Clyde Beatty was born in Bainbridge, Ohio in 1903. When he was a teen, he left home to join the circus, where he landed a job as a cage cleaner. In the years that followed, Beatty quickly progressed from a lowly cage boy to a famous entertainer. Beatty became famous for his “fighting act,” in which he entered the cage of wild animals with a whip and a pistol strapped to his side. The act was designed to showcase his courage and mastery of the wild beasts, which included lions, tigers, cougars, and hyenas, which were sometimes brought together in a single cage to form a potentially lethal combination.

But here’s Beatty’s most impressive feat of all…in an era when the majority of lion tamers died in the ring, Beatty lived to be 62. In the end, it was cancer that took his life, not a lion. How did he manage to survive? Clyde Beatty was one of the first lion tamers to bring a chair into the circus ring. The chair made all the difference. When a lion tamer holds a chair in front of a lion’s face, the lion tries to focus on all four legs of the chair simultaneously. With a divided focus, the lion becomes confused and is unsure about what to do next. When confronted with so many options, the lion freezes.

Many people find themselves in the same position as the lion. When faced with unclear directives, they lose focus and become confused. As a result, they are dazed in indecision and apathy. You have to declutter your unfocused mess by bringing clarity to your objectives. How do you bring clarity to your objectives? Good question…let me show you.

Eternal Perspective Directs Earthly Objective

When we are focused on what truly matters it directs our everyday decisions. We need to understand that we were created for eternity. This earthly life is just the dress rehearsal so to speak. Earthly existence is not the beginning and the end…it’s only the beginning. As followers of Christ, our eternal perspective must direct our earthly objective. When you have eternity on your mind, it tends to guide your decision making.

Colossians 3:1,2 (NIV) 

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Where our focus goes our energy flows. Where we put our time, energy, and resources determines where we’ll end up. This means we must be very intentional about where our minds are. Everything we do should be filtered through the lens of eternity. We must spend our life on things that will forever matter. Don’t major on the minor things of life. Get locked on target to what will make a difference.

At the end of our life, we will have wanted to major in the major things of life. We will have wanted to look back with memories not dreams. We will have wanted to know we left a legacy for others. We will have wanted to invest more into the final step of life…eternity!

So take inventory of your life currently and truly see if what you are doing aligns with God’s purposes for your life. Get an eternal perspective that will direct your earthly objective.