Focus

“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, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT)

When Kathy, my wife, and I first started dating I couldn’t stop shaking. I mean this went on for weeks. Every time we were together it was like I was freezing, though I wasn’t cold, just nervous that I would say or do something to mess things up. She was all I could think about in every waking second.

That’s how I feel about the Lord in this season of my life. And, yes, of course, Kathy is still a major occupant of my thoughts as she continues to be the Queen of my heart, but Jesus is King and He rules and reigns in every dimension of my being – or so I long for Him to.

Remember how you felt when you first met Jesus. For me that Sunday evening experience at the church altar was very emotional. It was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I felt relieved, alive in ways I’d never felt before. Then came Monday morning! It was strange. While the emotion was mostly gone, there was a peace, a contentment, almost a deep sense of responsibility that now filled me and was motivating me. My sense was that I’d made a decision to live for Jesus, so, I’d better seek with all that was within me to learn what that meant and live accordingly.

Notice how Paul was seeking to keep his focus on Jesus. First, by forgetting the past. Yes, of course, Paul was a persecutor of Christians and that must have haunted him, but he was also an exemplary Jew, with very impressive credentials (Philippians 3:5-7). In our pursuit of Christ, we sometimes want to focus on the times in our lives when we were much more effective for Him or seemed a lot closer to Him than we are now, but we have to set that aside lest we get stuck, and lose our forward focus.

Another temptation, as it was for Paul, is to focus on how bad we were, how far we strayed, or how deeply we were involved, and may still be, in our sin of choice. Notice while he doesn’t specifically address it, he shouted through his behavior, that he was finished with the old life. For him that meant no more persecution of believers, no more bad-mouthing Jesus.

He was a new creation in Christ and his every intention was to illustrate that through the way he conducted his life. How about you, my friend? Where’s your focus? Have you put the old life behind you where it belongs or is there a part of you that still longs to hang on to a part of that life that you enjoyed?

I will assure you based on the authority of God’s Word and my own experience; you want to be done with the past. There’s nothing there for you but heartache and shame. By God’s grace confess to the Lord and to someone you trust that with which you continue to struggle. Then, with the Spirit’s help and the person with whom you shared, walk in transparency as you formulate new, godly habits to replace the one(s) you leave behind.

Having walked with the Lord for more than 60 years and having wrestled with lust, not only for women, but material things, selfishness, greed, covetousness and a long list of other sins with which I’ve wrestled over the years, Jesus is the ONLY liberator. He WILL deliver you, but you have to be willing to be delivered. He will motivate and empower you, but you have to be willing to take the needed steps to be free.

Trust Him with your whole being. Keep your focus on Him and seek His closeness with every breath.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