Let's Fix Our Eyes on Jesus

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:2a NIV)

When I was in the work force I dealt with many customer inquiries over the phone. Often when I had finished dealing with the inquiry I would struggle to remember what I was doing before the interruption.

This also happened when I became a mother. In the middle of doing the cleaning, a child would need my attention. When I had dealt with the child I would look around the house asking myself, "Now, where was I up to?"

A similar thing happens in the Christian life. We commit ourselves to read a particular daily devotional or to pray through a prayer calendar or to a more disciplined Christian lifestyle. Then something interrupts us. We get behind in our daily devotions or we're unable to remember who we were praying for or just plain forget where we're up to. We seem unable to catch up or to return to it with the same vigor and often feel a sense of guilt.

What are we to do? We cannot plan for the interruptions, but we can remember "to fix our eyes on Jesus." Sometimes in my life God has allowed interruptions to make me realize that my commitment to him is more important than a commitment to a particular Christian discipline — no matter how beneficial that discipline might be. By fixing our attention on Jesus, interruptions will still come, but we don't need to feel guilty about getting behind because we know he is Lord, even Lord of interruptions. —Susan Barnes