I have been studying a lot over the last few weeks about a couple of different things. Each topic comes back to the same thing: focus or Perspective. What we Focus on becomes the clearest thing in our field of vision. We all take pictures on our cell phones, I am sure. I am a parent of 4 so I have literally, thousands of pictures of my children throughout the years...from birth to just last week. In the photos that I have taken, I have placed the focus on my child so the background may not be in focus. Some professional photographers do this on purpose. They will focus on a singular point and the background will be out of focus or fuzzy, or just the opposite. The foreground my be fuzzy while what is in the background is clear and in focus...and clear to be seen. Whatever we focus on in our field of vision becomes the most clear in our lives.
Ladies, most of us can pick apart another woman's appearance in seconds. Most of us focus on the characteristics of someone's personality that are Negative or that rub us the wrong way or are in direct opposition to what we believe they should be. Because we focus on all this negative, there is no way we can see the good in others. Our perspective of someone becomes skewed and out of focus. When we maintain focus on the negative we magnify what we think is the worst part of someone and we make sure others see the same thing. Have you ever stopped to consider what "magnify" means?
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- to make something appear larger than it is, especially with a lens or microscope
- to extol, glorify
By focusing on the negative aspects of someone or something, or what we perceive as negative, we are making our perspective negative so that we always expect, see, and share the negative. We do this with our circumstances, too. We focus on our circumstances, and we magnify the qualities in our circumstances we are focusing on. Our perspective changes from one that glorifies the Lord through it all, to one that only focuses on where we are. We forget where we came from and what God has done for us.
There is a song by a new Christian band named We Are Messengers called "Magnify." There is a verse near the end of the song that says: "God, be greater than the worries in my life, be stronger than the weakness in my mind, be louder, let Your glory come alive. Be magnified."
I really like this song because it is such a great reminder of where our focus should be. God should be bigger and greater than anything else we can focus on. Our perspective should be based on the Lord. We should be magnifying Him instead of our problems, circumstances, or our negativity in the criticism we display to others. So how do we shift our focus? How do we change our perspective?
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, (11) while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
Are you giving thanksgiving to God for being "enriched in everything?" Where should our focus be?
Psalms 77:11-12 I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. (12) I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of Your deeds.
How easy is it for us to forget what God led us out of? Look at the children of Israel. Even after all the miracles and provisions God made for them in the wilderness, they still grumbled from time to time about being better off in Egypt in slavery than they were walking through the wilderness to get to the land promised to them by God. How many times have we wished we could go back to a point in our lives that we thought was better than where we are right now? How many times have we wished for our chains again, instead of focusing on the freedom and liberty we have in Christ? How easily have we forgotten what the Lord has done for us? So how do we get the right perspective back? How do we refocus our field of vision?
Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (9) The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
We are to think and meditate on the good things - Not the negative. We have to train ourselves to focus on the good...not the bad. Sometimes that is just hard to do. In the song I mentioned earlier, there is another verse that says, "My sight is incomplete and I make You look small. I've been staring at my problems for way too long. Realign where my hope is set until you're all that's left."
Are you realigning your hope? Where have you placed your hope? What have you made the focus in your field of vision? This weekend let's all focus on the good things God has done for each of us. Let's focus on giving Thanks to the Lord for what He has done. If we do that, the we will begin to see our perspective change...and what can God use us for if we refocus on Him?
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