Everett Henes: What is your focus?
Where is your focus as you begin this new year? We’re only a few weeks into 2023, but I can tell already that all my good intentions from the first are already waning. This is normal. This is human. What takes up our attention, what we focus on, often becomes our reality. The battle is often in the mind. This is how God made us, which is why Jesus teaches us the things we ought to focus on. Unsurprisingly, they are not the things our minds naturally tend toward.
In Luke 12:22-34 Jesus challenges our tendencies to focus on worry about this life. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” (Luke 12:22-23) Jesus is giving instructions based upon sound theology. He is not serving up a platitude that has little meaning for life It is not as though when you face a difficult situation you are merely to put it out of your head and put a smile on your face. Jesus is giving a command for his disciples, yes. But the solution is not forgetting your trouble but trusting in God’s care for your life. “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” (Luke 12:24)
In Luke 12:35-48, Jesus reminds us that we are called to be watchful. This is where focus really comes into play. Jesus knew that his departure would lead to lethargy, or laziness, in the things of the faith. “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” (Luke 12:35-36) Even before he Jesus was betrayed and crucified he knew, as we have seen, that he would suffer, die and be resurrected, but he also knows that he will come again. He is not trying to figure things out as he goes along but he knows why he has been sent, what he must suffer and, ultimately, what the end will be.
Jesus said that he will come again, bodily. The second coming of Christ is a truth that has been believed from the very beginning of the Church. You cannot find a comprehensive confession of faith that excludes this teaching even in the earliest days. And for good reason! Think about what Jesus has been teaching his disciples – this world is not all there is. Even more, this world is passing and is not to receive all of our attention but instead we are called to store up treasures in heaven. Jesus also anticipates his departure and the way that his second coming would linger. After all, the first coming of Christ was expected for thousands of years.
Lastly, in Luke 12:49-59, Jesus focuses ultimately upon himself. He is the great divider. Those who argue that doctrine divides forget that Jesus himself divides. “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.” (Luke 12:51-52)
Now, let’s be clear, Jesus is not here sanctioning church splits over any and every matter. But he is saying that his coming will not bring blanket peace. Instead, it will bring division into such intimate settings as the home. Jesus is saying that because of his coming, homes will be divided. They will not split over sin but over allegiance to Christ. Some of you know this situation that Jesus is speaking of.
For some of you your family has been separated from other members in your family because of faith in Christ. This is the complete opposite of “accept Christ and everything will be guaranteed to go well.” No, this is “accept Christ and expect difficulty.” Jesus will say this in a number of different ways but each time it gets to the same point. We will never find heaven on earth, nor can we create it. Jesus drives home the truth in these verses: he is the focus of the Christian life. Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. (Romans 10:11)
— Pastor Everett Henes, the pastor of the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church, can be reached at pastorhenes@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Everett Henes: What is your focus?
