Where’s Your Focus

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Matthew 5:4

What’s your favorite sport to play? Basketball? Golf? Tennis? Do you play at home with friends for fun, or as part of a community or school team? At some point in every athlete’s life he realizes he’s been doing something wrong. It might be his approach to nutrition, his regimen in the weight room, or his mental strategy. The realization of a need for change comes by seeing someone else excel. The example of excellence, whether from a coach or fellow athlete, reveals what is missing in his own approach.

The same is true in Christian discipleship. It’s easy to think you’re doing just fine as long as you keep your eyes on yourself. But when your focus is fixed on God, you are regularly reminded of what is missing in your practice of the faith.

Isaiah tells such a story of how seeing God caused him to realize what was missing in his own life. He had a vision in which the separation between heaven and earth were no more. He was able to see the greatness and glory of the presence of God. As Isaiah took in the sights and sounds of the throne room of God, he began to mourn his sin and the sins of others: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” It was his honesty about what was missing in his life, namely pure speech, that allowed Isaiah to receive the cleansing, correction, and comfort of God’s forgiveness.

Father, work through the Bible to show me who You are, where I am not like You, and how I can be changed by You.