Daily Devotional

My wife and I are just about a month away from celebrating our 17th anniversary. Last year for our anniversary we decided to see a concert and purchased tickets for the event. The really good seats were far out of our price range, so we got the way less expensive seats that were on the opposite side of the arena from the stage.

As the show started, I looked across the arena to the section right by the stage and noticed a good number of seats in the expensive section that were empty. My first thought was “Well I guess they should have priced those seats a little lower so more people could afford them.” As the show went on, I kept staring over at those empty seats and thinking how much better the view was from them. At one point I leaned over towards my wife Megan and mentioned the empty expensive seats. She smiled and patted me on the leg and replied, “Just enjoy the show.” She was right. For the past several minutes I was more focused on the better seats than I was on enjoying the show. I was focused on what I didn’t have instead of what I did have. I was at a fun concert with my beautiful wife of 16 years and all I was staring at was a bunch of empty seats.

What we focus on really matters. What are we fixing our eyes on? As Christians, we are called to fix our eyes on Jesus. There will be many things that will come along and try to steal our gaze. Sometimes difficulties and hardships come that seem to completely surround us. These hard times will fight for our attention. Other times we can feel wonderfully overwhelmed with all the good things that are happening in our lives. Such blessings are a gift from God, but if we focus on them and not the One who gives them, we will again find our focus in the wrong place. In either scenario, we are in danger of looking at the wrong thing and still need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Our circumstances are always changing and will continue to change, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we learn to keep the eyes of our hearts fixed on Him, we will find something solid to rest on in any and every situation of life.

New International Version (NIV)
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