Singular Focus
It started late afternoon Tuesday. I was at my oldest daughter’s home to have dinner with the relatives visiting from Wisconsin. I noticed some uncomfortableness during the drive over. Thinking it was just an overdue call of nature, I really didn’t think much of it other than an urgency to get where I was going. Traffic at 5pm in Murfreesboro doesn’t help. I arrived at my oldest daughter’s home, but no relief was to be had. I mentioned it to my wife, Amy, who assumed it may be related to several of the kids being sick recently. I didn’t stay long but decided to head back home to the comfort of my own house, my own bed.
Comfort wasn’t to be had. The pain intensified enough for me to give in to my youngest daughters request to let her take me to the ER. “That’s just a great place to catch something” no longer was my concern. I needed relief; that was my singular focus. Much of what happened after that is fuzzy except for the driving focus of getting relief now. The pain must go away; getting relief was my singular focus. NOTHING else mattered. The doctors would eventually diagnose that I had a kidney stone.
My wife and daughter will tell you that I have a pretty high pain tolerance – I’m not sure I would agree. And I’m not telling you this story to draw attention to myself or so that you will feel sorry for me. I’m telling you this story for two reasons. First, because it makes you realize just how fragile life is, how the smallest of things can wreak havoc in your body. A virus, something so small you have to look at it under a microscope, can decimate the human body. The scent of a strong cologne or perfume can incapacitate someone who is prone to migraines. My 3mm kidney stone, pretty small in the range of kidney stone sizes, was the center of my focus for those hours leading up to that shot of Dilaudid by IV. The multiple sticks trying to find a vein, the IV infiltration that caused a huge mound on my arm, nothing took my focus off the 3mm crystal. It makes you realize that it is only by God’s grace and His providence, through which He restrains evil and the effects of sin, are we able to survive a single day. To God be the Glory!
Secondly, this little episode has helped me understand what a singular focus really is. The Russians could have invaded the ER that Tuesday evening and I would not have cared or noticed. In a way, that is fascinating. To be so absolutely and totally fixated on one thing as if it was the only thing that mattered, that existed. What if that one thing is our relationship with God? To be so absolutely and totally fixated on God that He is our sole focus. I don’t believe the Bible speaks that way, speaks in terms of “sole focus”, but definitely first and foremost focus, primary focus. God knows that we have other things we must do, provide for a family, work a job, serve our neighbor and yes, even rest and relax. He does give us some guidelines that speak to this – “You shall have no other gods before Me” comes to mind.
In the spirit of Holy Week in which I am writing this, another verse came to mind, “51When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51 ESV) Jesus setting His face is a phrase that means to have a primary focus of following through to completion, which for Jesus meant his trial, torture, and death on the cross as a payment for our sins. I tried to run from my pain, Jesus ran towards His. But as He set his eyes toward Jerusalem, he still taught the disciples, healed the sick and even raised the dead.
Another example is when Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 7:8 that for some it is better not to marry. Paul isn’t condemning marriage; marriage is created by God and is His gift to mankind. However, he is saying if you can, if you can remain celibate, remain single so that your focus can be single minded in your dedication to the Lord. Married people have a spouse and, for many, a family to consider that may and will detract from the time available to serve God.
My singular focus that Tuesday night was relief from the pain. Nothing else mattered. This experience has been revealing for me in our context as Christians. Can we live in our vocations as husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, workers, employers, etc. with a singular focus? As if God is the only thing that matters? I think we can, not in the narrow sense of the phrase but in the larger context of meaning. All of our thoughts, words and actions should reflect our Christianity. Our lives should be lived focused on God including each of our different vocations. And in this context, we can live with a singular focus on God, because in reality, nothing else matters.
Pastor Al
Our mission: “Bringing People to Christ by Bringing Christ to People”
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