Stay Focused While Jesus was on earth, He could have done all sorts of fantastic things. He could have built buildings that would have made the engineers and architects of the Roman Empire look stupid. He could have opened a university and taught science to the smartest scholars from every nation. He could have conducted the largest Gospel crusade the world had ever seen. He could have healed all the sick people on earth and cleared out every hospital. He could have sent out 12,000 apostles instead of 12 to build His Church. Why did Jesus refrain from doing these and a million other wonderful things that were within His power? The simple answer is this: Jesus knew His mission—the one task for which He came. He stated it very clearly: Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost Although He was well aware that He would die for the sins of the whole world, He also knew that He needed to accomplish His mission within the tiny nation of Israel. Jesus lived daily to fulfill His mission and never allowed Himself to be distracted by anything or anyone. When His journey came to an end, He simply said to His Father, John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And on the cross, He looked at humanity past, present and future and proclaimed, It is finished (John 19:30). Jesus was surrounded by distractions just like we are. Right before He began His ministry, the devil attempted to cause Jesus to use His embodied spiritual powers in a selfish way and without the authorization of His Father. Jesus could have indeed turned stones into bread, jumped off the tower and survived, or walked away from the cross, but He refused. Even when the devil used Peter and later the Greeks to try to prevent Him from completing His mission, Jesus still didnt give in to distractions. Instead, He explained why He was keeping His focus: John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And then in the last few hours of His life, when Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him and all of His disciples ran away, Jesus could have easily given up and said, Its all been a mistake. They betrayed everything I showed and lived before them. Its not worth it—and walked away from the cross. Thank God He didnt. Paul and Nehemiah also didnt give in to distractions. One of the secrets behind the Apostle Pauls achievements in life was his absolute focus. His statement, None of these things move me (Acts 20:24) meant that none of the difficulties, persecutions and problems he faced could persuade him to walk away. Nehemiah had the same determination when he was building the wall of Jerusalem. Although his enemies used every tactic in the book to frighten him into quitting, he kept right on building and answered, Should such a man as I flee? (Nehemiah 6:11). Others gave in—and forfeited the most incredible possibilities they could have achieved in their lives. Baalam the prophet was handpicked by God. Gehazi was in line to inherit Elishas mantle and a double portion of his masters ministry. Demas could have possibly been the one to receive the torch from Paul. Yet all three got distracted by the love of this world and money and hence were sidetracked from their mission. We are asked to follow Jesus example in handling distractions. Each of us has a mission to fulfill in winning the lost world and building Gods kingdom. The writer of Hebrews gives us precise instructions about what we must do to keep our focus: Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Christ, our example, is the One who has gone before us in the race. We are not asked to look at the spectators in the arena or at the other runners, but to keep our eyes on Jesus and imitate Him. Jesus Himself said, Follow Me, because He knew that staying focused would be one of the most difficult things for us to do. As I said this evening in Bible Study. Satan is working overtime to distract us from planting Harvest International Baptist Church next week. And I fear he’s just getting started. We must faithfully encourage each other every day to stay focused and just say NO to distractions. Thank God He is still on throne, and still the Master Builder of His church. Keep Lookin’ UP! And Listenin’ for the SHOUT!
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 04:51:28 +0000
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