The Abandoned Life - Fixing our Focus

Starting this week, I will try to post a weekly devotional that will incorporate our Life School lesson. I hope that it will encourage you in the faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Living a life that is recklessly abandoned to God requires us to fix our focus - not on problems or people, but on one person - Jesus Christ. If we use the analogy that was given to us in Hebrews,our life is a race. What kind of race is it? Certainly not a 100 meter dash, no, it is a cross country trek. It is a race to be run with patience, perseverance, and endurance. We often find ourselves hurrying through life and wonder where the time went. No doubt, you have many demands on your time, but remember what Jesus told Martha, "only one thing is needed." If we fix our focus on Him, then all the other things that try to distract us will not seem quite so important and demanding. As we run this race, we must view our family, our friends, our jobs, our churches, everything through the eyes of Jesus. Can you think of a more focusd person? From his birth to his death, he remained single-minded. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame. What was the joy set before him? YOU WERE! He wanted free, uninterrupted, unbroken fellowship with you and he knew his death & resurrection was the only way to secure it. That's focus! Nothing mattered more than obeying the will of his father. As we begin to live our lives in the same way with single-minded determination to obey the will of our Heavenly Father, we will be free to give our lives over in complete surrender to him. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can live a life of reckless abandon - a life that can say with the apostle Paul , "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:8. Amen!