But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple.
When the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the LORD -the carpenters and builders, the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the LORD, and met all the other expenses of restoring the temple. 2 Kings 12:6,11-12

One could look at this passage and see gross negligence on the part of the priests. I’m not sure what they were doing with all the money that was brought into the temple but it hadn’t gone to repair it as King Joash had wanted. Then the priests found people who did this very thing: carpenters, masons, stonecutters, builders. Those who do things all their lives get pretty good at it. That was the same way for the priests. They did priestly and religious things. They may have known how to build a temple, but probably not.

The subject of this devotional is focus. A phrase first introduced by a 19th Century preacher and popularized by Stephen Covey is this: the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Focus. The priests were not builders. The builders were not priests. Their “main things” were completely different for each, but unique to their own situations.

Is there something you need to focus in on because you’re good at it and because it’s the right thing to do for you? Are you “hitting and missing” you shouldn’t be dabbling in? Only you can answer those questions.