Well, This is Embarrassing!
It was the first day of March, a bright and sunny but cold day, and I was headed out to a baby shower for my daughter that her church friends were hosting. I already had the address in my phone all set to go. As I pulled out of my driveway and steered onto my street, I looked down to select “go” on the phone’s GPS and BOOM! I had no idea what the sound was but looked in my rearview mirror to see my next door neighbor’s mailbox stand sheered off with the mailbox missing. Did I do that?!? I stopped to investigate and, sure enough, I had veered over in those few seconds and my mirror had snapped off part of his mailbox stand and sent his mailbox flying a few feet ahead. I carefully picked up the mailbox, set it next to what remained of the post and sheepishly walked up to their door. They were home and I explained what had happened and that I owe them a mailbox. Fortunately, I have wonderful neighbors and we all know each other, so this will be fine but I feel terrible. And, honestly, I debated about sharing this story because it is pretty embarrassing. But God gave me a message through this incident.
Now there is the obvious lesson that we should keep our eyes on the road at all times while driving! I mean, this seriously happened in seconds as I had just left my driveway. So, lesson learned there for sure! But beyond this, I think we should consider how quickly we can miss things and go “off course” in our spiritual walk when we fail to keep our eyes on Jesus. We are reminded of this in Hebrews 12:2: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” And Peter reminds us that we should “be self-controlled and alert.” Why do we need to be alert and keep our eyes on Jesus? Peter continues: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8) We should never underestimate our enemy. There are things happening in the spiritual realm that we are not aware of and they involve US. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Temptation, hardship, illness, conflict, and anything that is not good does not originate from God. He may allow bad things because He sees the big picture and He lovingly will make something good come of it. And we are in a fallen world right now, so not all bad things are necessarily a direct attack from the evil one. But whether it is a direct attack or the consequences of a sinful world, we will do well to keep our focus on God and His Word so that we will not fall. Even when evil strikes or we experience heartache and hardship, having a heavenly focus can give clarity and peace to the situation.
How do we keep our eyes on Jesus? Well, it’s got to be more than an occasional visit to church on the weekends or even obligatory ten-minute devotionals every morning–and then we are off and running without giving them another thought. We are in the battle of a lifetime and it requires seeing all of life through a “Jesus” lens. We as believers have been given the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit to help us discern and become more aware of the battles happening around us. We get distracted by pleasures of this world, the pursuit of bigger and better things and the busy-ness that life brings. It is so easy to become complacent and to take our spiritual lives for granted. I believe there needs to be a very intentional turning of one’s mind to spiritual matters throughout the entire day, breathing prayers throughout the day and seeing where God–and the enemy–are at work. This focus on things of God will also help us prioritize rightly, make the right decisions and be better people. As the old chorus says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
This Jesus-focus needs to become second nature. I found myself developing this spiritual breathing way of life during my last several years of teaching and it has stuck. I received training in a behavior management system that included something they called “break and breathe”. When I felt myself breathing high and feeling frustrated or even just slightly annoyed, I would stop, stand in a steady poised position and intentionally take a deep breath. I just added to this technique a silent prayer. It put everything in a different perspective. I could see where the enemy was trying to bring me down and even where spiritual forces were sometimes at work in the lives of the little ones in my classroom. The battle became very real to me. I had to break and breathe (and pray) often! And that changed me. I became a better teacher and loved my students more than I’d ever experienced before. Other adults who entered my classroom would comment on how peaceful and calm it felt in my room. I don’t think it was me. That room was covered! I want to challenge each of you, my readers, to do whatever you need to do in order to turn your eyes to things of the Lord frequently throughout your day. Perhaps a subtle reminder from your smart watch or phone? Or a note that you place somewhere in your routine work documents, on your desk or with your lunch? If you are home much of your day, maybe you can place a couple of reminder notes in random spots that you then move to new locations so you don’t become blind to them.
I lost my focus on the road on that March day. I don’t want to lose my focus on Jesus. Some of you may be wondering what happened to my car with this little mishap. Well, my car is almost unscathed. Just a tiny mark. The bulk of the damage was to something else–my neighbor’s mailbox post. Sometimes when we lose focus on what’s important, we hurt others more than ourselves. All the more reason to keep the main thing the main thing. Be careful out there, people–even when you’re close to home in the most familiar places. Sometimes that’s when we are the most careless. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus–and on the road.
