off return or a wide receiver jumps up over the heads of his defenders to catch, one-handed, a sixty yard Hail Mary pass. That’s where the glory is. That’s what gets replayed over and over in the television highlights.
Plays like that are exciting to watch; but ask any coach, seasons aren’t made in the spectacular one handed receptions or the hundred yard kick-off returns. You can’t get to the play-offs unless you’ve perfected the basics - blocking and tackling.
Life is the same. When we think about our purpose in life we picture the glorious stuff - the big kick-off returns and magnificent receptions. Blocking and tackling just isn’t interesting enough to hold our attention.
Too many times, someone has asked me, “How do I find God’s will, His purpose for my life?” They tell me that they’ve spent their whole life searching for God’s will but they’re still coming up blank; still not knowing what the big thing is that God wants them to accomplish.
What they’re looking for is the hundred yard kick-off return or the immaculate reception. They’re not looking for the blocking and tackling; it’s just not glorious enough. Problem is, if they haven’t got the blocking and tackling right, they may never have the opportunity to make the spectacular play they’ve been searching for all their lives.
There’s an old joke about a boy stopping classical pianist Artur Rubinstein on the streets of New York asking for directions. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” the boy inquired. “Practice young man, practice,” was Rubinstein’s answer. Rubinstein knew how to get to Carnegie Hall; by practice – by perfecting the blocking and tackling.
So what’s the blocking and tackling in the Christian life? It’s the stuff we already know. The easy stuff - easy stuff to know, not necessarily easy stuff to do. There are some things you need to do that are absolutely necessary to understanding and accomplishing your purpose in life. The list is pretty easy and it’s pretty short. I’ll bet you can recite it for me from memory.
In case you’re having trouble remembering, I’ll give you a hint; the secret to blocking and tackling is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter twenty-two, verses thirty-seven through thirty-nine. If you get this list right, every other detail of your purpose in life, every spectacular play that you’ve been looking for, will come your way; and more importantly, you’ll be ready for them when they come.
Let’s look at the secret to blocking and tackling:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Pretty simple list isn’t it?
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Like I said, I’ll bet you already knew that list, didn’t you?
Jesus said that “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” What He meant was that everything in scripture (and everything in life) hangs on these two points. By the way, do you know who He was talking to when He pointed this out? The Pharisees and the Sadducees; the religious leaders of Israel who came to trip Him up with their legalese. Imagine that, the guys who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders were the ones who needed a lesson in blocking and tackling.
“Okay,” you might be saying. “I know about the two greatest commandments and I understand that you keep trying to make this football analogy; but what does this have to do with understanding my purpose in life. How does it help me find out what it is I’m supposed to be doing with my life?”
Well … it is what you’re supposed to being doing with your life. Throughout all these letters I’ve been talking about your unique purpose in life; the thing that God has planned for you, and no one but you. But there’s something about your purpose I haven’t been talking about; something I’m going to cover now. The blocking and tackling.
Your purpose, what God’s plan is for your life, is unique and individual and meant just for you … and … it’s universal, meant for every person that ever existed. It’s both. The unique and individual part of your purpose has to do with your mission in life, the specific action or actions you were created for in this time and place. The universal part of your purpose has to do with your behavior, how you’re to act, how you’re to treat your God and your neighbor every day. It’s the part of your purpose that you share with every other person on the planet. It’s the blocking and tackling.
So, if everything hangs on these two points. What do they mean? How do I Love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul and mind? How do I love my neighbor as myself?
You’ve got a pretty good idea what that means already, don’t you? Everybody does. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that even people that have never heard about the Law and the Prophets have the requirements of the Law, “written on their hearts.” It’s intrinsic, it’s written on your heart. You already know how to behave. That’s the easy part about blocking and tackling. Everybody knows how to do it. The hard part is in the actually doing it.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.” That’s an easy one. We all know that one. Let’s go on to something new, something more spectacular; like my own unique, special purpose in life; the thing that’s going to go down in cosmic history as my big contribution.
Whoa, there cowboy! Let’s hold up just a minute and look at this one. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.” The concept is pretty easy to grasp … what about the practice? Do you “love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind”? How much time do you spend with Him? No, not listening to Christian radio in the car, or sticking an “In Case of Rapture” sticker to your bumper, or even going to church. How much time do you spend with Him? Just the two of you, nobody else, no interruptions, no multi-tasking.
Jesus said that this was the big number one. Without obeying this rule, nothing else mattered. If you can’t get this one right you can forget about finding your purpose in life. Without the Purpose Giver, you have no purpose. So back to the question: How much private one-on-one time do you spend with Him every day? This is blocking and tackling lesson one. Get this one solved first; then we’ll move on to lesson two.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” This one trips up a lot of folks. When Jesus answered those religious leaders, their very next question was, “just who is my neighbor?”
