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The world-famous cellist Pablo Casals was seen practicing when he was in his mid- 80s. 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Sharpen the Saw - Proverbs 2: 1-11;
Philippians 3: 12-15 - February 21, 2010 - Cicero UMC - Everett 1. Bassett +

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The world-famous cellist Pablo Casals was seen practicing when he was in his mid- 80s. He was asked about it, and said that he still kept up his arduous practice schedule of four to five hours a day. Why would he want to do that? he was asked. He is, after all, at the end of an accomplished and award-winning career as one of the greatest cellists ever. Why not rest a little bit, not work so hard, and enjoy the fruits of his lifetime labors? Because, he said, I have the notion that I am making progress.

I doubt that Casals ever read Stephen Covey's classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but I think that story about the great musician practicing diligently into his 80s could embody the seventh and last habit Covey discussed. Most of you will know  that I have been preaching about these habits over the last several weeks. Let's just take a quick journey back through the first six. Habits 1-3 were the personal habits - the internal things done to prepare a person for success in life. The first was Be Proactive, and we looked at the verse in Romans where Paul said not to be conformed to this world. The second habit was Begin With the End in Mind, and we looked at some of the great visionaries of the Bible, whose steps were guided by their God-given visions. The third personal habit was Put First Things First - and we looked at setting godly priorities, and Jesus' teaching about seeking before anything else the kingdom of God. If we mastered those three things, said Covey, we would experience what he called Private Victory.

But the victory is hollow if it stops there. Habits 4-6 are those we exercise as we
interact with other people in this world, where we pursue the prospect of Public Victory.
Habit 4 is to Think Win/Win, and we talked of the God-inspired vision of reconciliation
and hope for all God's people in a world where people can win without creating losers.
Habit 5 was to Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood - and we talked about
the Savior who came down from heaven to walk in our shoes, and understand our pain,
and even die our death. Then Habit 6 was about synergy - the abundance that happens
when two or more people are gathered together - and we looked at the miracle of the
feeding of the 5000, and how a few people plus God can make the impossible possible.

Once those six habits have been mastered, and public and private victories have been attained, there is still one more habit that must sink in deep for a person to be effective in life - and that is to do what is necessary to maintain effectiveness in those other six categories. Covey calls that seventh habit, Sharpening the Saw. He tells the story of a man who is frantically trying to cut down a tree, and getting nowhere. And someone points out that he is using a dull saw. Why don't you stop, they suggest, and sharpen the saw? And the man says, I don't have time to stop. I'm too busy sawing.

I believe what Covey is saying is that effectiveness in life - or success, or fulfillment, or whatever else you call the ultimate goal - is possible only for those who take time to sharpen their habits, and keep themselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally fit, so they can keep moving forward. If we ever come to the place where we think we've arrived, and now we can just sit back, we may as well check out. Effective living is not about sitting on the mountain; it's about the journey up the slope. And that is an ongoing journey that continues on in life - Covey calls it the 'upward spiral.' Once we have grasped the first six habits, and tasted public and private victories, then the journey has just begun. The rest of our time is spent saying, Now how can I ratchet this up to the next level? How can I strive for an even higher turn on the upward spiral?

And so you have Pablo Casals, 85 years. old, driving himself to improve on the cello: "I'm making progress." You have some of my biggest heroes around here - the numbers and numbers of retirees - many of them lifelong church members who have served long and well -- who, instead of sitting back, are as active as ever. More so, because now they are building something for the next generations - staying proactive, visionary, prioritized, Win/Win, seeking higher understanding, synergized, and keeping the saw sharp. And all of us, at whatever stage of life we find ourselves, can learn from that example, dedicating ourselves to stepping up one more notch, improving one more step.

So these, I believe, are seven habits of highly effective Christians. But perhaps now, as I wrap up this series, is a good time to take a step back and lift up three clarifications about them. First of all, it matters what you're trying to be effective for. After all, evil is very effective in this world. In the Bible, the image of Satan is presented as cagy, wily, able to get his way. And we humans have a natural tendency toward sin. The apostle  Paul and others taught that it is a curse of being flesh and blood beings that we are drawn to that other list of seven - the seven deadly sins. Lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, envy- whatever the other two are - they are very effective forces in this world. Covey offers his seven habits as another way - a way to live for higher ideals - like integrity, human dignity, respect, honesty, service. These are worthy causes that deserve our best efforts.

