7-27-2022

Good Morning!    

          Hebrews 12:2a; “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith.”

    Have you ever paid attention to the way you drive?  When you drive, you focus on the road ahead.  You watch to keep the car headed in an even fashion going straight ahead.  You do this so that you don’t swerve too far to the left or right and so that you can avoid any bumps in the road ahead or if the road changes direction.

    Yet, we also have to pay attention to what else is around us.  So, we take glances out the side windows or glances in the rearview mirror.  We need to be aware of what is going on around us, but we must maintain our focus on the road ahead.  So, we focus, a quick look to the left, focus ahead, a quick glance to the right, focus ahead, a quick glance in the rearview mirror, focus on the road ahead; that pretty much is how we drive.  We might throw in a quick check of the radio or heater, but we keep focused on the road ahead.

    If you ever start to focus on what is going on out the side window, you will soon be in trouble.  There has been many a farmer who, while looking at the neighbor’s fields, has found himself either on the wrong side of the road or heading into the ditch.  His focus is on the wrong direction, and he loses control of his vehicle.  It is easy to do if you focus in the wrong direction; pretty soon you are no longer heading down the right path, but you are veering off to the left or right and you are finding the ditch in a hurry.

    Our faith life is like that as well.  We need to focus on Jesus and our salvation.  The problem is that too often we focus on our sin rather than glancing at it.  We need to be aware of our sin.  We need to recognize our sin and thus try to avoid those sins, but we shouldn’t focus on those sins; we should focus on Jesus.  When we focus on our sin; we can veer off course and live a life that is based on guilt.  We look at what is wrong in our life and then we live life as only focusing on what is bad in life.  When we look at Jesus, we focus on Him on the cross.

    What we should focus on is Jesus and the grace and love for us.  Instead of focusing on our sins and shortcomings, we should focus on God’s love and the joy it should bring us.  We need to glance at our sins, they remind us that all our “good” is from God.  We need to focus on Jesus, on the love that he has for us, on his desire for us to live with him in eternity.  This is where we find our joy and contentment; this is where we find our love for life and our fellow man.  God’s mercy lets us focus on the road ahead toward our final destiny, life eternal with Jesus.

    So don’t focus on your sins.  Know they are there, strive, with the help of the Spirit, to move past them but focus upon Jesus and his saving grace.

Gracious Lord, your death and resurrection has freed us from the fear of watching out for the problems in this world and allow us to focus on your love, your mercy, and our final destination of living with you eternally.  Give us the strength to focus on you and to live our life of contentment which you desire for us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret