Focus

So tomorrow I'm heading up to Camp of the Master for our churches youth group yearly camp weekend. This will be my 10th year there, speaking all but twice. Our theme this year is 'The 2008 Olympiad' to go along with this years summer Olympics in Beijing, China. I will be speaking about various 'spiritual disciplines' that we as believers must have in order to more effectively 'run the race' that Our Father has laid out for us.

The first, and most important, 'spiritual discipline' we will look at will be 'focus.' I do not doubt that many Buddhist's monks, Islamic clerics, Tribal Witchdoctors, Jewish Rabbis and Hindu Brahmins are very disciplined in their spiritual fields. Many of them meditate, pray, read and/or study their sacred writings, fast, teach, care, and discipline themselves for the sake of their god, their religion, or their ideas. The weakness or strength of these practices lies not in the practice itself. Rather, the strength or weakness lies in the focus of the mind, the heart, and the soul during each discipline. It would be extremely difficult to walk in the light if one's meditations were on darkness. If you focus on evil, where will you drift. A person paddling a kayak learns very quickly the importance of focus. If you look on way or the other, pretty soon you are way off course. Focus is also the reason you'll often hear on our church bus, "Micah, watch the road!"

In I Cor. 9:24-27 Paul talks about running, but not as with out aim and boxing, but not as with not as beating the air. If one wants to train correctly, focus is important. If you want to run a sub 3 hour marathon, you have to train with that in mind. You can't just run when you feel like it, whenever you feel like it. If you want to win the gold at the Olympics in the marathon you have to focus even more. It must almost become your singular focus. If you want to be the heavy weight champion of the world, you must watch what you eat. You must run, lift, jump and hit. You must learn to lay blows on the body bag with power not just a lazy jab into the air. A few years ago, Carrie Tollefson from Dawson MN was training for the Olympics in Athens Greece. In her runner's log, published in the paper, she spoke often of her training schedule. She trained twice a day! None of this go out for a run in the morning or evening and call it good enough stuff. She had grueling workouts twice a day. That's focus and it's the same kind of focus we need in our 'spiritual disciplines.' If we want the prize, we must focus correctly.

So, I'm ready to compete. I'm ready to focus my heart, my mind, my soul. I'm ready for the training. I'm ready to discipline myself. What should be my focus? Should I focus on world peace? What about the security of my homeland? Should my mind rest upon the teachings of Joseph Smith or Buddha? Should I empty my mind and seek a mystical enlightenment? The answer to each of these is of course no. We are told by the author of Hebrews, in 5 simple words, what the object of our focus should be. In Hebrews 12:2 he states, "fix our eyes on Jesus." Jesus is our focus. He is the author of our faith as well as its protector. Can we, without the vine, accomplish anything, let alone press on for the prize? He, because of the joy set before Him (His goal?) endured the cross, looking down upon the shame and sat down at the right hand of God because He accomplished the goal. The author of Hebrews has already told us in Chapter 3 verse 1 to consider Jesus and now he tells us again in 12:3. Jesus, endured this hostility, and the mere focusing upon Jesus and what He has done for us, on our behalf, should quicken us and strengthen us for the race. Is this fixing our eyes on Jesus, this focus not the same as waiting upon the Lord?

Scripture is replete with the motivation for Godly living, i.e. the Gospel. Titus 3:8 tells us the motivation to do good works comes from a confident (and I would say constant) proclamation of the Good News of the Gospel. If we forget the Gospel, if we forget what our Savior has done for us, if we fail to remember from what we were saved and the cost it took to get us home, then we will often forget to train with purpose if we even train at all.

Don't run with out aim. Don't box by beating the air. Fix your eyes on Jesus and run the race with endurance. Get rid of the sin that trips you up. Cast of the baggage that's slowing you down and run. Run with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. FOCUS! Spiritual Discipline #1