Decide your focus

Focus is powerful. What you focus on will significantly influence your faith, your mental health, your achievements. Paul achieved much for the church and followed this principle 'so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen' (2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV 1984).

If you focus on the news regularly you will see and hear about a lot of bad painful things happening in the world. If you focus on failures in your own life, you will likely become depressed. If your personality is wired to focus on finding ways to avoid painful experiences you will create lots of defence mechanisms that allow you to avoid more challenging situations and relationships, and potentially miss out on some really important areas where you need to take responsibility.

Again focus is key in all of this. Focus, is also key to living in freedom. Jesus was focused on his mission and loving Father God. His focus was absolute. We might not know what our mission is, but we can focus on Father God in the process.

Focussing on God and what he has called us to is absolutely vital especially in getting through difficult times such as Covid based lockdowns. Mental health is deteriorating for many especially as winter is setting in after an already difficult year, with celebrations being cancelled and uncertainty as to how governments are actually going to handle things in the future. So what can Christians do? Obviously we are immune from ever feeling down and sad or depressed.......Not!

Our focus is key. We are actually out of control of most things in life, which the Bible is quite open about (hyperlink to The certainty of uncertainty). If we focus on what we have little or no control over, things can get tough. Sure we can pray about those things, but even then, if, between praying we still focus on those things and fret and worry about them, it will do little good in our lives.

What has God called us to do? Well, we may not be aware of some big mission or ministry, but I can assure you that you have many smaller ones which, in many ways are more important. These are in fact what we are called to do. Firstly, it starts with putting God at the centre of everything and every area including your worries and focus. Secondly, you can focus on what is in front of you. Who are you close to? Wife or husband? Children? Friends, relatives and colleagues? Who are you connected to who is only a phone call (or watsapp, Zoom meeting, messenger, teams, etc. etc.) away?

The fact is, by focussing on blessing those around us who we can influence for good and encourage is a way of fulfilling what God has for us now in the day to day moments of life. Through this change of focus we can let go of focussing too much on the worries of life and becoming unfruitful which is the warning in the parable of the sower.

We were never called to control what we cannot control. We were called to pray about it and leave it with God. But we were and are called to love those around us, to bless and not curse, and to overcome evil with Good in our day to day lives. Whatever comes our way, look for the opportunity in the struggle.

Focus on what you can do and pray about what you can't and leave it there.

This will help you produce Kingdom fruit in any situation, through every struggle in your life and in the lives of those whom God has placed you close to. Scripture says that love drives out fear. If we focus on fear, it grows fear, if we focus on living in God's love and applying his word to love others, we can drive away fear in our lives through difficult times. You can choose your focus.