Straight Ahead

A few years ago a friend challenged me to prayerfully seek a word or phrase from Scripture that would serve as my guide for the year.  This year I have embraced the phrase, “Straight ahead.”  The phrase is found is in Proverbs 4:23-27, “Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look STRAIGHT AHEAD, fix your gaze directly before you.  Consider the paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.  Do not swerve to the right or left; keep your foot from evil.” 

Whether we are asking God to refocus us as a church or as an individual, the truth of the Proverb holds true: The moment we turn our head; the moment we allow ourselves to get distracted by the peripheral, we lose focus on what matters most.  By God’s grace, I am making myself dependent on the Spirit to keep my eyes fixed straight ahead.  It is also my prayer that we as a church family will keep our eyes fixed straight ahead.  It has been said that often the important is sacrificed by the urgent.  That is just as true for the Church.  Will we give our time, energy and resources to what is urgent but ultimately unimportant or will we keep our eyes fixed straight ahead on what truly matters now and forever?

Of course, the question is what ought we keep our eyes fixed straight ahead on?  I took that question to my Scripture meditation in Mark 5. It gives the account of Jairus’ daughter.  She was dying.  They called for Jesus, but on his way a woman who had been bleeding for years touched Jesus causing him to stop and ask, “Who touched me?”  During the course of that conversation and healing, Jairus’ daughter died. 

Have you ever felt like God showed up too late?  I’ll be honest, I have been there a time or two in life.  You pray for God to show up and while you are praying it comes to be too late...or so we think.

 

The people told Jairus to send Jesus away because the girl was dead.  They assumed Jesus could only work where there was life, but they did not know Jesus is a master at overcoming death.  Jesus totally ignored the disbelief of the others and went to the child.  Jesus stepped into that death, looked at the heartbroken father and said, "Don't be afraid, just believe!" 

 

That's what it takes to keep our eyes fixed straight ahead, isn't it?  We can either look to the right or left and see the death around us and be overcome by fear and disbelief OR we can have Jesus refocus our eyes straight ahead by his truth, "Don't be afraid, just believe."

 

What has you as an individual tempted to look to the right or left?  Is there anything causing you to stop looking straight ahead?  Does fear and disbelief seem to be all-to-easy?  Listen, Jesus, is calling out to you and me, "Don't be afraid, just believe!" 

 

What about us as a church family?  Does anything have us looking around on something that will not amount to any more than death?  Is there any way we have settled for the urgent at the expense of the eternally important?  A world is dying in sin, pain and lies all around us.  Will we say, "Send Jesus away, there is no hope"? Or will we stand up together and be the Hope of Christ to our world!  We will say through our words and actions, "Don't be afraid, just believe!"  If we long to hear that, don't you think our world does as well? 

 

No, Canton First, we cannot and must not do anything less than keep our eyes fixed straight ahead.  Thank you for your courage and faith to vote for a refocus process so we can more fully do just that.  I believe God has great things straight ahead!