Refocus On God When You Are Drifting

“The Christian life is first and foremost a life of contemplation – listening to Jesus, considering Jesus, fixing the eyes of the heart on Jesus. Everything else in the Christian life grows out of this. Without this, the Christian life is simply unlivable.” ― John Piper.

Every day you can read articles on the problem of people drifting away from their life’s purpose or dreams. Those articles remind us that not only can we drift away from our life plans–work, family, creative endeavors, for example, we can also drift greatly from God. What does it look like when we drift from God and how do we stop the drift? One way to prevent drifting is to refocus on God.

The issue of focus is central to our walk with Christ. The Book of Hebrews emphasizes the importance of fixing and focusing our eyes on Jesus. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) Hebrews 3:1 says, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”  

The concept of drifting is certainly not unfamiliar to us. How many times have you reached the bottom of a page only to realize that you weren’t paying close enough attention to recall what you just read? And how many times have you driven for miles without realizing that you missed your turn-off? Life’s purpose and dreams require focus and refocus: especially for spiritual priorities. 

I know it sounds simple enough, but is it?  If you or I am going to stay focused on God, we have got to include the things of God in our daily lives. God will restore you: Deuteronomy 30:1-5, 8-9, (MSG) explains this point very well: “Here’s what will happen. While you’re out among the nations where God has dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously and come back to God, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today, God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors… And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today. God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you’ll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors”

Read that passage when circumstances bring you down when you are drifting or have the inclination to not stay the course.  

Discussion Questions: 

1. Is focusing or refocusing harder in your mind? Why? 
2. What can we do this week to refocus the areas we may be drifting?