Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
Proverbs 4:23–26 (NIV)
Focus matters, maybe more than anything else. Whatever captures our focused attention captures us. Focused people usually get where they are going, while the rest of us tend to wander, wearing T-shirts that say things like, "Not everyone who wanders is lost."
In these verses from Proverbs 4 we see a direct connection between the eyes and the heart. Interestingly, though the heart is the control centre for our lives (i.e., our will, affections, dispositions, and aspirations), our most significant navigational instrument is our eyes. Jesus said eyes are the window into the soul (c.f. Matthew 6:22).
Paul brought these ideas together in profound wisdom in his prayer for the Ephesians (and us):
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18–19
Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Those of you who have ever driven a tractor across a field know that you can’t look around. Your job is to drive in a straight row. “You pick out a tree on the far end of the field and keep your eyes focused on that tree and drive straight to it."
There's a tree on the horizon of all of our lives. It is the hallmark sign of the greater vision for which we were all created. It must become the focal point of our everyday, walking-around experience.
The author of Hebrews puts it this way:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2
PRAYER
Abba Father, open the eyes of my heart that I might see your Son at the centre of my vision. Grant me the spirit of wisdom and revelation that I might know you better. Come, Holy Spirit, and enlarge my heart by focusing my sight. I pray in Jesus's name, amen.
PROMPTS
- How can we assess the condition of our own hearts and on what our gaze is presently fixed?
- What if every morning you found a way to fix your gaze on Jesus before you did anything else?
What would that take?
How would it take shape for you? - What do you think would happen in your life if Jesus and his kingdom became not just one aspiration among others (or worse—stuck in a religious box), but the singular focus of your life?
Comments