Eyes on the Goal

When I learned to drive, my instructor taught me, "When you're driving down a street with cars parked on the side, don't keep your eyes on the cars. You will tend to steer in the direction you look." I suspect this advice is applicable for much more than driving. Like ... oh, I don't know ... all of life?

There is, of course, something specific I have in mind. What is the goal ... of life? Are you keeping your eyes on that goal, or are you getting distracted? Are you looking at parked cars?

It is so easy for us--genuine disciples of Christ--to lose focus and get distracted. There is just so much to look at. There is the obvious problem of rampant sin in the world, much of it calling your name. But we generally know better than to focus there. At least, we should. So we often suffer from other things. Are you going to have a comfortable retirement? Do you have a happy marriage? Are you making a sufficient income? Do you have the things you need or want? Are you healthy? Do people like you? Are you respected? How do you look? Clothes, hair, appearance okay? Are you rich or famous? Would you like to be? Do you have enough power? Self-empowerment is really big these days. How is your self-esteem? Are you handling your problems okay? Need help? And so it goes.

You know, it's not as if all of these things are bad. It's just that we're not asking ourselves if we're paying attention to the right things. I'm pretty sure if you thought about it and were honest you'd have to admit, like me, that you're spending a huge amount of time focusing on the temporal, not the eternal. We're most concerned about the here and now with precious little thought about eternity. Today and your next 50 some odd years are critical, but preparing for forever isn't very important.

Paul wrote, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 11:22) Hebrews says we are to be "fixing our eyes on Jesus" (Heb 12:2). In light of eternity, are we spending too much time concerning ourselves over temporal things rather than important things? Are we looking at parked cars in danger of drifting into them, or are we keeping our eyes on the goal? Are we aiming for "the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14)?