Be Focused - Part 1 | Assuring Grace

To be focused is having your heart fixed and not allowing distraction of any kind. In 1992, on our way climbing up the Koma hills. The guard gave us a strong warning, which we were to adhere to, or risk burying ourselves alive. The instructions were “Don’t look to the left or right; do not look back; do not talk; when you are tired, stop and shout out; be careful with loose rocks”. These instructions were so, because the only route to the mountain was by a waterfall, and any misstep would take you into where no one could get you out. His message was clear: “be focused”. We had been told the journey would be 4 hours with intermittent rest, so the tendency to look back and see how far we had gone was there. There were chilli peppers, plantains and papaya growing naturally on the mountain, but the locals didn’t know what they were. An hour into the climbing, we understood what he was talking about.

This reminded me of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had a mission to accomplish, so remained focused to the mission. Good examples are in the Gospel of John.

· John 2:2-3. He was told there is no wine. His answer? “My time has not come”, signifying that there is a time for everything.

· John 2:13-17. After He saw people buying and selling in the temple, he wound a cord and chased them out; the temple has to be cleansed.

· John 3:1-3 Nicodemus confessed to Him that everyone knew he came from God. His answer? Yes, Nicodemus, and thank you, but you must be born again.

· John 4:31-35. The disciples asked Him to eat. His answer: “Food is good, but I came for an assignment”.

· John 5:17-19. They sought to kill him, but that did not stop him from preaching the message.

· John 6:14-15. They tried to make Him King, and His reaction? “No thank you, I am a King already, no need to offer me a counterfeit.”

· John 6:22-28. The crowd tried to flatter Him. His reaction: “I know why you are coming but let’s get it right, labour not for the meat that perisheth”. He went ahead to talk about the Bread of life, making the key thing the key thing.

· John 7:1-5. He withstood the pressure from His earthly brethren to go to Jerusalem; He knew that His time had not come yet.

· John 7:14-24. He didn’t let their rudeness faze Him and remained focused on the message instead. For many, this is an enormous block in front of them. People react to insults and rudeness, which is normal to the unregenerated man. Here, Jesus was told that he knew no letters, and that He was mad. That didn’t stop Him as you would expect that from anyone else, they were no big deal to Him.

· John 7:37 Although the people were puzzled by His previous statements, He carried on unperturbed, and gave a message that still needs to be heard—"if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me as the scripture says out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”.

Focus is the key to achieving outstanding success in whatever we do, be it our consecration and commitment to God, or career, education, business, ministry and everything we do. Distraction takes your eyes away from the centre of your course. They can come in several ways, as seen in the previous examples of our Lord Jesus. Some of them might look good, and some are outrightly bad. The ‘good-looking’ ones are more dangerous, since they are not as easily identified, but distraction is distraction.