Matthew 6:6 (New International Version)
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and
pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you.
Highway 1, also known as the "Ring Road", is
the only two-lane highway that encircles Iceland. In most places it is built
quite a bit higher than its surroundings, probably to avoid flash flooding. It
is, over all, a good road, however one of the primary dangers, other than
possibly hitting sheep who amble freely over the road, is what is called a
"rollover". Due to the fact that the road is raised over much of the
island, if one wheel leaves the road, there's a good chance that the car will
roll down the embankment and be totaled. Or so it was stated on a display near
Reykjavik, the capital, at the site of two former rollovers.
If you focus on the road, there is absolutely no danger
of rollovers. If fatigue settles in, however, or some distraction or another
captures your attention (like the many sheep crossing the road, or the glaciers
or volcanoes or lava fields or waterfalls or geysers, to name a few!), you may
be in for a "rolling" surprise! Friends, these rollovers are real,
and they happen too often to be ignored!
Such "rollovers" are even more frequent in our
spiritual life. Instead of staying focused, it seems our attention has a
tendency to stray. In a hectic world filled with stress and distractions, how
could it be otherwise? Tell that to the poor chap who totaled his car. It won't
make him feel any better!
Have you noticed that every time you had a spiritual car
wreck, your focus was not where it should have been? Maybe this is why Jesus
urges us to spend time with God in a place without distractions. Our focus can
only be on God. Only then can we "begin to sense his grace." More
often than not, the reason why we may not sense God's presence is because our
focus has strayed!
If we want to experience fully our loving God, we need to
fix our focus. Too often we look at anything but what is truly important:
"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in.
Dear Lord we pray that we would keep our eyes focused on
You. In everything we do today help us
do it for You and not ourselves. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment