Focus

Over the past few weeks I've really been challenged with where my focus is. Actually, it's probably been the last few years, but during the last few weeks I've really been hit with it. My pastor is one of the most God focused men I've ever met, and I'm constantly hearing him talk about the anticipation of the return of Christ. This is something he is longing for, and wanting to happen, and if I'm honest, I haven't been looking for that, or wanting it to happen. There are things that I want to accomplish in life. When I was younger it was marriage and a family. Now it's wanting to see my family grow, have a fruitful ministry, and be able to enjoy life. But the more I think about it, the more I'm reminded, and convicted, that this focus is on the temporal, not the eternal.

Heaven is going to be so much better than anything on earth will be. The return of Christ will fully usher in the Kingdom of God, bringing complete restoration, and a closeness with God that cannot be comprehended right now. Why do I spend so much time longing for, and worrying about, the here and now why I'm called to be focused on the eternal? Why do the things of this world, even the good things, matter more to me than the full restoration of God's creation?

I've spent a lot of time, too much time, living for the here and now, praying that Jesus would not come back, but that is contrary to scripture.

Philippians 3.20, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;"

2 Timothy 4.7-8, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."

The return of Christ is not something to be feared, but longed for. This life is not what God intended, and His return will fully bring life as He intended for it to be lived. I want to live focused on God, longing for what He intended, not focused on the momentary pleasures of this world. but focused on the eternal.

For the past four months I have been working through the Psalms. God led me there, and reading them has helped my focus be on rejoicing in God. When it comes to an eternal focus three verses have really stood out to me.

Psalm 16.8 "I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

Psalm 101.3, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me."

Psalm 105.4, "Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually."

I want God to be my focus. I want Him to be before and my eyes to be locked on Him. I have been meeting with one of our staff pastors weekly for the past four months, and he has been challenging me in so many ways. Several weeks ago he challenged me with how I see myself, and pointed out to how I drift back and forth from two extremes. There is the strong warrior that never needs to be rescued, that's how I want to see myself, and how I want others to look at me. The reality, is that a lot of the time I see myself as the victim that is left behind and forgotten about. There is either the self sufficient loner who needs no one and does the rescuing, or the pity party who feels like no one cares. The focus is very much on me, and it says to God, "I don't need You, I got this," or, "Why have you forsaken me?"

The reality is that the focus needs to be in the middle, on the cross. God is the hero, He is the one who rescues. God has promised never to leave me or forsake me. I am not the hero, and He will never leave me behind. He has to be the focus. He has to be the one I look at and strive to obey and emulate. The wording of this verse really stood out to me the last time I read it. It states that God is at my right hand, and that because of this I will not be shaken. The reason it hit me is because it reminded me of the Spartan phalanx. In the battle formation each man holds his shield and protects the man on his left. If God is at my right hand, that means I am to His left, and His shield is covering me. If God's shield is covering me, how can I be shaken? If my focus is fully on God, He will cover me. I will never need to be the hero because He is, and I will never have to fear being left behind because He will never abandon me.

If I want my focus to be on God that means I do not want it to be on anything that is not God. Paul said in Philippians 4.8-9, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Paul sets out a list of where our focus is to be, truth, honor, right, purity, lovely, good repute, excellence, and that which is praise worthy. All of these things are only true of God, and the characteristics that flow from Him.

I have spent so much time with worthless things before my eyes. I cannot tell you the hours I have wasted on my phone playing stupid games, or on my computer searching YouTube, or sitting on the couch playing video games or watching Netflix. How many hours have I ignored God in the pursuit of worthless time wasters? How much time have I lost with my family because I wouldn't engage? How many souls have been lost because I gave my time to fruitless pursuits? Last night I sat and watched a couple episodes of the Office, why didn't I spend that time in prayer? I do not want to fall away. One day I will stand before God and give an account of how I spent my time, I don't want to have to explain why I wasted it on things with no eternal value. I do not want worthless things to run my life.

If these things are not to rule my life, I must seek God and His strength. I must seek His face at all times. This world is tempting. It offers pleasure and comfort for the here and now that are so enticing, but ultimately they leave me unfulfilled, and feeling guilty for not investing in something worthwhile. The only way to overcome the world is through the strength of God, and by being focused on God. It is through seeking His face that I come to know Him, and know how He would have me invest the resources I have. His strength empowers me to say no to the temporal and yes to the eternal.

The more I think about this, the more I realize how difficult it is. Do I really want to go spend an hour reading the Bible and praying after a long day at work, when it is so much easier to sit on the couch and let my brain melt? Do I really want to forgo the comforts of life, and maybe even struggle through it, in order to help others? Is it really worth it?

Paul said in Philippians 3.7-11, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, 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, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

There is nothing that this world has to offer that compares to life in Christ. There is nothing that I will sacrifice in this world that eternity will not far exceed. I want my focus to be on God, and I want the way I live to reflect that. I want to be eternally focused, and I have not been. This has caused so much selfishness and division. It has caused me to hold on to things that have cost more than I am willing to pay. I want to be able to say what Paul said, "I count all things as loss so that I may know Christ."

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor