Focus and Purpose

You want your life to count for something, but your daily actions don’t always line up with your values. You want to make a difference in the lives of your family, colleagues, neighbors, even strangers, but you feel as though you are pulled in too many directions to make much of an impact.

Often, to make a difference that counts, you have to live beyond yourself. Your impact will not be seen in your titles or achievements. Your impact will be experienced through aligning your strengths with your purpose and focusing on loving and caring for others. When you begin to live beyond yourself, you begin to leave a legacy that lives on long after you have gone.

Your legacy begins with your focus.

Read Matthew 6:22-23

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not healthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Reflect on Matthew 6:22-23

This verse comes in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is teaching about righteousness. In these verses, the implication is righteousness is shown in how your attention, desires, and values are in alignment with God.

In Hebrew thought, the eye was understood to be the window or the lamp that lets light into the body. What you focus on, what you “let in,” determines whether your inner life is full of light or darkness.

The Greek word for “healthy” literally means single, clear, or undivided. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is not healthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. Healthy carries the sense of being wholehearted, generous, or focused. So, a “healthy eye” focuses upon God and is free from distractions or conflicting loyalties.

Said another way, when your inner vision is clearly focused, your entire life is illuminated with truth, clarity, and goodness. But when your eye is unsound, confusion and greed direct your life. A “healthy eye” means God is the priority who gives meaning and purpose to all other desires and loyalties.

Taking those two verses by themselves might be enough, but Matthew put them in the middle of a conversation on “where your treasure is” (6:19-21) and “no one can serve two masters” (6:24).

When taken within its context, this scripture calls for a radical reorientation of your life. The meaning of “heart” is the Hebrew understanding of the center of your life. The identification and location of your “treasure” turns out to be a matter of your total self. So how you handle property turns out to be a matter of trust, either your heart/life is in God or is in your material possessions.

In this context, undivided service can be given to only one master. If there is more than one, there are conflicting and dividing loyalties. That means that every choice is favoring one and rejecting the other. The choice is not whether you will serve, but whom or what will you serve.

For Jesus, when your eye is healthy, your orientation is healthy, and your treasure is, where your heart is, with God.

Respond

Having a clear focus makes the difference in how you live your life. When I begin to think of a clear focus, I think of Jesus. He set his face toward Jerusalem because he was focused on being who God had created him to be. His purpose was to be the Christ, the anointed one.

To live into his purpose, he was obedient to God by caring for the people he encountered each day. When you read of Jesus feeding, healing, caring, loving, serving, and dying, you are reading of him being focused upon a purpose greater than himself.

When your eye is healthy, you are focused on a purpose greater than your own. You begin to live beyond yourself, loving God and loving your neighbor in all you do.

Terry Fox was eighteen years old when he was diagnosed with a fast-metastasizing cancer. It first settled in his legs and arms and later spread to his lungs, brain, and liver. After the shock of his new reality, Terry basically had two choices: give up hope and wait for death or discover something meaningful for which to live. He chose the latter.

Cancer meant he would lose his leg. But as he lay in his hospital bed, he began to dream of running across Canada. Because he loved to run, he committed to making his dream a reality.

By committing his life to making a difference in the fight against cancer, he created a true purpose. The goal of his run, named the Marathon of Hope, was to raise one million dollars for cancer research.

A New Purpose: Hope

Terry discovered a purpose so great it uplifted him physically and mentally. The power of purpose drove him to remarkable heights of performance. Even though he had only one healthy leg, a prosthesis attached to the stump of his other leg enabled him to run.

While running, he often wore running shorts. This, of course, exposed his false leg and made some people uncomfortable. But, instead of trying to please the people who were offended, he kept his focus on his goal.

Starting on April 12, 1980, he ran the equivalent of a marathon (twenty-six miles) almost every day, covering a total of 3,339 miles in only 143 days. His amazing feat provided hope for thousands of people all over the world.

