Keeping Focus on God in a Fast-Paced World
By Kelly Balarie
Bible Reading
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” – Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
The whole situation was ridiculously embarrassing. Like a sore thumb, my car was stuck in a horizontal position across a road, with oncoming traffic heading right at me. I couldn’t maneuver out of this mess, either. Train tracks were behind my car, and a fast-moving street was ahead of me. I looked like an idiot stuck oddly in a road. And, to make things worse, the pastor’s wife drove by me, at the very moment I was lodged in this position. Did she give me an odd look? Who knows, maybe she did. Either way, I launched a halfway smile back with a hesitant wave.
What in the world is wrong with me?
I’d gotten myself in this situation, mostly because my mind was circling a hundred worries and thoughts, without real answers. With my mind in a completely different place, my head felt cloudy and confused. I drove on autopilot. So, when, at a moment’s notice, I realized I missed my left turn to get to the grocery store, I made a rapid, hard left. The only issue was, halfway through the turn, I realized this turn wasn’t the right turn. The turn I was supposed to make was another street down. And, this is the reason I was stuck in an embarrassingly horrible horizontal position on a traffic-filled road.
I was there because I lacked focus, I lacked the ability to get where I was going. The same thing happens in our relationship with the Lord. When we lack focus on the Lord, we lack the ability to go His way.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” – Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
When we allow weights to burden our soul (such as worries, fears, traumas, uncertainty, insecurity, mental fatigue, or brain fogginess), we exchange mental clarity for dismal confusion. When we compromise and permit sin, we forgo peace and calm and usher in uncertainty and double-mindedness. Rather than moving from Point A to Point B, we go all over the place. We zig-zag through various mental hurdles and cerebral entanglements that cause quick reactions that get us nowhere (or, in my case, horizontal across a busy road).
What is entangling you? What are you worried about? What is causing clutter within your mind? What is making you react rather than respond in love? What distraction is stealing godly devotional?
When we get ourselves into a mental mess, it becomes hard to trust God with all our heart. Our thoughts circle our problems, our sin, our worries, our hardship, our circumstances. There’s a lot of looking at ourselves, instead of at Jesus.
However, Hebrews 12:2 reminds us that Jesus is “the founder and the perfecter of our faith.” This takes some pressure off, doesn’t it?
We don’t have to figure out how to have faith. We don’t have to drum up the right solution. We don’t have to make sure everything works out. God has already founded faith for us, and as we receive it, it will work for us. God is perfecting the faith needed for whatever it is we are fearing.
We can trust Him. Just as a successful founder of a company has all the right solutions to make that company work, Jesus founds our faith, and He has all He needs to make our faith work. He has all ability to perfect within us, the good work He has begun.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
What if you were to stop applying so much pressure on yourself? What if you were to ease up on demanding that you have everything figured out or buttoned up? What might it look like for you to surrender afresh so that you can really trust God? How might you find peace again?
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Timon Studler
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Stop Overthinking Your Marriage: The C.A.R.E. Method that Builds Consistency
We're celebrating our 400th episode and tackling one of the most important topics in marriage—consistency. If you’ve ever struggled with feeling like your efforts to improve your marriage aren’t working or wondered if all those small daily actions really matter, this episode is for you.
Today, I’m sharing my personal journey and my not-so-secret struggle with staying consistent—not just in my marriage, but in life! I’ll walk you through a simple, actionable framework that I created called the CARE acronym (Check-in, Affection, Reassurance, Encouragement) to help you build trust, commitment, and affection in your relationship. I’ll also give practical tips for daily connection, show you how to stay motivated when you don’t see instant results, and explain why the little things you do will eventually transform your marriage.
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