I want a different focus

God’s grace has come. That grace can save everyone. It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God. We should live like that while we are waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our great hope, and he will come with glory. (Titus 2:11-13)

Grace has come, so live by doing what is right and wise. The world needs to see us living in true devotion to God, not ourselves. What does that true devotion look like? I think it may resemble choosing to live with others in mind, not always focusing on ourselves. What does it mean to live against God? Sometimes it means we choose to do or say things that will hurt another, but it could just mean we don't put him first in our choices.

When we put Christ first in our lives, it may shift our priorities more than just a little bit. It can change our whole world. Would we choose to stream endless hours of shows while we choose to spend only two minutes in hurried prayer daily? Would we choose to ignore the pain of someone who is experiencing some loss, or put down our agenda to meet even one of their needs? The more we experience grace, the more we see the needs around us.

God gives us a heart for others, as it does not come naturally to us. We might do an occasional nice deed, but when Christ is in the center of our lives, gracedefinesmore than the occasional good deed. It defines our words, actions, and even our thoughts. It gives us hope where others see little hope. It isn't a baseless hope, though. It is a hope based in the evidence of God's love. The evidence? Grace! Grace actually teaches us to live with new focus, impacting our choices.

Every time we receive grace, it is an opportunity to share grace with others who are in need of that same hope. God never expected us to hoard grace. It is meant to be given away time and time again. Maybe grace is needed, but we seldom see it as deserved when we are looking at life through selfish and worldly eyes. Just saying!

What are you willing to pay?

Who or what are you living for? We are all "living for" someone - even if it is ourselves. We could be a little too self-centered for our own good and only see life how it affects us, totally excluding how the world all around us is impacted by the way we live OUR lives. Or perhaps we are a little too "other-centered", forgetting to take care of ourselves, running like mad-men here and there until we are fatigued to the place of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. We may actually be living a "Christ-centered" life - the choices we make being governed by the principles taught in the Word and those we feel compelled to act upon because of the prompting of the Holy Spirit within, but lacking complete consistency in this walk. Somehow we think the question is not how well we are living, but that we are living - missing the point of living in a way which really leaves an impact on the lives we touch. It requires us looking intently at who it is we live our lives for because this affects how it is we will live it.

If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him. We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. We know that sin doesn’t have power over dead people. As surely as we died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. We know that death no longer has any power over Christ. He died and was raised to life, never again to die. When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God. In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God. (Romans 6:5-11)

The old ways of living move aside when we come to Christ. Those priorities which seemed to consume us certainly pale in comparison to the excellence of living for Christ. This "living for" is made possible because of who "lives within". There is nothing more rewarding than to exchange something worthless for something of superior and excellent value. Really, the best we can offer in our lives pales in comparison to the restored lives God provides in exchange for our tattered, worn, and weary lives. All sin does within us is wear away at the integrity of our inner man - so all we have to offer in exchange for this excellence God offers is pretty shabby by comparison.

We are raised to life with Christ - not the old life getting a face lift, but a new life being imparted to us. Our old "physical frames" house this new life, but the soul and spirit transformation that occur are all Christ's doing. What we offer in the way of "soul-life" or "spirituality" is really nothing more than us doing things out of self-preservation or to make points with another individual. When we allow the life of Christ to be birthed within us, we are leaving behind this old way of living to live "for" him. Our lives take on a new focus. This is where we get the idea of doing an "about-face". In military speak, this is the action of firmly planting the right foot slightly behind the left, then executing a full 180-degree turn so that we are facing the complete opposite direction. This is where we find a new focus - not in remaining turned toward the old, but in turning our backs on it!

What we don't see is what is behind. We don't consider it because it is no longer in our focus. What we keep (maintain) in our focus will eventually consume us.  This is why scripture refers to us keeping our eyes on Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who brings us into this new way of living and he is the one who will take us from living a "little bit" of this Christian life to living an all-out surrendered life no longer intrigued by the old life we were living. When the soldier executes the "about face" maneuver, he or she is also told to keep their gaze straight ahead. They are not to be looking to the left or right - but straight ahead. As much as may attempt to distract us, when our focus is committed straight ahead, those distractions just don't work!

We "live for" many things - but only one choice really matters. We surrender to a lot of things - but only one surrender brings liberty. We focus on a whole lot of different things in this life - but only one focus actually shuts out all the other things which distract us. If we want to "live for" anything or anyone other than Christ, we need to ask God to clarify our choices in this matter. We might feel that the price we have to pay to follow Jesus is a little too steep - but you are really paying very little to get such a great reward.  Just sayin!

GO TO

Those who go to God Most High for safety will be protected by the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

Do you know how you get God's protection in your life? You GO to him. You take your worries and pressures TO him. Too many of us think he knows this stuff already and just expect he will 'fix it' without us having to do anything. God's plan is that we acknowledge these needs actually exist and then we allow him to be our protector. Yes, God does indeed know your struggles, anxiety-producing moments, and even your worries that have absolutely no basis. He knows everything, so why does he ask us to GO to him for his safe protection? There is something powerful in 'taking' our 'stuff' to him. At first, it may be hard to understand, but it is an acknowledgement that we realize his love for us.

Yup, when we GO TO him, placing ourselves clearly under his protection and care, we are acknowledging an awareness of his love. More than that, we are acknowledging our recognition of who it is that should actually handle all that stuff in the first place! I have to ask the obvious question, though. If we DON'T take those things to him, do we 'negate' or 'lessen' his love? It is impossible to negate God's love, but there is something that happens within US when we GO to him. It isn't that his love grows - it is already fully developed toward us. It is that we begin to understand just how far that divine love reaches on our behalf. We have probably perfected a few 'go to' things or places in our lives. Some 'go to' a trusted friend, unloading burden after burden upon them. Some 'go to' a bottle, hoping their worries will be carried away by the liquid within. Some 'go to' their favorite genre on their streaming service, binging long enough that they are no longer thinking upon their worries.

GO TO God - these are the instructions we are given. The result - we are under the protection of the MOST HIGH God. What we seek in GOING - protection. Sometimes the protection we need is from the silly notion that God isn't going to care about our trivial need, or that we can handle the small stuff on our own. If you look at the passage again, there are no qualifiers to what we bring to him - the only qualifier is THAT WE BRING ourselves to him. To GO TO one has to leave behind where they have been. That indicates an exchange of some sorts. GOING TO means we are actually acknowledging that we desire God to be our means of protection - even when we know the problem may be small and that we could probably fix it on our own. If we want the best for our lives, we GO TO God with everything - even the stuff we think we have figured out on our own. Most of the time God simply gives us the 'nod' and we go about 'fixing' the problem with the solution we have already figured out. There are times when all God wants is for us to acknowledge that we want to remain fully under his protection even when we are doing what we know needs to be done. Just sayin!