Steady Focus in a Distracting World
Thursday’s Verse:
From Hebrews 12:2 ESV
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Sometimes there are days when you can’t concentrate. There are days like this for all kinds of reasons. Some days your mind just won’t stay focused. Some days you just don’t have the energy to care. Some days, worry, weariness, and fear crowd in around you. Some days you just have to try with all your might to hold on, to do the simplest of things, to keep going. Some days, the Lord has mercy. Some days, He calls you with a single word: Lift up your eyes.
Lift your eyes to Jesus is both a command and a gift. It is not by our best efforts that we stay fixed on Christ and are saved. Christ is the one who starts us in the faith and finishes us by His grace. He is the unmoved when our concentration is fickle. He is the One who never blinks at us when weariness makes us dim our gaze. When you can’t think, He thinks of you. Christ knows, and tells us over and over, that He loves you, that He is full of mercy, and that He will not leave you or forsake you. Christ is not put up in the center of everything we do, and every day we have to muster the strength to do it. Christ goes before you, today, tomorrow, and every day. Christ is with you.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus, steady my heart and mind. When I am listless in thought and attention, help me to lift my eyes to Your cross and Your empty tomb. Help me to trust that You are strong in my weakness, and Your Word is never powerless. Fix my eyes on You, for You will never stop looking on me. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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