As a business owner and entrepreneur, I always wonder at what drives people to be mediocre. You know what I mean, right? You see people who are driven to achieve greatness and then you see people who are driven to achieve mediocrity. What is the difference between those people who do and those people who don’t? And why do some people, with the best of intentions settle into the least intentions, or worse… the worst intentions?
There are two big reasons we choose to settle into mediocrity:
1. Our own natures. In Romans 7:23, Paul says, “but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” Although we know what is right, we often want what is wrong. In this ongoing war, we often pit our own desires against God’s great will for our lives.
2. Satan. In 1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world.” Although Satan cannot force you to do anything, he is very good at making highly attractive suggestions, right? How much of the media is in direct opposition to the Bible? How much of what surrounds us is a contraindication of God’s prescription of a life well lived? Satan is very good at using our environment as a tool to keep us from reaching our highest potential.
Even though we battle these enemies daily, we do have one important ally on our side, and He is the heavy-weight champion of all— GOD. When we take the passage from 1st Corinthians into our heart…
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
…we can overcome all the obstacles and foes that are against our best intentions and learn to live a life full of greatness, rather than a life full of mediocrity.
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THERE IS ANOTHER POWER WITHIN ME THAT IS AT WAR WITH MY MIND. THIS POWER MAKES ME A SLAVE TO THE SIN THAT IS STILL WITHIN ME.
