Reasons You Should Define Your Core Area(s)

As much as is in you, discover, define and focus on the fulcrum of your calling, business or other aspects of life. Once the core area is well defined, it makes every other aspect of your life, business and ministry revolve around it. It becomes the fulcrum around which you build, warding off distractions as energy is directed towards the centre.

From a spiritual point of view, one thing you’d observe about our adversary, the devil is this: he tries in every shape and form to make you not discover your core. This he does by keeping you as much as he can away from the Person who could help you discover it – God.

Once you’ve discovered what you should focus on, he loads you with various things to derail your focus from that core. Being distracted, you prepare less to deliver, and you actually deliver little or nothing regarding your purpose.

The above was the same strategy that satan tried to apply to the apostles in the days of the early church.

The legitimate murmuring of the Grecian women was soon transformed into an avenue to distract the entire group of apostles from focusing on prayers and the teaching of the word which was their original calling by Christ.

When they were small, they did not need to appoint food servants because Jesus could ask Andrew for some loaves of bread and fish, or the apostles could go to buy something while Jesus talked with the woman at the well. So, managing the stomach needs of the twelve apostles and a few other disciples didn’t pose many problems to Jesus.

After Pentecost, the Church started, and thousands of people came to know Jesus and live as a community of like-minds. Taking care of a larger Church required a more structured administrative and welfare apparati. However, no matter how important these were, they were not the core – primary assignment of the apostles. Neglecting the core to serve tables would have meant the end of the Church. The Apostles knew and understood this, so they quickly made room for that structure while focusing on their ministerial calling.

Six Reasons why you should define your core

Here are some reasons why you should discover, define and focus on your core.

1. It helps you know your strengths

Your core is where your strength lies because that is the original purpose for what you’re doing and perhaps the area where most of your training lie. The Apostles had been groomed by Jesus in the area of teaching the Word, so that was where their strength lay most. They could distribute food impartially, but that wasn’t where their greatest impact would have been felt. The most significant impact of your life will be felt when you are dedicated to your core. You are comfortable there; you are trained for it, and you are decided to give your best there.

2. Identifying your core helps you know what you’ll need in your team

Once the Apostles had defined their core, they knew what they needed in their growing team. The choice of ‘who’ comes after the ‘what’ has been defined. The function (role) has to be defined before searching for who because the person needs to be selected based on the criteria that have at its centre suitability for the defined role. If the ‘who’ comes before, you’ll make the mistake of hiring people who would either be of no use to you or harm the project you’re pursuing. The apostles first understood that they needed to solve the problem of food distribution among the teeming community of Christ lovers and followers.

3. Defining your core helps you know who you need in your team

When you know what you’ll need in your team, defining your core helps you select people to complement you, supplying that need you have. When the apostles had defined what was needed on the team, it was time to choose who to fill that role perfectly. The apostles appointed representatives who were not only righteous men but also could distribute food properly. Yes, the apostles sought men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit, but they were men who could serve tables because that was the vacant office. You always need skilled people with character. Both are important in your team. So, the apostles chose men whose lives agreed with the general purpose of the assembly and who had the skill set needed to distribute food.

4. It helps to focus on the original purpose of your calling without distractions

Every business is not like yours. Every ministry doesn’t have the same calling that you have. Every person is unique in their purpose and function. So, identifying your core helps you focus on your original calling without wasting time on other unrelated things. While you are busy looking at others for emulation, you are wasting time needed to discover, define and refine your core.

5. Discovering and defining your core helps you focus on your uniqueness instead of on competition

Several times what people call competition is imitating what others do or have done and trying to prove that they do or did it better. Such a path often leads to leaving the original purpose to a fake one. But when you define your core, you’ll understand your uniqueness and focus on making it stand out from the rest.

6. Progress results from defining your core

After the apostles had appointed representatives, they were free to focus on teaching the word and prayers. The result was massive progress in the number of souls that joined Christ’s sheepfold. The increase was so much that on daily basis, multitudes gave their lives to Jesus, including Jewish priests. Once your core is clear, you can channel all you’ve got towards it, and progress, growth and expansion will be the result.