Where Is Your Focus?

I just received this email from Steve Sellers, VP of the Americas for Campus Crusade for Christ. I thought it was a timely and well written email that calls us to keep our Focus on the Kingdom and His Promises. Here's an excerpt. I hope you enjoy it.

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Over the past 2 weeks I have been spending my quiet times in Matthew 6 and 7. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus admonishes us, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

There is probably never more appropriate a time to hear these words. As I meditate on them I realize that the Lord wants me to check my heart to make sure I am concerned about the things that concern the Father rather than treasures on earth. Am I abandoning myself to trusting in Him, knowing that He will be the one to sustain me even as times get tough?

Jesus goes on in verse 25 to say, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

God cares for us, His children, more than anything else on earth and He is committed to meeting our needs. I should be reminded by this passage to not be overwhelmed by the circumstances of this world because my Father in heaven loves me and is concerned about me.

Economic turmoil is part of our current reality. Yet we are engaged in a higher calling. We are connected to a God who not only controls that reality, but who is deeply and intimately concerned for us.

Jesus also says in Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it will be given to you and seek and you will find and knock and it will be open to you." In the midst of Jesus telling us to be careful where our heart is focused and where we lay our treasure, He reminds us that God is in control.

What He wants us to do is simply come before Him as His children and ask. He calls us to lay before Him our concerns, our needs and our desires because He wants to meet them.

God cares about us and loves us. He is committed to meeting our needs no matter what happens. This has been a great reminder to me -- to relax and trust in the Lord and in the knowledge that He is in control.

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Rest assured, God IS in control! None of what happens to us is a surprise to Him. I believe that He actually allows everything that happens to us to happen to us so we'll see how we react, compare it to Christ and see how we need to change (Romans 8:29).

May you find great comfort and peace as you seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness.