Focus

1/23/2020

2 Corinthians 3:18

“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same.”

Sometimes, I am as easily distracted as a cat chasing a light on the floor. I can be in the middle of something, almost anything really, and if my phone jingles, in that moment, the other thing no longer seems to matter. Even if someone asks me if I am paying attention, all I can usually manage is an insincere “Yeah, just a second.” Sigh. What is so critically important that I leave a person or task without my full attention? The majority of the time, nothing.

Then there are times the issues of life swirl around me and occupy most of my mental and physical energy. I give my attention to worry, or scurry around doing, going, and fixing; often living in a completely distracted state. It is exhausting.

I started thinking about how doing anything of true importance takes the discipline of complete concentration; during these times, being distracted for even a moment could bring about disaster. If someone is distracted, for example, while driving a vehicle, caring for an infant, or performing surgery, the results could be fatal.

Our relationship with God is the most critically important thing in life. He deserves nothing less than our undivided attention. Do we get distracted by the busyness of life and lose our concentration on Him? Do our times of worship, devotion, and prayer suffer because of invading thoughts? I know this has certainly happened to me. Just this morning, my husband shared with me that he couldn’t focus while in prayer. His mind was wandering to work, family, ministry, etc. and not in a prayerful way. Satan loves when our minds are clouded and our spiritual connection is dimmed.  

In today’s lesson, Chambers declares that we need to concentrate on our relationship with God without distraction, seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can be transformed; making our lives a mirror. Chambers says, “The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God… We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding, keeping the life absolutely spiritual all through. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. ”

In the book Your Best Destiny, Wintley Phipps calls every believer to resemble, reveal, and reflect the character of God. A tall order for sure, and one that can only hope to be achieved though concentrated devotion and, “beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.”