FOCUS

SWEET Georgia Brown is a soul food restaurant in the Dallas area that serves good food. It would be a mistake if you were on a diet to spend a lot of time thinking about Sweet Georgia Brown because you’d be thinking about the source of your problem.

Most of us focus on the sins we are trying to overcome. We focus on what’s wrong, but focusing on what’s wrong is only going to refuel us in the wrong direction. The Devil wants us to focus on ourselves and our problems instead of focusing on Christ.313

[Satan, Strategy of; Temptation]

Heb. 12:2

MANY people have been on an airplane when turbulence occurs and the plane may have seemed out of control for a bit. If that’s ever happened to you, you probably got a little nervous. Your seat belt may have already been buckled but you tightened it. You may have grabbed on to the armrest a little tighter. You may have felt a bit unsettled because you were suspended in air with nowhere to go. You may have started reading the same line over and over again in your book because you were destabilized by the turbulence.

But then you probably also know what it is to have the captain come over the loudspeaker and say, “We’ve run into some choppy air, so we’re going to adjust our altitude and hopefully find some smoother air.”

Now, your problem will not have disappeared. The turbulence is still there, but you will probably take a deep breath, relax, read, and feel much more at ease because you have moved from a focus on the turbulence to a focus on the pilot.314

[Fear; God’s Presence]

Ps. 23:4; Isa. 66:13

ONE of the ways people train dogs is through the use of temptation. The trainer will take a piece of red meat and throw it in front of the dog. The first time that dog sees the red meat, he’ll probably go after it because that’s his nature. The second time, the trainer will throw out a piece of meat but then restrain the dog, telling the dog to “stay,” and making the dog redirect his attention to the trainer before rewarding him with the meat. The trainer will continue to tempt the dog with meat while retraining him and making him give his attention to the trainer while repeating, “STAY!”

Eventually, the dog will learn that if he focuses on the trainer or the master, and gives him his attention, the trainer will reward him. The dog will learn to handle the presence of the meat because the meat is no longer the focus.

The Devil knows that we’re not focused on the Master, so he continues to put temptations in front of us to keep us distracted. If we would only learn to focus on the Master, we would then be able to handle the temptations that are so often put before us.315

[Satan, Strategy of; Temptation, Nature of; Worldliness, Distraction of]

Rom. 6:12; 7:21–25; 1 Cor. 10:13

MOST of us are looking to our own human resources to be victorious, successful, and righteous, and we’re really looking hard. Newsflash: We are looking at the wrong thing.

No one goes out to the doughnut shop just to look at the doughnuts. You go to the doughnut store to EAT donuts! One thing is guaranteed though—if you do go to the doughnut shop to look at donuts, you will end up eating them. Why? Because the more you stare at it, the more you are going to want it.

Satan’s goal is to get us focused on our sin, but focusing on our sin can’t help us. We have to focus on something else, someone else, who can help us overcome that sin.316

[Satan, Strategy of; Sin, Dealing with; Temptation]

Rom. 7:21–25; Heb. 12:2

A MAN wanted to learn to play golf and took a trip to the driving range to practice his desired hobby. That little white ball was really doing a number on the newbie and making him quite embarrassed. Six times in a row the first-timer swung and missed the ball. He thought to himself, “Now, this game provides a lot of exercise, but I don’t have any idea what that white ball is here for.”

A lot of us are involved in endless activity, not hitting a thing, because we are not living with focus. We are busy and getting a lot of exercise moving through life, but our lives are not coming into contact with the goals God has for us.317

[Christian Living, Purpose; Life, Management of]

Ps. 127:2; Matt. 13:22