Fighting For Focus
- Pastor Jay Christianson
- Jun 27
- 6 min read
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 NASB 1995)
“…[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity],” (Hebrews 12:2 AMP)
I’m sure many of you go through the same thing I do.
Last Sunday, I was once again in the worship music part of the service, fighting the urge to look around. It happens all the time. Of course, it does, because I had to focus on the road as I drove to the service. I focused on navigating through the lobby, where I greeted others, and ensured I was checked in and ready to stand and sing.
After all that, I try to shift focus to God quickly. But first I have to get past focusing on the worship team (musician and worship leader that I am), and the worship song lyrics with moving backgrounds on the screen (tech guy that I’ve been), and struggle getting my focus off the background platform lights that were added to the sanctuary for ambience.
As I write this, I’m amazed that churches I’ve attended have installed so many elements to grab our attention that it actually takes our attention away from the One on whom we should be focusing.
Ironic.
In heaven, the Lord God is the focus of all worship. Here on Earth? Not so much. But that’s life. Our focus is locked onto our physical world. There’s so much distraction around us that it’s hard to remember Emmanuel, God With Us, much less focus on Him.
Two things came to mind, one during the worship service and one the day after.
As I was mulling over my attention issue during the service, a scene from the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) popped into my mind. The film is a dramatization of the 1913 U.S. Open, where twenty-year-old Francis Ouimet played golf against his idol, the 1900 U.S. Open champion, Englishman Harry Vardon.
Throughout the final tournament, while Francis plays with raw determination, his aging yet still highly skilled opponent, Vardon, golfs with a relaxed yet intense focus. As he plays, Vardon is able to concentrate so keenly that he blocks all distractions from the present—the noise, the crowds, and the surrounding trees—as well as the distraction of long-past, painful memories, the ghostly figures of the four stern-looking gentlemen who took his boyhood home for a golf course. To see what I mean, check out this short video clip. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpOhUo9DYk).
This scene played in my head as I worshiped. Since my early days in the Holy Spirit movement of the 1970s, I longed to focus so intently during worship and prayer that all else would fade away.
I was lousy at it.
Still, the draw to focus on the Lord during worship through music continued. Times of prayer were also a struggle. I was better at focusing on the Lord as I read His Word, because while doing so, I was aware of His presence with me, almost as if I was reading the Bible through two sets of eyes, as a voice whispered to me, and an unseen force guided my thoughts. But to this day, I still struggle.
What I’ve discovered in my Christian life is that we focus on what we enjoy, what we want to have, and what we want to achieve. That, dear reader, is what the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are (1 John 2:16). It’s the things of this world and our lives that distract us. If we can learn and regularly discipline ourselves to focus on the Lord, then we understand more fully the meaning of the lyrics,
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. (Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Helen Howarth Lemmel)
As this idea of forcing myself to focus on the Lord swirled in my brain, I was reminded of a book I’ve read many times, The Practice of The Presence of God. I return to it every once in a while, to remind myself that it is possible to live with a repeated, if not constant, awareness of God’s presence. Brother Lawrence did it, so why can’t I? It’s not a matter of ability (can’t), but of will (won’t).
Brother Lawrence’s journey into focusing on the Lord (living in the constant awareness of God’s presence) began in 1611 when he was 18 and in military service during the Thirty Years’ War.
“During winter, Nicolas Herman (Brother Lawrence’s birth name) saw a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit. While contemplating the upcoming springtime and the transformation that would happen to the tree, a transformation of his soul occurred. His friend and biographer described it in these words: ‘At that moment he saw clearly the Providence and Power of God.’ Brother Lawrence had awakened to the presence of God. That awareness of Divine Presence continued unabated for the rest of his life” (Lawrence, Marshall).
How did he achieve this? He cultivated the discipline of drawing his attention back to the Lord, no matter what he was doing. Brother Lawrence’s motivation was simple. To bring his love of God into everything he did, whether religious duties or kitchen duties. He strove to love God and express that love constantly.
The word “worship” comes from Old English, meaning “worth-ship.” To worship something is to express its worth to us. I’ve known guys whose cars, boats, and lawns are the things they “worth-ship,” because of the continually focused attention they have for the object of their affection. For Brother Lawrence, God and His presence were worth everything, and this expression of “worth-ship” was what continually drew his focus back to God.
What happened when Brother Lawrence’s focus shifted? He would openly and freely confess it to the Lord, return his attention to God, and give his fault no further thought. “Then without being discouraged, he set his mind right again, and continued his practice of the presence of God, as if he never deviated from it” (Ibid).
Brother Lawrence became so soaked in God’s presence that the ordinary work of life, kitchen duty, was as God-filled as his times of formal worship with his fellow monks. “‘The time of work,’ he said, ‘is not different from me than the time of prayer. In the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several people are calling out at the same time for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament’” (Ibid).
Amazing focus.
I can only guess that this is what heaven will be like—surrounded by God’s presence and being continually aware of Him.
This goal helps me not only during the church service’s worship music, but throughout my day. I’ve learned to turn my focus, my attention, to the God who lives with me and in me as often as I remember. What I’m learning and practicing now is how to lengthen the time rather than following my focal point bunny trails. I want my spiritual life to become Vardon-like from the film.
Learning to redirect our focus to the Lord and foster an awareness of His presence is not impossible, but it takes concerted effort. With repetition and discipline, it becomes second nature, according to Brother Lawrence.
All that said, I think this discipline of turning and re-turning our focus to the Lord, along with the spiritual gift of discernment and absorbing God’s word, will be crucial for the Body of Christ to stay faithful to the Lord and be a potent witness to the world in the days ahead.
Give it a try.
For what Jesus has done for us, what or who could ever be worth more to us?
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Source:
Brother Lawrence, The Practice of The Presence of God in Modern English, translated by Marshall Davis.
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts