This disposition to get distracted does not stay isolated in my mind, but it rears its ugly head in my spiritual walk. So often things are grabbing at my attention, my loyalties, or worse the throne of my heart. I fall into this trap that things of this world are greater than God. Maybe money will make me truly happy, or this relationship, or this position will give me significance and slowing the power and the presence of God diminishes in my mind. He becomes an afterthought, my time with Him becomes too much of a burden, and His will and plan for my life seems like it really isn't that great. Then wham! I fall on my face, I find myself in a huge bind, or my heart gets shattered into a thousand pieces. Then I come crawling back to God like the prodigal son and He rushes to me with open arms! I hate it when I lose focus and when I believe the lie that this world has more to offer than the loving, gracious, and amazing God of the universe. He truly is the giver of all good gifts. (James 1:17)
So how do I stay focused on Him? I wanted to draw your attention to Philippians 3:12-14:
"12 I
don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I
have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that
perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
I believe this focus originates with a humble spirit. Paul, who is one of my spiritual heroes, was completely honest with his spiritual walk, he had not arrived yet. In my spiritual highs, I have a tendency to get complacent, or down right prideful. The great deception is that we can do things on our own or that we don't need God. In reality, we are so dependent on God, it isn't even funny. He hold us together(Col 1:17), He gives us breath and life(Isaiah 42:5), and He knows the future and His plans always come to pass(Isaiah 46:9-10). Basically, nothing would exist without God and He has the power to do what He pleases. Pride is saying that God is a liar and we can do things on our own. Everything falls short of God, money, power, relationships, jobs, anything this world can offer. When we have the right perspective, He gets much bigger and everything else, including ourselves gets much smaller.
With humility can sometimes come the feeling of condemnation. This is the second part of focus, forgetting what is behind us, or our past. When we humble ourselves, we give the opportunity for guilt of sin to beat us while we are down. However this should not be the case, for Christ died for sins once and for all, (1 Peter 3:18) and there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Sin no longer has any power over us because of Christ (Romans 6:6-11) and now we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our focus can not be on the sins and mistakes of our past. This diminishes the redemptive work of Christ. We need to claim the victory that Christ has once and for all defeated sin and when we loosen the chains of our past, we can strive and reach for the future that we have in Christ as new creations.
So when we understand who God truly is and what Christ has truly done for us, our focus hones. We see that the world has nothing to offer us in comparison to God and that our lives have been forever changed through Christ and we are sealed by His gracious sacrifice and the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13-14) You see, the prize is Jesus, He is the ultimate treasure. He is where we find acceptance, love, worth, hope, joy, peace, and salvation. He is like the treasure in the field that the someone finds and goes and sells everything they have to buy that field. (Matthew 13:44) If He isn't the prize, we are chasing after things that are fading, that will disappoint, and that will never satisfy. (1 John 2:17, John 6:35)
Paul had the right perspective, he knew that he would never achieve the prize until he saw Jesus face to face. Everything on this earth, all his accomplishments meant nothing to him, (Phil 3:4-11) and he focused on what was to come, on the realities of heaven. (Col 3:1-4) I need to follow Paul's example and I pray the same for you as well.
Father, I pray that our focus will be on You and You alone. I know that this world has nothing to offer me. I have tried to find satisfaction apart from You and I ended up empty. Please give us the strength and the ability to focus on You. Thank You for revealing how awesome You are and how much You love us. Thank You that You accept us with open arms, that You love us just as we are, and that You have an amazing plan for us to experience true life in You. You are awesome God and I can not praise You enough. Thank you for allowing me to speak and I pray that You would change our hearts and help us focus on You. I love You, Father. Amen.
May the peace of Jesus reign in your hearts,
Daniel
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