Focus

I have a friend who is celebrating 31 days clean today! He has had no alcohol or cigarettes. It is a huge accomplishment to overcome addiction. At day 30 he decided he would also take on giving up fast food. For those of us that have walked through addiction with someone we love, we know how hard the journey can be. Several of his friends mentioned taking it slow, not to try to give up everything that is bad for him at once. As I read through the comments, one particularly jumped out at me; “focus less on leaving the bad stuff out and more on taking the good stuff in. The more you focus on the good, the more you will naturally veer away from the bad.”

In Romans 12:9, Paul reminds us to “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (NASB). Sometimes it is so easy to focus on how we want to be better, the things we want to give up: bad eating habits, jealousy, short temperedness, sorrow, hopelessness, gossip… Instead this week, why don’t you try focussing on the good: consuming good food, being thankful, graciousness, patients, joy, hope, speaking the truth in love. Maybe if we take time to focus on the good, we will naturally begin to veer away from the bad.

Lord, help us this week to focus on you and the good that have for us. Help us to quit focussing in on the wrong and beating ourselves up. Instead help us to focus on the good, your good, so that we can be more like you.