DayBreaks for 7/11/17 – The Right Focus

From the DayBreaks archive, July 2007:

Have you ever wondered what people say about you when they know you can’t hear them?  I know that for some people, this is a major preoccupation!  They are obsessed with what people think of them and what they might say about them.  They’ll even ask you sometimes if someone said something about them behind their back, or even something that might have been somewhat negative.  I guess it’s not unusual and we shouldn’t be surprised by it.  Everyone wants to be well thought of.

Well, almost everyone.  There was One who had a different focus on such things.  His name was Jesus. 

In Matthew 16:13 (NLT) When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  You see, Jesus, too, was curious about the things people were saying, except there’s a huge difference.  Instead of asking “What are people saying about me?”, his question focused on an entirely different issue.  He didn’t care what people thought about him, but he did care WHO they thought he was.  If it had been you or I in His place, we would have wondered if they liked the last sermon we gave, if they thought we were intelligent, good looking, a nice guy or a nice gal.  But those things didn’t matter to Jesus.  Seemingly, they didn’t matter to him at all.  

What mattered to Jesus was who people thought He was.  It really didn’t matter if they thought he was a good speaker (they did – even if they didn’t like what he said!), or if they felt he was witty and entertaining.  What mattered immensely was who they believed Him to be.

How would our lives be different if our focus wasn’t on WHAT people said about us, but on who we are?  If we spent one tenth of the time on letting our Christian identity be known as we spend on trying to impress others, wouldn’t the world be much better served?  It might be an interesting exercise to ask some people who know you at work (or even at church or in your family), “Who do people say I am?” 

PRAYER:  We get focused on all the wrong things about ourselves, Lord!  Help us to know and understand that who we are in Christ Jesus is much more important than our cleverness or popularity.  May we live so that others will see clearly who our Lord really is!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2017 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

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DayBreaks for 11/26/12 – Just One Thing

DayBreaks for 11/26/12 – Just One Thing

Mark 10:21 (NLT) – ²¹ Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 10:41-42 (NLT) – ⁴¹ But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! ⁴² There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Psalm 27:4 (NLT) – ⁴ The one thing I ask of the LORD— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

These three verses all have one thing in common.  They talk about the importance of “one thing”.  With the rich young man, it was one thing that was standing between himself and the Lord he professed to love and want to serve.  In the second case, Martha was worried about many things, but Jesus tells her that there is just one thing that deserves our concern.  In the last case, David speaks of the one thing he desired – and I think it was the one thing that Martha and the young man both wanted deep inside.

Let your mind consider this question: if Jesus were to speak to you directly, what one thing would he point out to you that is lacking in your life?  Would it be money?  No – echo his words to Martha and the rich man.  Would it be more time?  No – we have all been given all the time we need – it’s just a question of how we use what we’ve been given.

I suspect that the one thing for all of us would have to do with our relationship with him.  We may need more passion for the things of the Lord.  And that, my friends, includes all of us!

Copyright 2012 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

PRAYER: Spirit, reveal to us the one thing that You want us to know right now about who we are, what we do, what we need to change…and give us the passion to want that for ourselves as much as You want it for us!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2012 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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