Focus part 3
If you're anything like me, you have a lot going on. Whether you want to or not. Because that's life. That's what happens on a day to day basis. I always say, "The hardest part of life... is living." But, to be fair, the most beautiful part of life is living. Because to live is to love, and to love is to live. And there is nothing more beautiful than love. There is nothing more holy than love. There is nothing more important than love. Its all about love! So let me drop my memory verse and then we'll dig into it. Matthew 6:6 in the Message Bible, "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." So many times in the Bible Jesus did that very thing. He went away. Got away. Found a secluded place. Got to a position and a place where He could just focus on what really mattered. Commun with His Father. Talk to God... and (equally as important) listen to God. I think we even get prayer twisted around a lot of the time. We think God is like a genie where we get to just tell Him what we want and He'll snap His fingers and make it happen for us. When, really, its important for US to find out what HE wants. And I always say it like this, "What you THINK doesn't really compare to what God KNOWS." He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what's best for us. He always has our best interests at heart. And He not only knows what's best for us, He knows the best way for us to get (or experience) what's best for us. He can keep us from falling. He can hold us up. He can lead us, guide us, direct us, and protect us. If we let Him. If we focus on God (on love) instead of focusing on all the other... stuff... that we get so caught up in. Its like the story of the snakes biting the Israelites. There was a bronze serpent on a pole (Jesus on the cross, in type and shadow) that the people were told to look at and live. But sometimes we are too concerned with the snakes at our ankles. Nipping at our heels. Sometimes we miss out on the fact--the truth--that we can just rise above those things. We can SET our affection on things above, and we don't always have to worry about things on the earth. We don't have to let people get the best of us. We don't have to let things get into us. We have to go through things, that's life. But we don't have to let things go through us. And when we DO get overwhelmed... we know what to do. We can get away from it, find that quiet, secluded place. I think even in church settings sometimes we try to put on a big front. "Role-playing before God." But God doesn't want all that. He doesn't want fluffed and buffed. He wants real and raw. I always tell my kid, "You gotta talk to me. I can't fix the problem if I don't know what the problem is." And I've heard it said, "Don't tell God how big the storm is, tell the storm how big God is." I get that. But we can, in times of need, cast our cares on Him. Because He cares for us. And the best way to do that is in a one-on-one, focused, real, secluded prayer place with God. Just you and Him. No distractions. No messing around trying to impress people--or God. Just speaking from the heart and listening with the heart!