I hope you all have been well and flourishing in the Lord since the last time we "met" via blog!
I'm going to open today's post by asking a simple question: Do you have trouble focusing?
I don't mean focusing on your work, your school, or your family; I mean focusing on God. God is to be the primary focus of our lives. As Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (NKJV) Christ died for us and now we should live for Him. Our love for the Lord should be leading us to focus on loving God and living for the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how can you to tell whether you are focusing on God? Here are some questions to help us evaluate our focus:
When that handsome guy sits next to you in church, are you able to focus on God during the service?
When your daily life seems to involve running in five directions at once, are you able to focus on God during the busyness?
When your boss wants you to turn in more projects by the end of the week than you could possibly handle, are you able to focus on God during the stress?
When your husband is running late, your kids are screaming, and supper still has to be cooked for everyone, are you able to focus on God during the chaos?
Let's stop and think for a minute...all right, how many of us are realizing right now that we don't focus on the Lord as much as we should? No hand-raising is necessary. Just an honest, quiet evaluation of your focus will do just fine (though if you'd like to raise your hand, go ahead). I know I personally don't focus on God enough. Many times, especially those weeks when I have too much to do, I find myself distracted from the real focus of my life. As a result, I stress over everything, I'm physically and mentally exhausted, and worst of all, I'm spiritually off-balance. Last week and this week have been weeks like that for me, and I know y'all can relate. We all go through rough patches in our lives; times when everything seems to get out of hand. It's times like these that we desperately need to remember our focus. If we start to focus on things other than the Lord, we are going to find life hard and the temptations we face overwhelming.
How much easier it would be, if we remembered the focus of our lives. If only we would remember that the Lord works everything for the good of His children! If only we would remember those sweet words, "Be still, and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10a, NKJV)! If only we would remember to focus on the One who is meant to be focused on!
This has not only an everyday application, but a special holiday application as well. As we prepare the menus for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as we plan the parties and the celebrations, as we buy the presents and deck the halls, we should keep in mind Who the focus of the holidays is to be. The focus should be on the Lord. He blessed you with the many blessings for which you are being thankful. He took on human form through the Incarnation, so that He could live a sinless life and die on the Cross to atone for the sins of His people. If we take away the true focus of the holidays (and our lives in general), we are robbing God of His proper glory and we are robbing ourselves of the joy of focusing on the One who died for us.
Have a blessed (and focused) week!
Love y'all!
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