Don’t Lose Your Focus
In an effort to find another way to exercise, a badminton net was set up in my daughter’s back yard. We were all eager to try our hand at this fun game. But, guess what? Our first attempt wasn’t fun. We struggled to hit that tiny birdie. Our rackets whiffed past, but didn’t touch, our evasive goal.
What was happening? Were we really that bad? Zero eye-hand coordination? No. The complicating factor lie in something we could not see. The wind. Yes, in our eagerness to play our new game, we failed to consider the conditions surrounding us. We soon figured it out. The conditions required our response to change. There would be no room for distractions. Our focus had to be spot on. And, here’s the deal, it wasn’t a strong wind trying our patience. Not like the apostles experienced in the boat. It was soft. Quiet. Yet it was effective in moving the target out of our path.
Distractions don’t always come like a raging storm; they can knock at our door with a whisper. In the stillness of life right now, be alert. It’s in the stillness that the enemy’s voice can speak the loudest and, if we’re not careful, we will give it our attention.
I recently studied again, the story of Paul and Silas found in Acts 16. Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown in prison. Still, the bible tells us, at midnight they were singing hymns to God as the other prisoners listened to them. Can you imagine the sound that came from those two men and the joy the prisoners had listening to them? I don’t know what was going through their minds at midnight, after a beating, but I do know they never lost their focus. They were not distracted by the other prisoners, the oozing and sticky cuts on their backs, the fate the awaited them the next day, the lies being spread about them, their dirty feet and smelly arm pits—nothing distracted them from the love of their heavenly Father and knowing He was in control of all of it.
Proverbs 4.25 warns us “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” Aim for God. Fix your eyes on Him. Every day. When the enemy’s wind threatens to move your target, adjust your focus. Keep your eye on the prize. Have a great week.
