Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Hebrews 3:1
Focus Your Attention on Jesus
Daily Devotion – October 16, 2018
Devotion based on Hebrews 3:1
See series: Devotions
Do you ever find it difficult to pay attention? If so, you are not alone. According to a recent study the average American attention span has fallen to 8 seconds. 8 seconds! Professional marketers have noticed this trend and are reacting accordingly. YouTube videos and internet news articles are getting shorter. Twitter and other social media platforms limit the amount of characters users can include in their posts. Everything is sound bites and video clips.
Counter to this fast-moving culture with little or no attention span, these words from Hebrews Chapter 3 tell us: fix your thoughts on Jesus. With these words God is asking us to think very carefully about Jesus, to focus our attention on him. This involves investing more than 8 seconds of our time.
That is easier said than done, isn’t it? It is so easy to lose sight of Jesus, especially as we swipe from page to page on our cell phones in mere seconds and scroll down our social media feeds as hundreds of images flash before our eyes. But even when we put our devices away, we struggle with focus. We are distracted by sin and temptation. We think about so many things during the day that must get done. We dwell on decisions that must be made, and we bounce from one thing to the next in our hectic lives. Somewhere in all the chaos, we lose sight of Jesus. We lose our focus on the One who truly matters.
Thank God that our Savior focused his attention on us. As our Savior lived in our place on earth and journeyed toward the cross, he never lost sight of you and me. His love for us and his dedication to God’s saving plan kept him focused. He did not let himself get distracted. He fixed his eyes on the goal and he laid down his life as our substitute. His death in our place has removed all our sins, even our sin of failing to give him and his Word our attention. We are forgiven and as our verse says, we now share in the heavenly calling. We are going to heaven through faith in Jesus!
In this fast-paced world, Jesus has given us something to focus on: himself. He wants us to reach our heavenly goal. He knows that when we focus our attention on him, we will reach that goal.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you for focusing your attention on me. Thank you for going to the cross to pay for all my sins. Help me always to focus my attention on you and your Word, that I may not lose the heavenly home that you have prepared for me. Amen.
Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.
Powered by WPeMatico