FOCUS!

Yes, 85 (eighty-five!) tools. All 85 of the tools produced by Wenger, manufacturers and purveyors of ye olde and fine product, the Genuine Swiss Army Knife. All 85 on one single device—including (here goes!): a nail file, nail cleaner, corkscrew, adjustable pliers with wire crimper and cutter, spring-loaded locking needle-nose pliers with wire cutter, an assemblage of screwdriver bits, double-cut wood saw with ruler (inches and centimeters!), bike chain rivet setter, allen wrench, laser pointer, compass, magnifier, springless scissors, flashlight, fish scaler and hook disgorger and line guide, reamer, fine fork for watch spring bars, golf divot repair tool, can opener, tweezers, toothpick, …. “What it does not have,” they advertise, “you do not need!”

There you have it—the “Giant Swiss Army Knife.” An almost 3 lbs-heavy behemoth! Winner of the Guinness World Record for “the most multifunctional penknife.” Multifunctional? Functional? That monster? Oh, and I forgot, you’ve got to shell out US$999 for that King Kong of knives. If you think that titan of tools is functional, you’ve got another think coming. To their credit, Wenger warns the unwitting buyer who, now US$999 poorer, finds this contraption to be perfectly useless.

I quote from their website.

“It is really intended for collectors of Swiss Army Knives and collection display, as opposed to a pocket tool, it is just TOO BIG for practical use. This Wenger Swiss Army knife is NOT a pocket tool, it is for display—collector's [sic!] only.”

(Now who would’ve thought it wasn’t a pocket tool!)

Sometimes one gets carried away. All those things we can do. All those gifts and talents we possess. All that time on our hands. All those opportunities and open doors beckoning us. And we must go through them all. Yes, we do get carried away, perhaps with an inflated sense of our own versatility (or should I say “omnipotence”?).

Brethren, I do not regard myself
as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind
and reaching forward
to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal ….
Philippians 3:13–14

Paul’s statement is even more crisp in Greek: “… but one ….” That’s it. Two words. But one! His single-mindedness, preoccupation, his resolve and determination for God and His glory is striking.

… I count all things to be loss
in view of the surpassing value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things,
and count them but rubbish
so that I may gain Christ ….
Philippians 3:8

Amazing, his clinical focus on proclaiming Christ, almost to the neglect of everything else.

But whatever things were gain to me,
those things I have counted as loss
for the sake of Christ.
Philippians 3:7

Time, he knew, was short, energy limited, capacities finite, bodies frail ….

… holding fast the word of life,
so that in the day of Christ
I will have reason to glory
because I did not
run in vain nor toil in vain.
Philippians 2:16

We can’t be an 85-tool Wenger Giant Swiss Army Knife—non-functional, running and toiling in vain.

Instead, may we, by beginning to reflect on how God has used us in the past, and on what He is doing in our lives now—may we develop better focus on where and how we should concentrate our energies in the future. For we must be …

… careful how [we] walk,
not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of [our] time,
because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15–16

A functional one-tool knife!