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SINGLE FOCUS
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Pat Burdett was taking a
class in photography. For one assignment, she chose her 6-year-old
daughter as her subject and asked her to sit on a serene hillside.
Close by was an apple tree in full bloom. Pam just couldn't resist.
She gave the tree a prominent place in the picture. Pam was
surprised when her instructor pointed out a problem with the photo.
The apple tree distracted from her primary focus, the little girl.
"See how it catches the eye," the instructor said. "It competes with
your subject. You need to choose one subject and leave the other
out." This observation applies to more than good photography skills.
Paul writing to the
Colossians (Col 1:18) says of the Lord Jesus, "in
all things He might have the pre-eminence".
As disciples of Jesus
Christ, we must centre our attention only on Him. Like amateur
photographers, we are often attracted to the "apple trees in full
bloom." We can pay more attention to our hobbies, friends, family,
or work than we do to the things of the Lord.
But Christ should
have first place in all things.
That means in our lives. Start at the heart, what do we love?
Our minds, what do we think? Our homes, what do we do? Our
conversations, what do we say? --in
all things He should have the pre-eminence.
And note that it is not “prominence”, but
“preeminence” that rightfully
belongs to the Lord Jesus. “The first place” is uniquely His, and
will remain so, throughout eternal ages. In every sphere, He is
supreme. Of Creation, He is the Architect, the Builder, the Owner
and the Sustainer. Of the Church, He is the Head. Of divine
counsels, He is the Alpha and the Omega. Today the challenging
question is, does He have “the first place” in our lives?
Christ commands our
attention because He is "the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
alone has immortality" (1
Tim 6:15-16).
That may mean
relegating something we deem to be important to the background--or
cropping it out of the picture altogether. Whatever distracts us
from the Lord Jesus has to go. As the preeminent One, He must be the
single focus of our lives. (Adapted from
Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI).
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