Know When to Turn Away
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word”
(Psalm
119:37, NIV)
TODAY’S WORD
You
have to be very selective about what you give your time and attention to in
order to live the life of victory God has promised. You have to recognize which
thoughts to ignore, which comments to ignore, and sometimes, which people to
ignore. Every “battle” that comes across your path is not a battle that you’re
supposed to fight. Many battles are simply distractions to try to lure you off
course. If that battle is not between you and your God-given destiny, it’s a
battle you should ignore.
Many
people get thrown off course because they are always trying to straighten
everyone else out or win their approval. If that’s your focus, you are wasting
valuable time and energy that you should be using to pursue your dreams. Turn
away from that distraction! You don’t need the approval of everyone around you;
you only need God’s approval!
Friend,
it’s very freeing when you realize you don’t have to fight every battle. You
don’t have to straighten people out. You don’t have to pay somebody back.
Instead, focus on what matters; focus on God and His Word so you will live in
peace and happiness every day of your life!
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father,
thank You for ordering my steps. Thank You for planning good things for me.
Help me to discern the things I should ignore. Help me to avoid distractions as
I focus my heart and mind on You today in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
***
“His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (John 9:2-3 NIV)
As Jesus and his school-in-motion moved through town, they came upon a man who’d been blind since birth. The apostles started a prosecution-of-blame: “Maybe he’s blind because he sinned? Maybe he’s blind because of something his parents did?”
Eugene Peterson suggests that Jesus’ response could be paraphrased, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do” (John 9:3-4 MSG).
Instead of finding someone to blame for your difficult situation, look instead for what God can do through you and for you!
Look to what God can do through his power, strength, and majesty. Get your eyes off the things below and look to what God can do right now through you because the “night is coming,” when you’ll no longer be able to work (John 9:4 NIV).
We don’t have time to figure it all out. Instead of asking, “Why me?” we need to ask, “What do you want me to do in this situation, Lord?”
The apostle Paul says, “We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10 HCSB). In other words, we carry Jesus’ death in our bodies, and then God resurrects the life of Jesus within us.
God uses our tragedies like an involuntary surgery that causes fear and even greater pain, but on the other side we are stronger, on the way to recovery from our disease of faithlessness.
And even though it may be difficult to see how God can do that or to even see God at work, we grow more confident that he is moving us toward a peaceful future (Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 29:11).
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