Worry, Discipline, and Focus – Staying on Track

Sometimes I get off track. It’s actually pretty easy for me. There are so many things that I like to do, it is sometimes hard for me to stay focused on one thing long enough to see it through. I have a long list of unfinished projects. That list is getting shorter as I’m learning the discipline to finish. I’m a great starter, but have been a terrible finisher.

Where was I going with this? Oh, right… Last week I wrote about asking the wrong questions. We are often asking the wrong questions because we are focused on the wrong goals. I actually had a very rare day yesterday without a whole lot of activities and I got to spend almost the entire day at home. I didn’t have any specific projects that had to be done around the house, but I managed to be fairly productive and actually finished a couple of projects I had started awhile back. It feels good to finish projects and get them off my list. I was able to spend some time thinking and reading, too. What do I like to do? Am I staying on track or is my focus getting off? What area of my life do I need to be working in now and what changes do I need to make?

As I was thinking through these things, a verse came to mind. Matthew 6:33 says, ” But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ” What am I focused on? Is my focus making money and paying the bills, or is my focus on the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Is my focus on building my kingdom and making me look good, or is my focus on building God’s kingdom? It is easy to get side tracked in life. After all, I need to make a little more money to make that car payment. I need to make a little more money so my kid can go to that church camp. For some, I need to make a little more money so I can eat tomorrow. I’ve been there. And I can tell you, God has always provided everything I need.

This passage in Matthew comes in the middle of a section about dealing with anxiety and worry. These are growing problems in our society. As we get on social media and watch the news and see all the stuff going on around us and the perfect social media lives of our friends, we begin to worry and get a little anxious. “The world is getting to be a scary place to live.” “What am I doing wrong? My friends have these amazing lives, and I’m struggling to get through the week?” Well, the world has always been a fallen world and we just seem to have gotten really good at promoting that fact. I struggle with the friends thing, too, as I watch my friends and co-workers take amazing trips and seem to be able to go do whatever they want, but I promise they are dealing with many of the same struggles I am. That just isn’t as much fun to write about on Twitter.

The very next verse says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” If we keep our focus and keep our priorities on seeking the kingdom of God, each day will take care of itself. When I don’t know how I am going to get through the week, God has always provided. He still provides everything I need, as long as I am putting him first. This verse does not say that he will give me everything that I want, but he will provide everything that I need, and usually a little bit more. Sometimes I do get the fun things that I want. Sometimes I don’t.

What are you worried about? What are you anxious for? When we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, there is nothing to be worried about.

Let me know how God is working in your life and how he has provided for you.

^“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)