April 13 I Saturday

1 Samuel 22-24

Luke 12:1-31

 

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” —Hebrews 3:1

 

In this life, we are often tempted to fix our eyes on the difficulties we face and end up going through a revolving door trying to resolve the situation ourselves. Another scenario is when the discipline of God comes in. Again and again, we might focus on our troubles rather than fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Jesus is our resource for everything, and preoccupation with Him is the best way to live and to cope in our hardships. There is a bizarre little exercise we can try that illustrates how vital being focused on Jesus is. If we close our eyes and try really hard to imagine a huge elephant sitting in a tree, the elephant will be most prominent in our minds. As ludicrous as it is, we can see the elephant, but struggling to sit in a tree? Perhaps we cannot imagine that, so we leave it and go on to something else.

Instead, try to picture a giraffe with its long neck, long legs and sturdy body trying to cram itself down a rabbit hole. Another ludicrous image, but nevertheless the giraffe is trying with all his might to get down that rabbit hole. His legs are scrunched up, nose to the ground and in our mind’s eye, we can see the giraffe, trying to do the impossible. But what happened to the elephant? Did we forget about him?

Though we are still conscious of the elephant trying to sit in a tree, he is no longer a part of the picture. Our mind’s eye now sees only the giraffe, which demonstrates how quickly and easily we can become distracted. Paul tells us, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Galatians 5:17). If we are not focused on Jesus, we will gravitate towards pleasing the flesh, and it will not take long to become entangled and diverted from the race God has marked out for us.

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He is far more committed to us than we are to Him, so we need to fix our thoughts on the fact that Jesus is the one who began this, and He will be the one completes it. Our objective needs to be keeping our focus not on our troubles but on Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith, and it is Jesus who, through faith in Him, will change our lives and produce in us His holiness.

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am so grateful that You are the answer to everything we need. You are my life, and I ask that You help me always to remain focused on You. Thank You, Lord.


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