This brings up the second clarification, and that responds to the idea that Covey's
book is simply about self-help. Being a better you, so you can succeed in business. The
7 Habits is indeed listed in the top ten of almost every list of the best business books of
all time. And for some people, that makes it about how to get ahead. How to sell more,
compete more, score bigger bonuses, get rich. But if you read the book, you find it's not
really about how to get ahead so much as it is how to make a difference in your
relationships, and how to make a better world. Again - doing this for the right reasons.

The third clarification comes from our Christian perspective. It is a reminder that the seven habits are not the road to salvation. It's not as if we can say something like this:

The seven deadly sins are very strong, so I'm going to find seven healthy habits that will
enable me to overcome those sins. The fact is, what our faith teaches us is that we could
find seven million healthy habits, and still not defeat sin. The only one who could defeat
sin was Jesus. The only place it could be defeated was on the cross. And the only way
we can be freed from the tyranny of sin over our lives is to turn our lives over to Christ.
Again, given Stephen Covey's faith-orientation, I don't believe he would disagree that
from a faith-perspective, the seven habits are useless as a means to salvation.

The seven habits belong to what John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, called
sanctification - or the things we do after we have devoted our lives to Christ to keep constantly moving our lives toward as perfect as we can be. And John Wesley, I believe,
would resonate with that image of an upward spiral - constantly trying to be more Christ-
like, be more effective Christians, be more useful in God's Kingdom. Our discipleship
team, in challenging all of us to be on that upward spiral, use as their inspiration those
verses we read from Philippians 3, where Paul writes of trying to be like Jesus: "Not that
I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my
own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own ... I press on towards the goal for the
prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

And that's what we are called to do - to press on, ever higher, ever closer to the fullest God-given potential we could realize. We certainly see that spirit in the Olympics - so many compelling stories of athletes striving for the goal, including a couple about people who have already won the medal, already broken the record - and yet they strive for one more spin, one more leap - pushing the upward spiral a notch higher. What a parable for Christian living. During this Lenten season, let that be the goal for each one of us. To strive more and more for spiritual excellence. Some of it we do for personal reasons - with this one life we're given here on earth, each of us given just one body to work with, one marvelous mind to use, opportunities and talents - wouldn't we want to see how far God can take us? Why would we want to stop short of our full potential?

But we also strive for social reasons. There's so much to do in this world - so many hurting people, so many hungry children, so many worthy causes. We can't possibly address even a fraction of it. But as long as we live and breathe, don't we want to see what this world can become with our best efforts and the power of God to synergize what we offer into something extraordinary? Don't we want to keep our saws sharp, so we can follow that upward spiral as far as it will take us? As we develop this Lenten theme of water of life, today's story is about Jesus turning water into wine - turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Don't we want to drink every bit of that new wine, and witness every bit of Good News we can bring in the name of Jesus into this world?

And finally we press on because God is so good. The Creator of this beautiful world, the one who made us, and claimed us even as lost sinners, and sent His own beloved Son to experience suffering on our behalf and for our salvation - don't we want to serve Him with the utmost we can offer? Doesn't that alone merit our attention to physical, moral, spiritual, emotional, and mental fitness? John Wesley, founder of Methodism, finally summed up the high calling of living for this wonderful God in a simple charge: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." And then in his own long, effective life, Wesley lived that out in devotion to Jesus Christ. As much as anything else, that's why I choose to be a United Methodist today.

I challenge each of us to sharpen the saw over this Lenten season so that we can serve God with the very best we have. Join a study; step forward to serve; pray and fast; make a difference. The world is broken; we are experiencing tough times. But Christian
people have a way to respond, a hope to declare, a Savior to praise, and such Good
News to share. Let's go do it. What steps can you take now with our wonderful Savior?