‘Focus’

5/8/2018

I Was Thinking…

Everyday pressures are real! We all have good days and bad days. Someone once said, “You have to take the bad with the good!” How is this accomplished? I prefer every day to be a good day, don’t you? But that is not realistic. How can we handle everyday pressures that feel claustrophobic on the bad days? Bad days have a way of helping the pressures of life crowd in on us and cause the bad to feel worse. What do we do? If joy is to be a fruit of the spirit of Christ in our lives, then how is it to be experienced when days of challenge come our way?

Dr. Tom Carruth was an influence in my life as an adolescent. He was the Director of Spiritual Life at Asbury Seminary for many years. I came to know him through camp meeting experiences at Mt. Zion Camp Ground in Griffin, Georgia. Dr. Carruth had two primary themes that he preached through a variety of approaches. His two themes were ‘Love’ and ‘Prayer’. I remember his emphasis entitled “100 Days of Love” where he invited people to focus on God’s love and loving others for 100 days consecutively. If we would accept the invitation of such consistent love, he claimed our lives would be changed. I also remember his emphasis entitled “40 Days of Prayer”. He had the audacity to claim that if we would seriously pray for someone or any decision or any concern for forty days consecutively, that we would discover God’s power for our lives in unimaginable ways.

Dr. Carruth was attempting to help us realize the power and importance of that which receives our attention. The answer to life’s pressures is not really complicated. It is simply a matter of focus. Jesus said it when he said, “Come to me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Is it possible that the real, every day pressures of life are of interest to our God? Is it really true that God is simply waiting on us to turn toward heaven and offer our challenges into the hands of our Creator? If we trust God with our bad days, will we discover that the “joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)? Was the Apostle Paul accurate when he proclaimed to God that when he was weak, God was all the stronger (2 Corinthians 12:10)? YES!

Focus, my friends, focus is our answer.

Always Thinking…