Think Bigger

I have worked with real engineers, smart folk who design complex things to do complex things all by themselves. So it always amuses me when they focus so much attention on building "this" without the slightest consideration of how it will work with "that" ... which it needs to work at all. It's called "linear thinking." They don't "look around." They don't consider all of the environment, all of the system. They do their task. And they do it well. But, of course, it doesn't work because they didn't consider it all.

We think too small. Most of the time our "think radius" is not much wider than our outspread arms ... almost literally. You see it in drivers who cut you off on the freeway because they weren't even taking you into account. You see it in people that block grocery aisles to find that one thing they desire while everyone else backs up behind them. You see it with people with smartphones ... well, almost all the time. So engrossed in that small rectangle that nothing else matters.

We need to think bigger. We need to look around us. We need to consider the ramifications of our choices. We need to think about how this option will affect that person and that option will affect all those others and not just me (Php 2:3-4). We need to take into account customers and friends and family and fellow church members and ... people everywhere, it seems. Not just ourselves.

We need to think even bigger. This world is not our home. Jesus said, "You are not of the world." (John 15:19) So why are we thinking about nothing but this world? Why are we worrying about what others will think when we obey Christ or stand for the Truth (with a capital "T")? Why are we working hard for that next latte when there are eternal things to tend to? Why are we evaluating ourselves and others by the world's standards when we have so much more?

Oh, we need to think bigger. Not just the left turn we need to make without cutting off other drivers. We need to have an eternal view in a crowd of earth-bound people who can't see past their own noses. Think bigger.