To Temper the Goodness

1.21.2010

Luke 21:34 34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. ESV

There’s a book on my shelf called The Power of Focus. I’ve never read it but I bought it with the intention of doing so. At the time I thought I needed to focus more on what is important and so I bought it with the intention of reading it and learning perhaps what to pay attention to and what to ignore… Apparently it didn’t work, I got distracted and didn’t read it. Sigh, that’s my life…

Over and over in the Gospels, Jesus speaks of paying attention to the times, the signs and what is truly important. Over and over in the Bible, the emphasis to the reader is to pay attention to God, ourselves, others, and the world around us. But what happens in the midst of this is life – kids, appointments, dreams, plans, debts, investments, pay raises and on and on it goes. If we’re not careful our hearts can be weighed down with unimportant stuff and we’ll forget about the important stuff. Jesus has one word for us: FOCUS.

If there’s one thing I struggle with it’s focus. If there’s one thing I’m distracted with, it’s distractions. I’m lousy at the one, and good at the other. I’m lousy with the important and good and the non-essentials. But every day I try to temper that ‘goodness’ by focusing on my lousy-ness by reading and paying attention to God’s word. It helps. It helps me to see what to pay attention to and what to leave out of the equation.

Father in Heaven,

May my life be one of Focus. May I see what is truly important and grow ever closer to that and may I learn to let the non-essentials be the non-essentials. Help me to stay focused on the Kingdom and the redemption of my fellow man and to not get caught up all weighted down by cares or carelessness. Thank You. Amen.