Articles
Out of Focus
Out of Focus
Brett Petrillo
We're all familiar with the name Henry Ford. He was the mastermind behind the Ford Motor Company and a big contributor to the advancement of our automobiles today. Perhaps one of the keys to his great success is found in his analysis of how people work: "A weakness of all human beings, " Henry Ford said, "is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So, we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one..."
Henry Ford hit the nail on the head. As people, we often don't know which direction to go or what things are most important. We lose sight on what deserves our focus. The result is, we focus on a bunch of things, too many things, and never truly give our focus on the things that matter.
The question is, what really matters in this life? We know the answer, don't we? It's not a secret to Christians. If we broke down everything in this life, we know what the answer is: Obeying God. Then why are we focused on so many other things? We spread our time and attention so thin, often God and His Word rarely ever get the focus they deserve.
Like us, Martha had her focus on too many things. As a result, she lost sight of what was truly important; the very thing her sister was doing, listening to Jesus. Do we remember Christ's reply to her? "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42).
King Solomon also went through a time in his life where he spread himself out too thin. Do we remember his conclusion regarding the things that truly matter in this life? "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Maybe you've lost focus. Maybe you're in a place right now where it's hard to keep your eyes on Jesus because of everything in the way. Let's get things cleared up. Let's start seeing what's truly important. It may be time for a spiritual vision checkup. Let's do what it takes to start seeing clearly so we can reach the prize (Hebrews 12:1-2).
