Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.
Phillipians 4:8
“Well I did it now,” my future husband thought, as he climbed down off the mower and walked into the house to confess what he had done to his father.
“Dad, I uh, hit the tree with the lawn mower….”
“I see,” his father replied,”I’m glad you’re ok, but what in the world were you looking at??”
“I was looking at the tree, trying not to hit it!”
Have you ever been there?? My husband had been trying not to hit the tree, but he was so focused on what he wasn’t supposed to be doing that he ended up doing it!
“What you gaze upon is what you will become.”
We often think about the story of Peter, when we think about keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus. The disciples were out in a boat and a massive storm rolled up. They are frantically trying to keep from sinking, the fishermen among them probably throwing a comment or two about how useless retired tax collectors are in situations like that, then all of the sudden they see a ghost! Well, they realize it is Jesus pretty quickly and he calms the sea, and continues walking across the water. Peter, never one to miss out, asks to walk to Jesus and Jesus tells Peter to get out of the boat. Peter is amazed- never in all his years of being a fisherman has he seen anyone walk on water! He can’t believe that he’s walking on water too- like really can’t believe it! Once he realizes what he has done and that he could die, he instantly starts to sink! Peter started focusing on the wrong thing.
In the old testament we have the story of Adam and Eve, their situation is a little different. They were told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We act like The Fall was a quick event; God created man, everyone rested, Adam and Eve finished naming all the animals, looked over, realized they still hadn’t sampled the fruit from that tree and walked over to test their will power.
I think it was a much more subtle process than that. I think Adam and Eve had been living in the garden for a while, and I’m willing to bet that there were children running around already too. They enjoyed perfect communion with God, and will each other.; I think this could be how the serpent “talked” to them. Not with words but almost a certain type of mental telepathy that people develop through being closely aligned and knowing each other well- like married couples who have been married for years!
Then the serpent tempted them, and they started focusing not as much on their communion with God, but on how they mustn’t eat the fruit. Which made them more curious, and pretty soon, their focus was on the one thing they weren’t supposed to be doing.
My young future husband hit the tree because he was so focused on what he was not supposed to do- hit the tree- that he stopped focusing on what he was supposed to be doing- focusing on the grass that needed to be cut! Have you had your own riding into the tree with the mower moments? Sometimes the key to not not doing the wrong things isn’t to think about not doing them- but to think about what we are supposed to be doing. I think that’s why Paul spells it all out for us in Philippians 4:8 where he writes, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.” (NIV version) Focus on what you are supposed to be focusing on and I bet you’ll be shocked at how well everything else falls into place!
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