Focus

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:2

“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” Proverbs 4:25

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

If you were to take a minute right now, I’m sure you could easily name 10 things that could be a distraction in this moment…not to mention the hundreds of things that distract us throughout our day. Distractions are inevitable. We need to learn to manage those. But the real problem with distractions is not when it is minor like the cats wanting to play while you are trying to write a Bible study (just a personal moment of transparency). The real problem is when the Lord has a calling on your life that you allow life circumstances to derail. You have a call to the ministry but you allow fear to get in the way—you’ve lost focus. Somehow you and your spouse are now living separate lives—you’ve lost focus. Ever since you and your brother had that heated disagreement back in June of ’12, you haven’t spoken to him—you’ve lost focus.

In the second chapter of the book of Philippians, we read “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ” (vss 6-8) Today’s Bible study is not about obedience—although it is a worthy topic. It is about staying the course when you have a call. And we all have a call…a purpose…a destiny. (see Ephesians 2:10) Christ, although God, when He came to earth, humbled Himself and through all the hatred and pain and wrong, obediently stayed the course. He had distractions that sought to take Him off course (see Matthew 4:1-11 for one example) but He did not succumb to them.

We have distractions. There’s no way to get around that. When they are minor, we learn to manage them. (maybe 10 minutes to play with the cats is just fine!) But when it comes to the major, life-altering distractions: let the same mind that was in Christ be in you. Recognize the distractions for what they are, don’t waiver, and be obedient to your call.