Stay Focused on Christ

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was told by my parents many times that the world did not revolve around me. Why would they constantly remind me that as I was growing up? Because we were born selfish and self-centered. All of us want to be loved, praised, adored, and in control of everything. If this is not corrected in our youth, we grow up ill-prepared for our adult lives, which will be filled with disappointment. We will be thrown into a painful reality that not every situation will produce love, praise, adoration, and control for us. Having a lack of control over our own lives can turn us into people-pleasers, rather than God-pleasers. We start to try to please mankind in hopes that our fragile universe of one stays in orbit, and nothing upsets it. Paul tells us in Galatians why that is a bad idea. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10. Job reminds us that without God, we stand on very shaky, fragile ground. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What they trust in is fragile what they rely on is a spider’s web. They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold. Job 8:13-15.

So how do we fight this sin tendency that we were all born with? We can’t do this on our own. We need God’s help with this and we need to fully trust him. But how do we trust God when we don’t know what the future holds? Trusting God involves more than just a mental acknowledgment that God will provide and keep you safe. It involves when the storms of this life rage, you turn to Jesus in hope, in trust, and in love. You don’t blame him for everything that is going wrong, or play the victim asking Why me God? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6. When you start trusting God with your life and all of its circumstances, you learn to be obedient to all that he commands. Even though we cannot be perfectly obedient as Christ was, God sees our hearts and knows our intentions are good. His love and compassion will make us strong where we are weak. So put your hope and trust in Jesus, in the trust fall of life, we will always catch you.