What Are You Looking At?

“Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.”
Proverbs 4:25 CSB

Have you ever noticed that when you are driving and you start to look at other things along the sides of the road instead of the road itself, that you begin to veer toward what you are looking? (I may struggle with this once in a while). The reason is our bodies are designed by God to go toward what we are focused on. It is not natural for us to focus on two things at once, nor is it natural to look one way and go the other. If this is true, then it really matters what we focus on.
I love the simplicity of Proverbs 4:25, “Look forward, gaze straight ahead.” How much easier of a command do we need than that! I think that most of us struggle with this; we are constantly looking at what others are doing or gazing at what our culture is or is not doing. Then we begin to follow our gaze. We may not engage in the same behaviors, but we become distracted from the direction we are supposed to be going. That distraction leads us to become negative and consumed with things that may not even be our concern. The question then becomes, “What should I be fixing my eyes on?” The answer is given to us in Hebrews 12 and it is not a “what” but a “whom.” “Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith”(vs1b-2a). If our gaze is fixed on Jesus then everything else in life becomes more in focus and we are able ignore the distractions. Bottom line, we become what we spend our time and energy looking at! Who or what do you find yourself looking at?

-Pastor Tim