One Thing (Part 2 of 3)

The Power of a Godly Focus

By Jason Hutchcraft, M.Div.

Life has many competing influences. We are intentionally placed by God in an arena with competition and opposition. God will be glorified in bringing us through this arena to His eternal Kingdom. In this arena of competition and opposition is the World, the Flesh, and the Devil – all of these forces are in opposition to the child of God. Many of these competing influences are not things that seem inherently evil or immoral but may nevertheless become idols in our lives. Believers must learn the power of saying “NO!” Temptation is the introduction of competing thoughts, feelings, or influences into our hearts and minds. These are the fiery darts of the Wicked One. These thoughts can be subtle and deceptive. We should learn from how Jesus said “NO!” when He was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness.

Sin scatters and divides our affections. Those who sin are slaves to sin and are pulled in whatever direction their sinful desires take them. Those with a divided heart–one not completely devoted to the Lord–are unacceptable to Him. Salvation, on other hand, makes us whole. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” C.S. Lewis adds, “because only the pure in heart want to.” To be pure in heart means to have a singular desire or focus. What kind of salvation would leave our hearts still divided by worldly passions? A person who claims to be saved yet is still under the dominion of sin and still in love with the world is self-deceived. When we were under the dominion of sin we were also controlled by the Prince of the Power of the Air, another name for Satan, and moved along by the course or current of the World. This is a person who cannot truly desire God. At some point, if we are to be redeemed, our hearts or our desires have to be set right again. This is the function of the New Birth. We are given a new heart and nature that can love God.

The Bad Eye and the Good Eye

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23) 

The “eye” in this text refers to one’s spiritual vision or the eye of the heart. A “bad eye” is a person who is focused on worldly things rather than God, which results in impaired spiritual vision. “A good eye” is complete devotion to God, looking to Him alone, which fills the inner life with illumination and goodness. God Himself is the source of this light.

The context of Jesus’ words have to do with the foolishness of storing up treasures on earth, serving money rather than God, and having anxiety about the necessities of life in the world. Jesus makes it clear that we can really only focus our eye on one thing at a time. A person’s spiritual vision determines the nature of their inner life, filled either with light, which is the goodness of God Himself, or darkness, which is evil and alienation from God. A person who is not looking at God, but is looking at worldly things, such as material wealth or money, will be filled with darkness and will be separated from God, not only now but for eternity.

The Example of Mary and Martha

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42) 

This is probably in the Scriptures as an example of true discipleship, which is defined as humbly sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to His word. The one necessary thing is the Word of God. Martha represents all those distracted by something that is perhaps good, but not the best thing. We must choose those better things that cannot be taken from us. At some point we must ask ourselves if we are more like Martha or Mary. Most people would probably have commended Martha for her hard work and scolded Mary for being lazy! Most people admire those who take action. Taking action for the wrong things, temporal objectives, is poor judgment and will result in loss. We must learn to think more like the Lord Jesus and less like worldly men. Men tend to think of the here and the now. The Lord wants us to have an eternal perspective.

The Example of Paul 

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:12-16) 

Paul’s mind-set, which all disciples of Jesus should emulate, was the aggressive pursuit of a goal. Paul refused to dwell in the past or to stop making progress. Likewise, the believer must “press” and extend effort to obtain something. The goal or prize is glory with Christ: to be where He is and to even share His throne, and have a body like His glorious body. Paul did not view salvation as something that he already possessed in its fullness. In actuality the main part of salvation, or glory, was still to come and that is why Paul continued to press on. Notice that Paul’s goal did not have to do with anything on earth, but was the upward call of God. God is calling us up to higher things. It is wrong to be an eagle and peck around on the ground with the chickens! This does not mean we will be unconcerned about life in the world. Paul did more than anyone while in the world. But the world will not dominate our attention and affections. We see in Paul’s life the power of a godly focus.

The same amount of water that fills a useless and stinking swamp when pushed through a high-pressure hose has great power! That is the power of focus. Our lives can lie useless and rotting in selfishness and worldliness or we can experience the power of a godly focus.