BE-GRATITUDES: 30 Days of Attitudes

November 2nd, 2021

Day Two: Focused

Matthew 6:6, ‘“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”’ (MSG)

There are many trappings this world has to offer. For instance, we got my mom a new cellphone and seeing a new iPhone through her eyes causes me to realize all over again how significant these little devices not much bigger than a fist are. It beeps and dings, bells and whistles, announcing new options and incoming messages and offered downloads. There isn’t one thing we think up that we can’t Google and discover out there somewhere. I have ideas all the time that I think, ‘Wow! That would be a great idea if someone would invent something like that!’ only to find out someone has. And then I see it everywhere, the algorithms giving me up, telling my secrets.

I had a friend send me a test, sharing about her loneliness and isolation. I think it is another one of the trappings the enemy wishes to snare us with. We seek comfort and companionship outside of safe boundaries due to our growing discontent, longing to be seen and known and heard. It is so easy to feel uninvited and misunderstood and let down; therefore, the walls we erect keep us apart even if we might be together.

I am reminded today how desperately I need to focus on Jesus. If I am fixing my gaze on Him than it is less likely I will fall for the booby traps the enemy places like landmines on my path. If I keep my heart set on the pursuit of God’s purpose for my life and what He has for me just around the bend, then the tricks Satan uses to distract me are far less likely to be successful.

I am so very grateful that because He loves me ferociously, He desires my focus on Him just as much as it is necessary for me to have it placed there.

Where is your focus? What are some ways you refocus and describe the benefits?

Here is a constant prayer of mine: Jesus, fix my focus on Your face; keep my heart upon its knees; and may my feet find Your path and Yours alone. Amen