Is Your focus on the Right Thing?

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.