What Kind of Focus?

Philippians 3:12-14

Message No. 0773 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

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Focus is extremely important to success. Dabbling into many things and paying little attention to all is a recipe for failure. No distracted person can make it. In christendom, lack of focus is one of the tools the enemy uses to weaken our impacts on our societies, while he is working hard to rake people into hell everyday. In this writing, we take a look at the focus of Paul, so we can draw lessons from him and assess our statuses in Christ. God bless you as you read.

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Some people are managers in their offices, and because of their ambitions to make impacts and get promoted quickly, they step on toes, create toxic working environments and destroy relationships in their paths. They won’t allow anything to stop them from achieving their goals. Others are leaders of countries or occupy some other leadership positions, and you do not dare cross their paths. Some are even Christians, but would not want to be associated with Christ in their domains, all because of their agenda. They are focused, and not even a brotherly relationship can stop them.

Focus is good. It helps you to concentrate and work towards your goals. Focused people achieve results, because they shun distractions and close their minds to opinions that do not align with their goals. But the question to ask is, what are you focused on? What takes your attention? What occupies your mind? This question is pertinent because ambitions could be good or evil. The goal could be to build or to destroy.

Before Paul got converted, he was named Saul. And, my God, was he focused? Saul it was, who was terror to the early church. Raised as a Pharisee, he saw Jesus as fake, and the disciples as stupid. Though not specifically appointed to terrorize the church, he saw it as his duty to ensure that the new ‘sect’ did not survive. He obtained written permissions to go to various cities to persecute the followers of christ, and was feared even by the apostles. When Stephen was being stoned to death in Acts chapter 7, the Bible says that Saul approved of the stoning. It was as though each christian he killed was trophy for him.

Then came Acts chapter 9. In verses 1-2, the Bible says:

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

What happened to Saul one the road to Damascus was completely unbelievable. He was struck down by Light from the One he had been persecuting for years, and when he woke up from that dream, he had been transformed to a completely different person. Saul surrendered to the God he had spent a good part of his life persecuting, but that was not the only thing that happened. With the same stubborn focus he had on doing evil against God’s children, Saul became Paul, and dedicated the remainder of his entire life to preaching the gospel.

When Saul became Paul, no one could stop him, not even the apostles that worked with Jesus while he was still a murderer. He would not be distracted. He was so focused that his life didn’t matter to him anymore. He was willing to die for the cause of the gospel. Look at what he said when he wrote to the Philippians, a church that he had planted on one of his missionary trips. In chapter 3 verses 12-14, he wrote:

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The question for us all today is, what are we focused on? Since we surrendered our lives to Christ, have we remained focused on His Kingdom, or are we being distracted by the affairs of this world? Are we all focused in acquiring that degree, or attaining that position, or buying that car, or that house, or that gold material, or working to ensure we look like those people, and compete with that class, or trying to outdo those guys? What are we focused on? Is the Kingdom of God still paramount to us? In 2 Timothy 2:4, the Bible says:

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

Are you still a soldier for Christ? Does your life matter more to you than the Kingdom of the God who saved you?

What to Do?

If you are no longer sure of your standing with Christ, this is an opportunity to reassess where you are and make changes. God is waiting to reenergize you and use you for His Kingdom. Are you willing?