I was very anxious about my throws because I didn't want to hit the young man behind my partner. I kept thinking, “I hope I don't make a bad throw. I hope I don't make a bad throw.” Much to my chagrin, I made a bad throw and hit the other player soundly on the head. I couldn’t believe I had done something so bad, and I never returned to another practice, thinking I was just too rusty to play for my school.
As I pondered these events while throwing with my son, I recognized that my thought process could help determine the results. I made a very slight but important shift in my thinking. This shift relates not only to baseball but to all of life. Instead of thinking, “I hope I don't make a bad throw,” I started thinking confidently, “I'm going hit a mark directly in the center of his chest.” Of course, when I made this change in my thoughts, and focused on hitting the mark rather than not missing the mark, I threw much more accurately. This not only turned into a great lesson to share with my son, but I immediately began applying that principle to every area of my life.
It is easy in life to follow those same fearful thought patterns. “What if I make a wrong business decision?” “What if make a mistake?” “What if I mess up my kids?” or a thousand other fears. The word sin actually comes from an Old-English archery term which means to miss the mark. Instead of focusing on the fear of sin (missing the mark), we can release our faith that we are going to hit the mark on our desired and expected outcome.
When life's past failures or the devil seem to be screaming at you that you’re going to mess this thing up, it is time to take every thought captive. Second Corinthians 10:5 states that we are to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
It's time to apply faith and focus on the target you want to hit, rather than on the miss you don't want. We don't have to passively sit by and let our fears run us. It's time to intentionally turn our thoughts toward our target and decide we're going to hit it. – Let's hit the mark!
Tim Flachman is a business person who has a heart to see Christian business people fulfill their destiny and purpose in the marketplace. He is President of Blink Optimize, an Internet Marketing firm specializing in Search Engine Optimization in Fort Mill, SC. Mr. Flachman is available for speaking engagements and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
