[Thursday's Devotional] - Focus on the distance

When you walk across a field your path will depend on your outlook.  As I walk my dog across the field, if my eyes are down-cast and focused on my feet, then I will look back at the end of the journey and see the path I have taken zig-zagging from side to side and not looking very straight.  Alternatively, if I set my eyes on a distant tree and walk in that direction, keeping my eye on the distance, I will reach my destination and be able to look back to see my footsteps forming a straight line pointed directly from my origin to my destination.

Life can be like that too – if you focus all the time on the immediate and are permanently looking to the next hour, or the next day, you will find it difficult to follow your long term goals and might observe that your path has been wavering and your progress limited.  Are you headed in the right direction?  Do you know where you are going?  Are you following Jesus, or simply putting one foot in front of the other in your daily walk?  A life focused on the long-term, or the distance, will be better directed and more productive.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3 [NIV]

Lord, help me to set my eyes on you and follow you – keep me walking in your footsteps and moving in step with your direction.  Keep me from being distracted or hindered by sinful obsessions, Amen.

Dave MacLellan