Lessons from JH Ranch - Part 8 of 8

The Law of Diminishing Returns is based on the idea that:

“The more that you do anything, the less it satisfies.”

This is one of the key truths that we have to remember about the “little g” gods that we create for ourselves. It is one of the hardest lessons to accept in this life. We all want to achieve and grow but yet, unless we have the right persecutive on the “why” behind what we are pursuing, it will surely lead to frustration and emptiness.

It’s often the “what” that gets all of the attention. We become fixated on the “what” and give little thought to the “why.” There are many examples of athletes, entertainers and business leaders that have become singularly fixated on the “what” and have obtained it through incredible focus and effort. However, they become disillusioned when they actually achieve or obtain it. They end up empty and depressed because they have the wrong “why” driving their “what.”

How do we avoid letting the “what” get all of the attention? I believe that the verses below provide the answer:

2 Corinthians 5:7-9 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight —we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

This passage encourages us to “walk by faith and not by sight.” The “little g” gods in our lives are things that we can see and become very easy to focus on. Walking by sight alone results in simply focusing on the “whats” of this world. However, if we take the harder but exceedingly more rewarding route of “walking by faith,” then the right “why” becomes the motivation behind our “whats.” There is certainly nothing wrong with being ambitious and driven but it is the correct “why” that makes all of the difference.

The “why” is described in this passage as well - “to be pleasing in Him.” Walking by faith will motivate us to be pleasing to Him in all that we do. The “whats” in our lives aren’t always bad things but they have to be driven by our “why.” When we do that, the “whats” won’t be “little g” gods but will actually be ways of expressing God’s glory through our actions in working to please Him.

Examine the “why” behind the “whats” in your life. If the “why” is to be pleasing to him, then we are headed in the right direction.

Stay hungry,

Big E