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.
Hebrews 3:1,2[1]
Someone once said that confession was good for the soul. Well, I’m here to freely admit and confess to one of my great weaknesses. This one particular thing might be my greatest flaw among the many, many, many of them. When it comes to being focused, I’m terrible. I just can’t do it, and it’s not for lack of trying. It’s not that I can’t focus on somethings, but I can’t focused on anything. Being a focused person just doesn’t come naturally.
This isn’t an excuse, it’s just the way it is. It’s the way I’m wired. The natural way that I live my life is jumping from one thing to another. To another. And then to another. And so forth. I make a nervous squirrel look calm.
It’s not like I haven’t tried to become more focused. I’ll watch any video or read just about anything that claims to help the hopelessly distracted. If there was a political party for distracted people, I’d easily win the nomination. Then, I’d go onto crush any opponent with an overwhelming victory in the general election, lifting me up to the presidency of the distracted nation.
Some believe that our modern society, mixed with lots of technology, is an almost perfect formula to produce people that can’t focus. That we’re continually distracted by all the different things and people jumping up and down, trying desperately to get our attention.
But I don’t think that’s true. After all, the writer of this letter doesn’t just casually suggest that the Hebrews might want to think about the idea of fixing their thoughts on Jesus. Oh no. It’s much more serious than a casual idea. They are being commanded to fix their thoughts on Jesus.
When we fix our thoughts, we attach our mind to one thing. We think about it over and over. We study it and then we noodle on what we’ve learned. We roll it over and over in our mind. But why should they fix their thoughts on Jesus? Why the order to change?
In the past, they personally received Jesus’ one-time sacrifice for all their sin Now, they’ve been allowing their attention to drift from Jesus and move somewhere else. They had seen Jesus’ death on the cross as taking care of all their sins; past, present, and future. But they’re slowly drifting back to where they had to offer sacrifices for sin.
These Hebrews grew up offering sacrifices all the time. Year after year. Month after month. Day after day. Their lives revolved around their calendars and their need to sacrifice. All their traditions that made them Hebrew were marked by sacrifices. Over and over, sacrifices were burned into their minds and lives.
But with Jesus dying once and for all, for all sins, the need for these sacrifices had ended. They weren’t needed anymore. They had become less than useless. They now were a distraction from Jesus and all he did. All he is. Now some of us want to dump on the Hebrews for even thinking about going back to the old ways. We’ll proudly proclaim that they’re wrong and stupid. They should have known better. We wouldn’t do that. We’re better and smarter than they were. Oh really?
Three years ago, I bought a new car that doesn’t have a key. There are no key slots in the doors or trunk. It doesn’t even have one of those fobs that you hold close to start the car. All I have to do is walk up to the car with my phone and I’m good to go.
All by itself, the car knows that I’m getting close and unlocks the doors. It knows it’s me behind the steering wheel and moves when I put it in gear and press on the accelerator. When I get out of the car and walk away, it automatically locks the doors.
I’ve gotten into and out of that car countless times. I’ve driven tens of thousands of miles. I’ve searched and read the instruction manual cover to cover. I’ve followed directions on the screen over and over.
But you know what? I sometimes still reach to put the key into the ignition that doesn’t even exist. I sometimes still reach to take the key out when I’m leaving the car. And why? I’ve been putting in keys and taking them with me for a long time. It’s hard to let go of the past and move forward into a new way of thinking.
So rather than looking down our spiritual nose at these people, let’s look at ourselves. What are the traditions that we desperately hold onto? What are the things that we want to keep doing over and over so that God will like us? What are the things we do and say just so people will like us?
As I write these words, these very same questions are rattling around in my brain. The question that I keep coming to is that the things that we’re not willing to change are the things that we worship. We need to be willing to worship and bow down before God alone, kneeling before the LORD our maker[2]. Now, that’s someone to focus on.
Noodling Questions
How easy is it for you to focus on something? Explain.
Is most of your day focused on things you choose? Describe.
How can we focus more on the most important relationship in the world?
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references are from the New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
[2] Psalm 95:1.
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