SINGLE FOCUS
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8 (AV)
A single focus prevents confusion as long as you can maintain that focus. But what happens when our world gets flooded with distractions? Distractions can be grave or silly. A flood can threaten family, home, pets and limb or life. Yet, consider a serene quiet river bank you might go to for a moment of peace anc quiet. Even there your thoughts may be barraged with many cares of everyday life. Whether a flood is real or imagined the affects can be just as unsettling to our faith.
The answer in any situation is to look away from every form of distraction to Jesus who is the Source and Finisher of our faith.
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
Consider what the Author and Finisher of our faith experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. He not only knew the prophecies about His suffering as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. He knew what His Father in Heaven showed Him. He taught His disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
Matthew 26:42 (NKJV)
He knew that soldiers were on their way. But where did He turn? Where did He focus? There was only one He could turn to. His disciples were sleeping in His hour of need. But His Father in Heaven was not sleeping. Our Father in Heaven gave to Jesus, His Son, the courage and the strength to say, “Your will be done.”
Think of Stephen hauled before the Sanhedrin to answer charges against him because of his powerful witness of Jesus, their Messiah.
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
Acts 7:51–57 (NKJV)
Stephen knew what would happen to him. So where did he turn? To whom did he look. Full of the Holy Spirit he looked to the only One who could help him. This is the only time in the word of God in which anyone describes Jesus standing at the Father’s right hand. Every other time they saw Him sitting.
When Jesus stands, it’s in honor of those who will trust Him, turn to Him and make Him their single focus, though they are martyred for their testimony of Jesus, the Savior of the world.
Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. Hebrews 12:3
What distracts you? No matter what you face, turn away from what it as a mere distraction. Focus on Jesus and His sacrifice and His place of intercession for you at the right hand of our Father in Heaven. Do this in remembrance of Him. Look to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
A single vision prevents double-mindedness. Whatever you face, whatever troubles you; Jesus is our Focus!
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2