Purposeful Engagement

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8 NIV)

With him, we can do all things. You've heard that, right? Why do we question his faithfulness to us by taking control of the reins all the time? We don't realize how much we are leaning on our own strength or ability until our feet go out from under us! Then, after we have fallen flat, we look up and seek his help. He was right there all the time - we just didn't listen to him, didn't reach out to him, didn't trust him with whatever it was we were going through. Let's get real here - we get so 'shaken up' in life because we choose to live as our own boss! The leadership of our lives isn't really going to get better under our control. It only gets better when we yield the control.

Eyes always on the Lord. This might seem like an easy thing, but let me ask you when the last time was that you got even a bit distracted and gave into some temptation or went out of your way to do something you knew wasn't the right thing to be doing at that moment? If you are like me, it was probably as frequently as yesterday, or even today! We don't always keep our eyes on the Lord, do we? We frequently get interruptions in the path between him and us. They can be self-made interruptions, or they can be externally based and not always within our control. Regardless, wherever we focus our attention the most, that object or design will get the most of our attention. Let that be God himself and we won't be as prone to be tripped up by those other interrupting forces!

I keep my eyes - that means there is some active participation on our part. We cannot 'keep' anything in our attention for long without other things demanding their place, too. Work interrupts our focus. Family life interrupts our focus. The latest series on our streaming media interrupts our focus. All things considered, we have way more trouble 'keeping' our focus than we do clarifying our focus! We have great perception with our 'spiritual vision', but we don't always have our eyes focused on what really makes the biggest difference, do we? We might think it is impossible to keep our focus on Christ, but here me out on this one. The more we consciously engage with him, not just casually know he is there, the more cognizant we will be of his presence. Our focus will be determined because we have actively engaged with him.

We aren't immune to distracted living. All of us have some measure of distraction in life. Even the background noise we have going on the TV while we clean the house is distracting. We might do well to consider some of the distractions we have been allowing today and come to some conclusion as to whether those things just create 'clutter' and 'background noise' in our lives, or are they taking us off-course in some way. Either way, we need to get our focus on Christ, realizing he is with us at all times, engaging with him in small and meaningful ways throughout our day. For me, it is a silent moment where I just gaze at the birds or trees, thank him for being with me and then I go on with my day. I know he is there, I have acknowledged he is in control, and the things that mount up to distract seem much less important when I purposefully engage with him. Just sayin!