The Focused Christian And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head. And He said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:57–62. How to be Focused Jesus was recruiting disciples. He was asking them to follow Him, and they were giving Him one excuse after another why they needed to hesitate in following Him. Did Jesus tell us that we should not bury our dead in this text? No. Does Jesus tell us that we should not return to our families and bid them farewell as we leave to follow Him? Is that what He is saying? No. Jesus is saying, I want you to be focused. I want you to be as focused as the farmer who puts his hand to the plough and begins to put a furrow in his field. Somehow or other he did not watch his mark, and the furrow was very crooked. Do you wonder how furrows are kept straight? Farmers set their gaze upon a fence post, or some object in the distance, and they aim right at it. If they are constantly looking back over their shoulder wondering how the furrow is doing, eventually it is going to be crooked. So Jesus draws an illustration from daily life once again. What is He saying to us? I want you, My disciple, to choose to follow Me. I want you to be focused on Me. Serving Two Masters? How do we in our Christian experience maintain that focus on Jesus Christ? Jesus warned us about not being focused. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:22–24. We can get out of focus by trying to serve two masters. We cannot serve the world and serve Jesus Christ at the same time. It is impossible. When we seek to do that, all the light that we have becomes darkness. It matters not how much light we have, if we are compromising in our hearts, all the theory of truth becomes darkness to us; it means nothing to anyone around us. The influence is darkness, not light. If we are choosing to serve two masters, we are going to be so out of focus that we will become involved in things that God does not sanction. This is why Jesus wants His followers to be focused. He who does not give himself wholly to God is under the control of another power, listening to another voice, whose suggestions are of an entirely different character. One thing we must understand is that with God it is all or nothing at all—either we are focused or we are out of focus. Three Areas of Concern If we are seeking to serve two masters, we are told that we are listening to another voice, a voice other than the Master’s. That other voice seeks to influence us in at least three areas of life. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2:15, 16. A terrible example of this is found in the Word of God in the life of Samson. A tremendous fall awaited this man because he loved flesh more than he loved God. The first area identified in this text is the lust of the flesh, the passions and the appetites that all of us possess with our fallen human nature. We cannot trust our desires apart from the sanctifying influence of God’s Word and Holy Spirit. We cannot trust our appetites. We cannot trust our own understanding of things. That other voice will seek to lead us to lust after the flesh, to become involved in things that are contrary to God’s work in our hearts, a work of character building, a work of transforming us into the image of Christ. The second area is the lust of the eyes, or covetousness. What we see, we want. Ananias and Saphira, in the New Testament, exhibited this sin. When they saw the amount of money they received from the sale of their property, they coveted the money they had pledged to God. That is one area where the other voice is going to lead us. Then there is the pride of life, loving our own way. We think our way is the best way, the only way, the right way. Examples From the Bible We can draw from examples in the Bible in regard to this sin. Consider Cain in the beginning. His experience was one of wanting his own way. He thought his way was better than God’s way. He was giving in to the pride of life. Lucifer, a perfect created being, did the same thing in heaven. We are not perfect, and we are more prone to pride of life, to wanting our own way, to believing that our way is the best way than were the angels in heaven before they fell. We are told, There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12. When we go down this road, Satan well knows what the end is for us. If we are choosing to serve two masters, we are going to be so out of focus that we will become involved in things that God does not sanction. The light that is in us will become darkness. An Absolute Principle There is an absolute principle which takes place in our lives when we are focused. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18. What a wonderful principle that is. If we are focused and beholding Him, we will become like Him. But if we are out of focus, the same principle works—we become like that which we behold. You see, to be out of focus is to be focused on something other than that which God wants for us. There is a principle of beholding involved, when we talk about focus. All things that we behold, whether it is good or evil, we will become. By beholding we become changed. By the indulgence of impure thoughts man can so educate his mind that sin, which he once loathed, will become pleasant to him. Satan is using every means to make crime and debasing vice popular. We cannot walk the streets of our cities without encountering flaring notices of crime presented in some novel, or to be acted at some theater. The mind is educated to familiarity with sin. The course pursued by the base and vile is kept before the people in the periodicals of the day, and everything that can excite passion is brought before them in exciting stories. They hear and read so much of debasing crime that the once tender conscience, which would have recoiled with horror from such scenes, becomes hardened, and they dwell upon these things with greedy interest. Is it any different in our time? That was written 100 years ago, as Ellen White looked out over the social structure of America. We live in a time that is fully corrupt. God is not waiting for the world to get worse; He is waiting for His people to get better. This world is ready for the coming of Jesus Christ, and He will come when He has His people ready. We will never be ready unless we are focused, and we cannot be focused on Jesus until we unfocus ourselves from the things of this world. Tabloids, Radio, and TV Some of us are reading material that should not be read; we are listening to things that should not be heard, and we are watching things that should not be seen. When you walk past the grocery check-out counter, what kind of publications do you see there? The pictures alone should tell you that the content of such publications do not fall into the categories of Philippians 4:8, which admonishes us to think on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. And what about that radio? If you want to be out of focus, just listen to the talk shows, the sporting events and the questionable music that seemingly pervades the whole of radio programming today. Also, all of us should be aware that the reading of novels and theater going is not conducive to growing in the graces of the Christian life. And what about TV? Brothers and sisters, it is time for us to start asking, What would Jesus do? And What would Jesus want me to do? It is God alone who can give us the wisdom to know what is right from wrong in these matters, and also give us the power to do what is right! Let us stop compromising God’s truth and start obeying it! What do you say?
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 22:18:49 +0000
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