Where’s Your Focus?

It’s easy to be distracted from what really matters. It’s easy to be distracted by something shiny and miss what is real.

It’s easy to be distracted and want things more than the opportunity to effect a change.

Jesus put this into perspective in Matthew 16:21-23. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’” (NASB) [boldface added].

When I read these verses, one particular truth pierces me: when my mind is focused on man’s interests and not on what God wants, I become a stumbling block. So I ask myself these questions:

Where has my focus been?

Am I really focusing on what God wants—what I sense He’s leading me to do?

Have I been focusing on what will please God, or have I been focusing on pleasing people?

We need to honestly evaluate ourselves as worship leaders, and determine whether we’ve allowed ourselves to be distracted by what’s shiny, what’s worldly, and what’s emotionally-driven.

When our focus is on God, what He has said in His Word, what is His commission to believers, and what pleases Him in worship, then we’ll be available for Him to use powerfully. I’m not satisfied with trying to minister based on what I know or see or think. I want to know, see, and think from God’s perspective.

Recently, during prayer, I sensed these words: My job is to be so full of the Holy Spirit that I think on a different plane—looking at things from God’s perspective—where I am not enthralled with this life, where I am enthralled only with Him. A true, Spirit-led life means that my spirit is so in tune with the Holy Spirit that we are united in perception, understanding, and action.

I’m keeping my focus on God and His Word.