April 2007

Hebrews 12:2-3 (King James Version)
2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  3.  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, least ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Where's your focus?

How many times did you face your day having something you were just dreading to deal with? We often think, “If only I didn’t have to deal with this problem ….”. Or, “If only I didn’t have to deal with this person…”. If only....THEN I would be happy. In other words, the only time we think we can experience happiness and joy is when everything is going our way. Zippidy doo-da, zippidy-a.  I’m not sure about you, but speaking for myself, that’s not something that happens all too often.

What I’m finding out is that experiencing happiness and joy does not come about by striving to minimize the "bad things” in our life.   On the contrary, happiness and joy is a natural outflow of choosing to maximize God and focus on His Goodness!  "In the presence of the Lord is fullness of Joy" (Psalm 16:11).  What happens when we strive in our own might to minimize all the "bad things" is we find ourselves still focused on all the "bad things"! When somebody asks us how our day went, we’re quick to define it by the "bad things" that happened. We have unknowingly maximized the "bad things", and minimized our God, and we are cheated of God's joy and happiness He so desires for us.

The only real way to put our problems in proper perspective and not let them consume our whole thinking, steal our joy, and leave us helpless and hopeless, is to turn and focus on God and His Goodness.  Light dispels darkness. You don’t walk into a dark room and turn to everyone and say, “Ok, everybody grab a shovel, we’re going to start shoveling out this darkness!”. No, you just turn the light on, and the darkness disappears. That’s the light’s job – to dispel the darkness. Sad but true is that we’re often so overwhelmed by our problems simply because we’re not being overwhelmed by the Awesomeness of God. Seek the Light, focus on Him, maximize God...and your problems won’t carry the weight that they do.

Blessings!

Dan Owczarzak