Focus

Solitaire.

I used to play this game with a deck of cards.  Do people use those anymore?  Today our computers are pre-loaded with this game of solitaire and there are quite a few variations now.  Two of my favorites are Free Cell and Pyramid.  They’re called favorites because, well I win a lot!

For quite a while, I watched the score.  Can I beat 16,000 points?  That’s my Free Cell high. Truth be told, I have no idea how or when I did that because of late, I can’t come anywhere near that!

But recently, Microsoft changed the rules a bit.  In Pyramid, the new goal has become tracking the number of cleared boards which thereby increases your game level status.  My game status is currently at Level 14, “Enthusiast”.  OK.  So what?



Well, the answer to that question indicates what has happened to my focus.  Seeing that I’m now graded differently, I can’t say what my scores have been.  Why is that?  The score is still calculated but is a bit off my radar now.  I pay attention to the number of boards cleared.

I LET Microsoft do that to me!  A mammoth corporation has changed my focus and I hardly noticed.

But the good news, I noticed.  And that becomes another question.  Is this common?  How often do I let the world determine my focus?

In Philippians 3, Paul says, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (NIV)

"So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision - you'll see it yet!  Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.  Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal.  There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I've warned you of them many times; sadly,  I'm having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ's Cross.  But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.  But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master,  Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him." (MSG)

Focus: Microsoft? Or Paul?