Focus

Dear Church,
How easily distracted are you? Some believe that our attention span is around 10 seconds. That means by the end of this sentence you are already thinking about something else. HEY! COME BACK! It gets even worse when we are surrounded by things that may be threatening or harmful to us. So how can we live lives focused on Jesus?
 
In Psalm 25 David wrote, “My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” Notice a few things here.
 
  1. Focus on the Lord does NOT mean we won’t get caught in a snare. Hard times are going to happen in life. It doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong. Jesus never promised that life would be absent of struggle-follower or not.
  2. Focusing on what’s wrong won’t fix it. The whole point of a snare (trap) is that you get stuck. They are designed, not only to get you stuck but to keep you stuck. The more you focus on the trap the more likely it is that you are just going to get more stuck.
  3. The Lord can only release you if you put your faith in him. Do we really believe that “only he will release my feet”? We will only look to the Lord if we actually believe he can and will release us. We don’t believe it because we are released, but rather when we believe it we will then be released.
 
If you are still reading, congratulations on staying focused all the way to the end. Let’s also realize that many others never made it past the first paragraph. As disciples who make disciples, part of our job is to help others focus on Jesus through their hard times too. Be ready with a word of encouragement for them, and remember that they are always watching you-hard times or not.
 
In Him,
Pastor Tim