LIFE OUT OF FOCUS?

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8 (CSB)

I shared yesterday that there are two different meanings for being “pure in heart”.

The first we spoke about in yesterday’s devotional thoughts, avoiding hypocrisy, is the most common view. We named ulterior motives and breaking promises as examples.

Today, we can see that being pure in heart can also mean being focused. Now, what do I mean by that?

Being focused on the right thing can make the difference between life and death. Warren Bennis in "Why Leaders Can’t Lead", writes: "The flying Wallendas are perhaps the world’s greatest family of aerialists and tightrope walkers... I was struck with (Karl Wallenda’s) capacity for concentration on the intention, the task, the decision. I was even more intrigued when, several months later, Wallenda fell to his death while walking a tightrope without a safety net between two high-rise buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico... Later, Wallenda’s wife said that before her husband had fallen, for the first time since she had known him, he had been concentrating on falling, instead of on walking the tightrope. He had personally supervised the attachment of the guide wires, which he had never done before."

Often the difference between success and failure, life and death, is the direction we’re looking. Now, to bring this idea of focus home, let me talk for a bit about photography.

When you want a good picture, you pick your subject, aim the camera at it, and then adjust the focus of the lens make sure the subject is clear. If you try to use two different objects for focusing, neither will turn out well. The best pictures focus on one subject and let the others blend in. The background distortion actually adds to the quality of the picture; a blurred background to an action shot emphasizes the speed of the subject, and a fuzzy horizon brings out the features of a close-up.

Jesus is calling us to bring that focus to our faiths, our hearts. He wants us to focus our spiritual attention on God alone, and we do that through Jesus Christ. We can learn about God through his creation, but it is only a blurry backdrop to God himself. We can learn bit and pieces about God from other religions, but focusing on them puts Christ “out of focus”, and that is why He told us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.

Today, adjust the lens of your life to focus on God – through Jesus Christ His Son.