Out of Focus

Recently I had a focus problem.  I had this unnecessary fee on my mortgage that I thought was supposed to drop off which would save my wife and I $130 a month.  For over a year I even had it on a countdown widget on my phone to be a constant reminder of the day it was supposed to come off.  That day came, I made my call to my mortgage company to tell them to remove it in case it didn't drop off automatically.  It turns out, I was mistaken.  It wasn't supposed to come off for another four years!  To say I was angry would be an understatement.  My focus was all wrong.  I set out to look into everything from selling to renting to refinancing.

I think it is safe to assume my focus isn't the only one that is askew.  This past Christmas I noticed a lot of people decorating their houses much earlier than normal.  I think people were looking for joy amongst the depressing climate our culture was in.  Many people associate Christmas with joy.  There's food, family, presents, and the birth of Jesus!  But do they truly understand joy?

A few years ago I was watching a show in which they highlighted a problem some people have called prosopagnosia (Greek:  "prosopon" = "face", "agnosia" = "not knowing"), also called face blindness.  To you and me it would look something like this (*To find out whose iconic face is, see answer below):

Some people seem to be experiencing charagnosia (Greek:  "chara" = exceeding joy, "agnosia" = "not knowing") - joy blindness.  Do you know exceeding joy?  If not, maybe your focus isn't the right one.  What does all this have to do with youth ministry?  I'm glad you asked.

Ministry is tough right now.  It's hard to know what we can and cannot do.  Should we obey the government like God's word says (Romans 13:1)?  Or should we only listen to God when it conflicts with what we are told we should be doing (Colossians 3:16)?  Should we be flexing our first amendment right as American citizens?  Or should we be yielding to our weaker brothers and sisters (1 Corinthians 10:23-24, not an exact parallel, but you get the point).  We have some leaving our ministries because we are listening to our authorities.  We have some leaving our ministries because we are not.  All this confusion on what to do can lead to depression if we don't have the right focus.

One of my go to passages of Scripture in times like this is Philippians 4:8:

As ministers of the gospel we should be focusing on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.  There are so many things, especially right now, that can get our focus out of whack.  Of course, Jesus exemplifies all eight of those qualities.  For reflection, read John 14:6 (true), Psalm 100:5 (noble), 2 Thessalonians 1:6 (right), 1 John 3:5 (pure), Psalm 84:1 (lovely), Psalm 145:3 (admirable), Psalm 8:1 (excellent), and Revelation 5:12 (praiseworthy).  I hope this helps you to get back in focus during these turbulent times.

But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well

                                                                                                                         (Matthew 6:33, NIV).

*Answer:  Paul McCartney