Focus

Focus 

 Recently, I did not get a job that I really wanted.
 I thought that I had a really good shot. The interview went well. I know people in the office, all of whom endorsed me, and I am more than qualified for the position. Put all of that together with God’s favor and I thought I had the job.

 While I was waiting to find out whether or not I got the job, I kept telling God that regardless of the outcome, I would praise and glorify Him.

 Well, now my own words are being tested.

 I have had to remind myself over and over again that God is my supply and through Him all things are possible. I know these things to be true, but to recognize them repeatedly reminds me that a job is a natural, material thing is irrelevant when it comes to the things of God.

 Over the weekend I watched the movie Facing the Giants.

 In that movie God does some pretty miraculous things through a high school football coach. The coach was able to tab into God’s favor by making two decisions.

 The first decision he made was to give God his best effort regardless of what he was doing. He was no longer working to keep his job. He was not working so that he could pay the bills. He was working, and more importantly living to glorify God. Everything he did was to praise God. 

The second decision he made was to not allow natural results to effect how he praised God. He told his players that they would praise God when they won and praise God when they lost. This attitude spread to the teenagers that he was coaching. They began to see their efforts in life as more meaningful because they were serving a hire purpose, and as a result they started to see God’s blessing in their lives.

In the movie, God tested the coach’s resolve. Not everything would go the way the coach wanted them to, but the blessing came when he stuck to his guns, put his emotions under, and continued to give God his best.
He was tempted along the way by Satan, but he, like Jesus, was determined to do his Father’s work.

 What I take aware from this is that the job I wanted is not as important as giving God the glory and continuing to do my best at my current job. Regardless of where I am working, I am ultimately working for God. I will continue to praise God for the fact that I have a full-time job and he continues to provide resources to provide for my family. I recognize that absolutely nothing is impossible to God, and he is able to do anything regardless of the natural circumstances.

 Isaiah 26:3 says “Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

 This passage tells us that if we keep our focus on God, He will keep us in perfect peace. I believe this is telling us that if God and His kingdom remains our first priority, He will guard us from anything that would hinder our peace by providing our needs to the point that natural circumstances are inconsequential.

Mathew 6:31 tells us that we are not to worry about necessities because He has already provided them for us. If we start looking to the natural for these things, we may get them, but then we will start giving the natural credit for them. God wants us to rely on Him. By relying on Him, we eliminate any chance of failure and disappointment, and we able to continually glorify Him.

Christian Carlisle