Good morning! We love going out to the Lancaster, PA area as a family. We have gone out there for ‘camping’ trips (really it was glamping), Hershey Park, family getaways, Sight and Sound Theaters, Lapp Valley Farms ice cream, and Wawa of course LOL! One thing I always enjoy seeing out there is the horse and buggies. The horses are absolutely beautiful and it points back to a time before cars – which is even hard to imagine!
It amazes me how the horses stay on the shoulder and obey the commands from the person ‘driving.’ Something that you will notice is that most of the horses, if not all of them, wear a set of blinders on their head which forces their eyes to remain focused on where they need to go without being distracted.
This is something that I am very familiar with – being distracted by the little things. When I was about eighteen years old, I had just received a car from my grandpa as a gift. This thing was sweet, it was a Chevy Eurosport Wagon, and it had flip-up, rear-facing seats in the way back! What could be any cooler than that, right?! Well, I didn’t have it for very long.
Within the first month of being the car’s new owner, I was driving home at night and I had just turned into our neighborhood when I saw a spider crawling on the inside of the windshield. I didn’t want to lose sight of it, so I grabbed a napkin to get rid of it and as I reached over, I turned the steering wheel and hit a parked vehicle – totaling the car that I had just received as a gift! I was so annoyed and upset with myself.
I took my eyes off of the road for one second to focus on getting rid of the spider and veered off the path and into danger. Thankfully, the car was replaceable and I was not seriously injured, but it cost me. I now had to find and purchase a new vehicle (and we all know how much fun that can be).
This is all too familiar sometimes – we are on the narrow path that leads to life, and we get distracted by the smallest of things that ends up leaving us in some kind of danger and having to deal with the consequences.
“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you… Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:25,27
The book of Proverbs provides insights on how to live wise and disciplined lives, resulting in righteousness – or otherwise described as a life of integrity that is obedient to God’s Word. Here, we are being encouraged to keep our eyes straight ahead. If we keep our focus on Jesus, we won’t have time to focus on the distractions.
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2
Jesus was able to keep His eyes looking straight ahead, and in turn was able to go through the most difficult thing a human being has ever had to endure – mocking, beating, insults, and an unwarranted death! The joy set before Him was the outcome of His sacrificial work on the cross – the joy wasn’t in what He had to go through, but in what would happen afterwards; the redemption of humanity!
If there was anyone who was tempted with distractions, it was Jesus. Immediately after His baptism which is when He began His public ministry, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted, He was constantly being contested by the Jewish leaders, and He was betrayed by one of the twelve closest allies He had. But He still kept His eyes ahead, fixed on completing the mission that God the Father had given Him!
There are so many things in life that are competing for our attention. It is not necessarily the big things that end up taking us down, but more times than not, it’s the small things; the things that are often overlooked and unrecognized as potential derailments.
What are some of the things that are trying to distract you today? Be encouraged this morning to fix your eyes on Jesus! It is impossible for me to focus on two things at one time – if I am tuned in to one thing, I cannot give something else equal attention, it just doesn’t work. When our focus is on Jesus, everything else begins to look different; we don’t see the obstacles, we see the opportunities!
Heavenly Father, thank You for disarming the power of sin over our lives! There are so many little things that are constantly trying to take us off the path that leads to righteousness. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You and the hope that You are coming back one day! Help us to stay focused on the calling You have placed on our lives to bring glory and honor to You! In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 