Committed Thoughts: Where on Earth is Your Focus?

At the beginning of the year, I felt my word for 2015 would be "Expectancy." It is not. The Committed Thoughts word of the year is

Focus

It's all about the focus.

Countless distractions battle for my attention; too often, the distractions win, and I find my focus on the things of this world. As if the news is not bad enough on its own, the media will sensationalize the headlines to make sure and grab my attention. I don’t recommend burying your head in the sand, but I do want to caution you not to let the world’s atrocities steal your focus from where it should be. No matter how bad it gets, God still sits on the throne…the foundation of which is justice and righteousness.

Focus-thieves are not just in the news. They happen in my little box, too. I rarely like to step outside my box, and the thief knows where I park my box. For years, my focus has been my “Hate-to-Love-You” relationship with food. Instead of putting God first in my problem, I put the problem first, and my focus was centered around one thing: Food.

My thoughts were not committed…they were a jumbled collage of “I’m on a diet/I need to be on a diet/I shouldn’t be eating this/I’ll eat this today and restart tomorrow/what else can I eat/I can’t eat that…” and on and on it went. I was counting calories, counting fat, counting carbs, and measuring, and I was mentally exhausted all the time.

I couldn’t even enjoy a meal because I was either thinking of the diet I would surely start on Monday, or “Is there enough junk in the house to last me through the night?”

It takes an effort to have committed thoughts. You have to take those fiery darts captive the moment they assail your brain (…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5). Otherwise, they will steal your focus. What has your focus? No matter how big the problem is, never forget that He, indeed, is in control.

Our focus…

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2 NIV

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

I believe in freedom…true, pure, God-given freedom. To go further...well beyond the point that most people will agree with me: I believe that we can be set free without our having to put effort into it. Completely free. Why? Because IF we, on our own, could have conquered the chains that keep us bound, we would have already.

In order to have victory in the areas of our lives that have us bound, whether it be food, nicotine, alcohol, drugs, sex, lies, a combination of things…whatever it is…to have victory, we must change our focus to Him. He doesn’t want us to be in control of our lives, He wants to be in control, and He wants us to be obedient. I have to allow Him to change/conquer those things that keep me bound, and I have to obey what he tells me to do. He never intended for me to be caught up in every calorie/fat gram/carb I swallow, nor does he intend for you to be caught up fighting your chains. Our battles belong to the Lord.

...seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NKJV

Look at this one:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NIV

On January 1, I began a road to change my focus. It’s not easy to change a thought process that has been in place for decades. In obedience, I gave up sugar, because it steals my concentration. I’ll talk more about obedience and sugar next time.

I have lost 8 pounds.

If you’re still reading, you have read almost 700 words…and this from someone who dislikes wordy blogs posts.

Stay tuned…