Roll Over Danger: Rivers of Faith, Part 23: Faltering Focus
Highway 1, also known as the "Ring Road", is the only two-lane highway that
encircles Iceland. In most places it is built quite a bit higher than its
surroundings, probably to avoid crash flooding. It is, over all, a good road,
however one of the primary dangers, other than possibly hitting sheep who amble
freely over the road, is what is called a "rollover". Due to the fact that the
road is raised over much of the island, if one wheel leaves the road, there's a
good chance that the car will roll down the embankment and be totaled. Or so it
was stated on a display near Reykjavik, the capital, at the site of two former
rollovers.
If you focus on the road, there is absolutely no danger of rollovers. If fatigue
settles in, however, or some distraction or another captures your attention
(like the many sheep crossing the road, or the glaciers or volcanoes or lava
fields or waterfalls or geysers, to name a few!), you may be in for a "rolling"
surprise! Friends, these rollovers are real, and they happen too often to be
ignored!
Could this be where rock and roll originated???
Such "rollovers" are even more frequent in our spiritual life. Instead of
staying focused, it seems our attention has a tendency to stray. In a hectic
world filled with stress and distractions, how could it be otherwise? Tell that
to the poor chap who totaled his car. It won't make him feel any better!
Have you noticed that every time you had a spiritual car wreck, your focus was
not where it should have been? Maybe this is why Jesus urges us to spend time
with God in a place without distractions. Our focus can only be on God. Only
then can we "begin to sense his grace." More often than not, the reason why we
may not sense God's presence is because our focus has strayed!
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be
tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can
manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his
grace." (Matt 6:6 The Message)
Our faulty focus is also one of the main reasons why God's promises often do not
materialize during our lifetime. Take Abraham for example, old and frail. His
focus was still on God. Although he went through a couple of rollovers in his
life, he experienced the fulfillment of God's promise during his lifetime!
"Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, 'It's hopeless. This
hundred-year-old body could never father a child.' Nor did he survey Sarah's
decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking
cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong,
ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said." (Rom 4:19-21
The Message)
If we want to experience fully our loving God, we need to fix our focus. Too
often we look at anything but what is truly important: "Keep your eyes on Jesus,
who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he
never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with
God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And
now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find
yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that
long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your
souls!" (Heb 12:2-3 The Message)
"Did you notice that rock roll?"
"I have better things to do than be distracted by rolling rocks. Like keeping
this car safely ON the roadway!"
Rob Chaffart