April 15, 2020

Good day to everyone,
Sometimes, our biggest challenge lays in maintaining a proper focus as children of God. The majority of us fight with distractions that prevent us from meditating on what is beneficial. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8 [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.] Paul's instructions are rather straight forward and easy to understand. 
     
However, there is  saying in Spanish, "Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho estrecho", which translated basically means, "there is a big gap between the saying and the doing". Therefore, sometimes we struggle with not following instructions we understand. Among the things that can keep us from adhering to Paul's exhortation, are both good and negative things.
    
The good things are things that can make us feel good in some form or another and they become a pursuit. These can be comfort food, favorite T.V. shows which cause us to binge watch; it can be social media that we use as a band aide to sooth our lack of human contact during these times. The negative things can be focusing on what we miss, what we are doing without, the inconvenience of our present circumstances, and the list can go on an on. 
     
When we study the scriptures, we find that often the things that kept people from proper worship of God and behaving in a way that glorified His name were not bad things from the people's perspective. They got caught up in things they enjoyed doing and their focus turned inward and thus God was left out of the picture.
      
The author of Hebrews writes a beautiful testimony of the depth of faith of God's people in chapter eleven. After writing about these witnesses, he writes [Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.]  The way we can maintain a proper focus is to keep our eyes on Jesus, regardless of what is going on around us or the external circumstances surrounding our personal lives. 

May your eyes stay properly focused today,
Vic