“Obstacles are those things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” ~ Henry Ford
Life with Christ. That is, or should be, the goal for every person. We’ve heard that. We’ve learned that. We’ve been taught that. We’ve seen that operative in others. And yet. No matter how much we have learned or how often it has been reinforced, there is always that “and yet.” And yet, we allow ourselves to become distracted.
Have you even been to the local theater to watch a movie? It might have been a movie that you have looked forward to seeing for quite some time. It might be an action movie, full of all sorts of special effects as well as loud noises. The picture playing was big and bold and the soundtrack was turned way up high. And you were immersed in the movie. Until.
A bit into the movie, you could feel the walls rumbling slightly and booming noise coming from the theater next door as it was playing its feature film. You kept watching your film but, before you knew it, you were wondering what was playing next door. You might have begun to key in on the noise from the other theater and, in the process, lost track of the movie you were watching. Maybe you even lost interest in the movie because the other theater was capturing your imagination.
That is the same boat we are in with our relationship with the Lord. We are in this world keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. However, the noise of the world around us attempts to make us think about what we might be missing. If we begin thinking about all the distraction around us, we might decide that it is worth pursuing. Before you know it, we are not keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord or living the way we should be living.
Instead, we took our eyes off of the Lord and saw the obstacles in the world. Not only did we see the obstacles, we very well may have embraced them. Is the world your goal or is the Lord your goal. Fix your eyes on what is most important and you won’t see the obstacles.
FAITH ACTION: Don’t allow the world to distract you today. Keep your eyes fixed on the goal: life with Christ.