In the midst of cancer, Terry Fox successfully forged a new purpose. His purpose was to help eliminate cancer. His goal was to raise one million dollars for cancer research. He met his goal by keeping his focus on his purpose. When he aligned his everyday living, his goals, with his purpose, he enjoyed the peace of mind and a wonderful sense of being alive.

Becoming Who God Created You to Be

What does that story have to do with you? I am convinced you can do the same. You can become who God created you to be by focusing upon your purpose. You can make a life-changing difference in the lives of the people around you and the world.

First – Discover Your Purpose

Here are a few questions to consider:

· What are your strengths and talents?

· What do you do best?

· What do you really enjoy?

· Where do you feel you are making a difference?

· What do you care so deeply about that you are ready to give your life to make it

happen?

Terry Fox was profoundly touched by younger cancer victims. Those people spurred him on every day, despite the hardships.

Remember, your purpose is bigger than you and will live on after you. So, the question might be “What legacy will you leave for those who follow you?”

Second – Align Your Purpose with Your Natural Strengths and Talents.

Terry Fox aligned his purpose with something he really enjoyed. He excelled at running, so running across the country became a natural vehicle for him to achieve his goal.

You have unique strengths and talents. Discovering your strengths is part of living your life.

Once you have discovered your natural strengths and talents, then use them to live out your purpose. Remember, the greatest joy and peace of your life comes when you align your everyday living, your goals, with your purpose.

Third – Stay Focused on Your Purpose

Every day Terry Fox stayed true to his purpose. Despite snow, rain, and sleet, he set his heart, soul, mind, and strength on something bigger than himself. In the early stages of his run, there was almost no media coverage. He sometimes felt alone and misunderstood. He overcame that by keeping focused on his purpose.

Too often, you lose your direction in life because you are easily distracted or influenced by other people. Keeping your focus requires single-mindedness, a resolve to do whatever it takes. Staying focused will create a passion and a sense of significance deep within which will shape your everyday living and relationships.

There will be times when keeping a focus will be received as offensive and inconvenient. There will be times you will be accused of being “focused to a fault.” At those moments, the challenge will be to keep your focus upon the God who has created you and to live into your purpose.

Personally, I consider it a compliment to be accused of being “focused to a fault,” especially when I am assisting others to become who God created them to be.

Fourth – Stay True to Your Purpose

In the later stages of his Marathon of Hope, Terry Fox attracted thousands of people in every major city. Through it all, he kept a humble spirit. It was his humble outlook and genuine concern for others, plus his never-give-up attitude as he battled adversity, that endeared him to millions of people. Even after cancer spread to his lungs, he was determined to carry on.

Terry never got to finish his run. He died on June 28, 1981. Yet, the ongoing legacy he left continues to help cancer victims. Terry Fox stayed focused on his purpose which allowed him to live beyond himself.

So, stay focused. Keep your eyes healthy. Let the light of God’s love in Jesus shine into your heart and spirit. Don’t allow an unhealthy ego to override your good intentions. You will have your greatest and most positive impact on your family, friends, and community because you are focused on something greater than yourself.

Align Your Strengths & Purpose

I don’t know what season of life you are living at the moment, but I do know this; discovering and developing your purpose, then living your purpose, indicates that you will make a significant difference in the lives of your family, friends, and community.

So, set your heart and mind upon the person God has created you to be. As you live into your purpose, care for the people you encounter along the way. Keep your focus upon God’s love and begin to live beyond yourself.

Return

Give God thanks for the people you met today. As you reflect upon the day: At what points or experiences did you have to keep your focus? How did you react or respond when you felt you lost your focus? What did you learn about yourself? Who helped you remember that you are a child of God and how to keep your focus upon God’s love and upon loving others? What will you do differently tomorrow? Ask God to give you the faith to be who God has created you to be.

Prayer

Lord, clear my vision. Help me to see the world as you see it, full of possibility, hope, and the beauty of your presence. Help me to recognize you in the people I meet along the way. Guard my heart from distraction and greed and fill me with the light of your Son so I may share your love with others. I offer myself to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.