Specificity

What do you want?

John 1:38 - Turning around, Jesus saw them and asked, “what do you want?”

Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

The principal of specificity in training involves setting a clear objective and designing all your training around that goal. If you want to run a marathon, you are going to spend a good amount of time on your feet running. If you want to max out your squat or deadlift, running is not going to be a large part of your programming, if it is included at all. Rather, you need to spend hours and hours fine tuning your technique and movement patterns so you can safely add weight to the bar and push your muscles to grow. 

This seems simple and obvious but it is the biggest mistake most people make when beginning an exercise regimen. You don’t have to be an aspiring olympian to have goals with your training. Most people begin working out and dieting around the New Year with vague goals of losing weight or eating better. Those goals are not specific enough to rally behind and inspire action. They are hard to track and leave lots of wiggle room to be compliant one day and then relaxed the next. 

Rather than say I want to lose weight, say that you want to lose five pounds by the end of the month. Rather than say I want to eat better, make a meal plan for each week and stick to it. Don’t wait until you are at the grocery store buying food for dinner that night to decide what you are or are not going to eat. 

In her book Grit, Angela Duckworth talks about Tom Seaver’s single mindedness to becoming the greatest pitcher he possibly could. Everything he did, from training to wearing long sleeve shirts on vacation to prevent sun burns, was done with this objective in mind. His life revolved around his goal of pitching to the point that he would only use his left hand to add wood to the fire in order to avoid injuring his throwing arm. 

We might look at that as obsessive or a bit much but this kind of focus may be necessary at least for a season to accomplish our goals.  

Jesus is walking by the Jordan River the day after his baptism and notices two of John’s former disciples following him. He goes a ways down the path and then turns and asks them, what are you looking for? Another way of interpreting that question might be, what do you want? Why are you following me? 

Jesus was many things but he was not one to mince words. His goal was not to obtain information but to help individuals gain clarity or self-understanding. Jesus was testing the new disciples as to their motives and expectations. What were they after and what were they expecting to find by following Jesus. 

I wonder how we would answer that question if we were asked upon entering church? Imagine Jesus greeting you at the door to the sanctuary and asking you, what are you looking for? How would you respond? 

There are so many reasons to appear at church on Sunday mornings beyond worshiping God. We can arrive to see friends or family, keep up our appearance or maintain a reputation. Maybe we take our children in order to raise them the “right” way but don’t expect to get much out of it ourselves. Maybe we are exhausted or despondent over the way our previous week went and we show up truly needing to be ministered to by the Holy Spirit and hear some encouragement. We might be feeling incredibly blessed and grateful and eager to express our praise to God among a community of fellow believers. 

If I’m honest I’ve probably gone to church for all of those reasons and a few more. Throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to maintain our focus on Jesus despite the circumstances we find ourselves in. The writer of Hebrews famously encouraged his readers in chapter 12 when he wrote: 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Let’s go back to the example of training for a marathon. The individual training for a marathon is going to have to increase the amount of running they are doing while at the same time saying no to some other training simply due to a lack of time and energy. Saying yes to one thing will mean saying no to others.

Paul was determined to know Jesus. Everything else was counted as a distant second by comparison. Whatever he had to do, wherever he had to go he was determined to do what was necessary to grow closer to Jesus. That was it. Just like Tom Seaver’s goal of being the best pitcher possible, Paul organized his entire life around knowing Jesus as deeply as possible. 

Like a horse with blinders on, Paul was laser focused on his goal. For you and me that would require the same level of focus and intentionality. 

Apply that same lesson to our physical health and the goal of losing weight. The first step is going through and assessing your kitchen. Look for all the ways you can store and prepare food. Next go through your pantry and fridge and look at the food you have. If you were to eat the food you currently have in your kitchen would it help you move closer to your goal weight? What is beneficial and what knocks you off track? Whatever you have in your kitchen will eventually get eaten. What food are you willing to get rid of if it isn’t helpful? What food do you need to either introduce or stock up on to make eating well easier?

How organized is your kitchen? Is it easy to prepare food in or is the thought of cooking itself a barrier to eating well? What techniques or appliances do you have that make eating well more attainable? 

This sounds extreme, I know. Getting rid of food and assessing our kitchen seems overboard. Let me ask you a question though, how well is it going trying to do everything halfway? Trying to be casual or not take it too seriously usually means we are trying to avoid being uncomfortable and sadly, we only change or grow when we are uncomfortable. 

For better or worse most of us are living the lives that our habits have created. Give that idea the time it deserves. Your life and my life is by and large the sum of our habits. Physically, spiritually, emotionally, this idea holds true. We are what we have either learned or taught ourselves to habitually repeat. 

Change doesn’t happen by accident. We have to intentionally choose new habits or routines if we are going to affect lasting change in our lives. If we want to see growth in our prayer life, we have to deliberately set aside time to make that happen. If we want to lose weight or improve our strength, we have to intentionally follow some sort of system or process to get proven results. 

Jesus turns and asks Andrew what do you want? I have to believe that as He asks He is hoping for an answer that goes beyond simple curiosity. He asks those two with a sense of excitement and expectation, knowing that no matter what they respond, Jesus is going to overdeliver in the most incredible way. 

He poses the same question for us on a daily, moment by moment basis, and just like the disciples He is ready to deliver above and beyond what we could possibly imagine.