I’m learning more and more just how easy it is to lose focus in life. As the seasons of our life change so does the difficulty of staying on course as a Christian. It’s not always bad things that cause us to lose focus either. Many times it is perfectly good things.
Sometimes it’s a job, a hobby, a form of entertainment, a dollar amount or even another person. While none of those things are bad, they can all present a problem when we begin to make them not just a good thing, but an ultimate thing.
Once we begin to develop an unhealthy dependence on them then we will slowly also begin to lose focus and dependence on God.
The truth is we are all going to give our focus and priority to something or someone. The best of our time, our talents and our money is going to go somewhere. The question is – is it going where it should be?
I don’t think our lack of focus in life is a devotion problem, I think it is a dependence problem. More than anything I believe we are lacking dependence on God.
God instructs us to lean not on our understanding, but in all our ways submit to Him (Proverbs 3:5)
I wish I nailed that one 100% of the time, but I don’t. Many times I catch myself getting off track by comparing my path to someone else’s. Or I say, “Yes” to my flesh even when I hear the Spirit pointing me in the direction of God’s will.
Living life with our focus on the wrong things is like having the opportunity to photograph a beautiful landscape only to find out later that your focus was on your finger the whole time.
Our focus so easily and naturally stays on the here and now of our life when in reality it should be fixed on what we can’t even see. Jesus implores us to fix our eyes on what is unseen rather what is seen, because what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).
That may seem like an extremely difficult way to live, but everything that can be seen now will eventually pass away. If we want to live a life of purpose we must put our best efforts in making eternal differences.
Jesus encourages us to focus on Him regardless of what we are going through in this life, to never forget where we are headed (Hebrews 12:1-3). If we forget where we are headed then I’m afraid we will also forget where we should be now.
God has given each of us an incredible opportunity in this life and I would hate to know that I wasted it by focusing on things that didn’t really matter.
My hope in this life is not that I’m just a good man who does the right thing most of the time. I want to be a Godly man who lives his life based on the truth of God’s Word rather than popular opinion.
I don’t just want to be a good husband who doesn’t cheat on his wife. I want to be a Godly husband that sacrificially loves his wife like Christ loves the Church.
I don’t just want to be a good dad who shows up at Little League and makes enough money to buy his son the latest toy or gadget. I desire to be a Godly dad that invests in the soul of his child to make an earth shaking, eternal difference.
There is no doubt that I will miss the mark along the way, but when we miss the mark with our eyes on Jesus then we fall into His grace, not failure.