Always wanting to qualify things aren’t we? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Does that mean my family, my spouse and kids, Mom and Dad, aunts and uncles? Yeah I can do that. Except for the holidays, they drive me nuts on the holidays. And the kids! Sometimes they just won’t shut up! And my spouse! I swear he acts like an idiot sometimes! Where’s his head at!? Okay, I may need some work on love my family.
But who else is my neighbor? Did Jesus mean my real neighbor; the guy next door? Jesus obviously never met my neighbor. The guy lets his dog do his business in my front yard … just lets him go wandering, looking for the perfect place. And what about the parties? Last Christmas his guests tried to use my lawn as a parking lot! If I’ve got to love my neighbor as myself, the least the guy could do is love me back by not being such a rotten neighbor!
And what about my neighbors on the other side? They’re okay; no dogs, no parties – but they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses. When Jesus said to love my neighbor as myself surely He didn’t mean the JW’s! That’s just too creepy.
And what about the guy that stands at the off ramp every morning with the cardboard sign that says “Stranded Need Help” “God Bless You”? Sure, he’s wearing ratty clothes but he’s there every day. That guy ain’t stranded; he’s just working it - like everybody else. Surely Jesus didn’t mean that guy.
Jesus made it pretty clear who He meant by our neighbor; both in His illustrations and in His ministry. Our neighbors are everyone we come into contact with; the lovelies and the un-lovelies. They’re our neighbors when they’re a pain and they’re our neighbors when they’re in pain.
Jesus’ entire time on earth was spent teaching us by His example just who our neighbors were and how to treat them. The less important they were, the more unlovely they were, the greater grace and love Jesus showed them. The only neighbors Jesus really had any issues with were the religious elite, the same guys who spent so much time and effort qualifying just who their neighbors were.
*****
Several years ago I accepted a lunch meeting with an executive who wanted something I had. I met him earlier that day at his company. As he toured me around his business he commented on how many factories and trucks and airplanes he had and he told me his plans for the future. It was very impressive. He was pretty impressive personally too. He was tall, good looking, powerful and dignified. He was even a former professional football player; overall a pretty impressive guy. He invited me over for the day because he believed I held the key to success in one of his new business divisions. He put on a real dog and pony show. He wanted to impress me, and I’ve got to admit, I was pretty impressed.
After the plant tour we went to lunch. The waitress came over to our table to take our order. She seemed like a sweet young lady; probably about nineteen – just trying to do her job and get through the day. When she delivered our salads I saw a funny look come over the face of my host; kind of a sneer of disgust mixed with revulsion. For a minute I thought maybe a bug was crawling around on his plate. I didn’t know what the problem was.
Then I found out. His salad dressing was on the salad; not on the side. “Miss!” he shouted over the general din of the restaurant. “Miss! Come here!” The poor girl came back to our table where he proceeded to read her the riot act for being so stupid and careless over such a simple thing as putting dressing on the side and not on the salad. The waitress took the defective salad from the table and brought a replacement with dressing on the side. How she kept from crying or quitting I don’t know. She continued to serve us throughout the meal and she never said a word about the incident.
My host was oblivious to what he had just done. The important thing was that he got his salad right. The waitress was there to serve and, by God, she’d better do it properly. I was silent for the rest of the meal. I had seen something ugly come out and had made the connection. He was all peaches and cream to me because wanted something from me. Would he treat me like had just treated this waitress the minute he felt he no longer had a use for me? I got the message. We didn’t do the deal and I have no idea how that new division of his ever worked out.
*****
For a long time I thought the lesson was about him; about how he treated the waitress, about what his action revealed about loving your neighbor as yourself. Then it occurred to me what my reaction revealed about loving my neighbor as myself. When he yelled at the waitress I wanted to punch the guy. I was embarrassed for the waitress, for the restaurant and for myself. But mostly for myself. I never said a word in her defense.
Did I really love my neighbor as myself if I didn’t stand up for this poor girl as she was being lambasted? Did I love my neighbor as myself when I refrained from jerking Mr. Important up short and explaining why people weren’t to be treated like this? If there was ever a time this guy would listen to what I had to say it would have been then. But nope, I held my peace. No need getting into and embarrassing and uncomfortable situation over it. After all, It wasn’t I who acted so ass-like and it’s not like he insulted my sister; she was just a waitress.
Sounds pretty simple now doesn’t it? Pretty simple but it took me a long time to see it. How I love my neighbor as myself is a lot more important than what I think about how you love your neighbor as yourself. The lesson is pretty clear now. In that situation I was just as guilty in my silence as Mr. Important was in his display.
Knowing “love your neighbor as yourself” is a lot easier than doing “love your neighbor as yourself.”
What’s your purpose in life? What is that thing God created you for? Well, we know the first part - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind. And we know the second part – love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the basics; that’s blocking and tackling. Get those two things right and the spectacular plays will follow along behind just fine.
*****
Next week we’ll cover how to recognize and act on your unique purpose
