“…do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful….” Josh 1:7.
One of the great tools of Satan, especially in our time, is the tool of distraction. He uses anything he can, to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus, our goal, our mission, and what is meant to be our central focus. Heb. 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus….” Many issues in our world need God’s attention. When we stay focused on Him, He can tell us what to do, about any and all of them, if, we are to do anything.
We are responsible and accountable only for those things that He instructs us to do. Anything else that we champion or take up, He does not give us grace to do. In those things, we are ‘on our own.’ The Bible is full of examples of individuals and nations that lost ‘focus’ and wandered from the path of righteousness and fruitfulness. I hear some say, “Yes, but Pastor, there are so many legitimate causes…someone has to do something about them!”
Only if He tells you to…. One of the most powerful instincts a man or woman possesses is the ‘power of cause.’ It is also referred to as ‘raison d’etre’ or the ‘reason for existence.’ This powerful instinct is a ‘fire ready to be lit,’ inside every person. God made us with purpose, to fulfil a great purpose. At any point, we can subscribe to a purpose and with the innate or inner ‘fire of purpose,’ released from within, it becomes a life-consuming pursuit. For many, this sense of ‘cause,’ is buried. However, in our time, we have so many ‘causes’ being trumpeted into our consciousness, day after day. If we are not careful, we can turn aside from His eternal ‘cause’ and find our lives ‘spent,’ on things non-eternal and non-sanctioned by Him, even though we perceive them as worthwhile. When David turned up at the battle line near Goliath, he said, “Is there not a cause?” (1 Sam. 17:29 NKJV). Yes, there is always a ‘cause’ to pursue. Stay focused on His cause and the currency of time, that is your life will be ‘spent,’ with eternal impact.
Don’t take time to ‘drill down’ on all those other ‘causes’ as they will lure you away from His. He will give you wisdom as to what to do, about any of those causes, but you won’t hear it, if you have already decided it is now ‘your cause.’ The ancient wisdom given to Joshua….