Refocus
By Pastor John Weasel
Focus as a verb is defined as, “to bring into focus; cause to converge on a perceived point, to direct one’s attention.”
Re- as a prefix means, “to come back to.”
So Re-focus simply means to bring back into focus, to direct one’s attention or efforts again.
In the past, as God has given us words for the upcoming year, often they have left me wondering what they meant. When He said in 2018 that He was doing a “New Thing”, we didn’t know right away what that new thing was going to be, but looking back it was very clear. When we were told to be “Fearless” in 2019, we didn’t know what we were going to face that would require us to take heart and find courage. In 2020 we definitely didn’t know the significance of “Forward” until we walked through everything that last year had in store for us.
Each of those words were in preparation for what was going to happen. But this year as I think about refocus, it's both a word that speaks to where we are going while at the same time speaks to where we have been. It’s a word of direction for the future and a word of correction for the past.
I am sitting down to write this devotional on January 6, 2021. A day that undoubtedly will be talked about for decades to come, and while in the past we have had to wait to see what the word for the year meant, all you had to do was turn on a tv today to understand the significance of the word for this year. There are so many thoughts and emotions that I want to convey, and those will come out, but now is not the time for that.
As I watched the events of this day take place, all I could hear God say to me was, “refocus. Bring your attention back to me.” It took us all of six days to understand why God decided to speak this word over this year, and trust me, today is not the only day we will need to remind ourselves to bring our attention back to Him.
Over Christmas break my son, I won’t mention which one, decided to make a pizza. He preheated the oven, put his pizza in, and then went down to continue playing video games. You already know how this story ends, but 40 minutes later with the smell of burning pizza permeating the house, he came running upstairs to find his pizza a giant lump of charcoal. I know what you’re thinking and no, of course Angel wasn’t home at the time. I asked him what happened and how he forgot about his pizza and he said he “got distracted.” With the events of 2020 and already now in 2021, I think a lot of us could look back to where we’ve been, or even to where we currently are, and say we got distracted.
In 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV) we are told to “be alert…your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” That word alert means to be on guard or to watch. If we aren’t careful the distractions will lead to us letting our guards down, which is right where the enemy wants us. In our scripture for the year Paul writes to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4 and tells them not to focus on the temporary things because they won’t last long, but instead to focus on things that are eternal. It’s time for us to stop focusing on the distractions and bring our attention back to Him.
Challenge:
My challenge for you today is simple. Pray and ask God if there is anything that you have been focusing on more than Him. Are there things in your life, or in the world, that have taken your focus off of Him? Are there temporary things you are giving more attention to than Him and His word? The real challenge will be making the determination and taking the steps to ensure that He is your number one focus this year. But know that when you do that, He will produce something in you that can’t be taken away (2 Corinthians 4:17), and He will keep you in perfect peace no matter what may come.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3 NLT