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Focus
by
Commissioner Wesley Harris
Getting our focus
HUSBANDS do not always see things in the same way as their
wives. If I tried on my wife’s spectacles I would soon
discover that! Vision is a very individual thing. One lense
won’t suit all but good focus is important for everybody.
The same applies in photography. Unless the focus is right the
picture will be unclear. This is also important in life
generally. I talk to young people who have the advantages of a
good education but I discover that having gained their degrees
some have little idea of what they want to do with their
lives. Life has not come into focus for them; they have no
real focal point.
Corrie ten Boom who suffered in a Nazi death camp said, ‘If
you look at the world you’ll be distressed. If you look within
you’ll be depressed. But if you look to Christ you’ll be at
rest’.
For some people life comes into focus gradually. For other it
happens in an instantly. Recently, my wife had a problem with
one of her eyes but laser treatment brought instant
restoration of vision and it can be like that spiritually.
For example, Moses saw a bush that burned and was not consumed
and was awed to learn that God wanted him to lead his people
out of Egypt. Isaiah had a vision of God high and lifted up
and heard a call to be God’s voice to his people. Rough hewn
fishermen beside a lake heard a stranger from Nazareth call
them to follow him. They seemed ordinary enough fellows but in
that moment they found a cause for which to live or die and
before long were described as ‘those which have turned the
world upside down’.
William Booth saw the poverty in the east end of London and
with heart touched by God old his wife, ‘I’ve found my
destiny’.
As a teen-aged youth I was sitting in the band at youth
councils. The meetings were not very exciting. The leader had
a thick wad of notes and the pages seemed very slow in
turning! But God can do great things even in what, from a
human point of view, may seem poor meetings. During a time of
prayer the wife of the divisional young people’s secretary
touched me on the shoulder and said, ‘What about you, Wesley?’
That was all that was said, but for me it was a wake-up call
and the most important moment of my life.
Just as when we look through a telescope everything may seem
blurred until we make a small adjustment and then everything
becomes clear, so in that moment I knew that I had to become a
Salvation Army officer.
It was no passing spasm of emotion. It was the birth of a
conviction that has remained constant for sixty fulfilling
years and the focal point has been Jesus Christ. The writer to
the Hebrews said, ‘Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus’ (12.2). His
thought was not of a passing glance but rather a magnificent
obsession and I can relate to that.
It is like when you look at a particular girl and your heart
goes bump. You know she is the one for you and after that you
have eyes for no-one else.
Paul’s focus on Jesus was similar. He wrote to Christians at
Corinth, ‘I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2.22).
In the gospel story we read how Peter was able to walk on
water until he took his eyes off Jesus and then he began to
sink. And we are sure to get a sinking feeling if we fail to
focus on the Lord.
This has been called the ‘me’ generation and we can be
affected by it. The recurring picture on the screen of our
minds may be of ourselves but if the image of Jesus takes its
place then life will begin to come together for us.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
Keeping our focus
ONCE a year I go to my optician for an eye test – whether or
not I am conscious of any deficiency in my sight. Literally,
he takes me back to my ABC by asking me to read letters on a
wall. He checks to make sure there is no disease at the back
of the eye or cataracts forming over them. Similarly, we need
spiritual checks from time to time.
It is possible to get things out of perspective. The main
thing may cease to be seen as the main thing in our eyes. Just
as two small coins held close to our eyes can block out a
whole panorama of beauty so little things can block out our
vision of God.
We have an illustration of this in the New Testament character
of Demas. There are only three brief references to him in
Scripture but from them we might be able to plot his spiritual
graph.
In Philemon 23 Paul describes him as his fellow worker, his
colleague or comrade. That represented a high point. What an
honour to be part of the inner circle of a man like Paul! Then
in Colossians 4.14 we read, ‘Luke the doctor and Demas send
greetings’. Without being able to put his finger on anything
specific was the apostle beginning to have misgivings? If so,
his worst fears were only too well founded for in 2 Timothy
4.l0 the Apostle writes, with a sob in his voice, ‘Demas,
because he loved this world, has deserted me and gone to
Thessalonica’.
Tradition has it that in Thessalonica Demas took a job
swinging incense in front of a pagan altar. What a come-down!
Fancy exchanging a calling for a job – any job! Doubtless, he
had excuses. Satan usually provides them in abundance. But
whatever his excuses, Paul gives the reason. He loved the
world. He had failed to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews
12.2). He had lost his focus.
Like any of us who have spent our lives in pastoral ministry
Paul had his disappointments and Demas would have been one of
them. But he also had those who were an encouragement to him
because of the focus they maintained.
One such was Epaphroditus who was sent to Rome by the church
at Philippi with a gift for Paul who was in prison. He was to
stay and support Paul which might have been dangerous if the
apostle was being held on a capital charge
In the event Epaphroditus was taken ill and nearly died. Back
in his home city some might have been concerned for his health
or, if communication was poor, some might have thought he was
a quitter or failing in his duty in some way. But with his
letter to the Philippians Paul included a wonderful ‘farewell
report’ for Epaphroditus saying he was his brother, fellow
worker and fellow soldier (2,25).
When we are sick it is easy to become depressed and
spiritually run-down but apparently, despite sickness,
Epaphroditus kept his spiritual focus and earned high
commendation from the great apostle.
Keeping our eyes on Jesus is not easy. So how can it be done?
In the letter which Epaphroditus probably carried, Pail wrote,
‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God
who works in you’ (2.13). In other words we have to try and
trust, working out what God has worked in.
We may feel that in this life our spiritual eyesight will
never be 20/20 perfect but Scripture assures us that one day
we will be like the Lord for we will see him as he is (1 John
3.2). That is the joy set before us, the Christian hope which
buoys our spirits and assures us of greater vistas we may see
by faith.
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