Life Out Of Focus

LIFE OUT OF FOCUS

Ps. 103:2

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR Sometimes it’s hard to find out what’s wrong.

1. After giving a woman a full medical examination, the doctor explained his prescription as he wrote it out.

2. “Take the GREEN pill with a glass of water when you get up. Take the BLUE pill with a glass of water after lunch. Then, just before going to bed, take the RED pill with another glass of water.”

3. The woman fixed the doctor with her gaze and said, “Doctor! What, exactly, is my problem?” The doctor raised his eyebrows and said, “You’re not drinking enough water!”

B. THE PROGRESS PARADOX

1. Americans are the most privileged and prosperous people who have ever lived on the face of the earth, and yet many Americans are not happy. But we should be.

2. Chuck Colson reports that, He says that:

a. Life expectancy has nearly doubled in the past century and continues to increase.

b. The average real per-capita income has doubled just since 1960.

c. At the same time, the price of food and many durable goods keeps falling.

d. Our standard of living has risen to levels our great-grandparents couldn’t have imagined. For most of our history, the average home had one room for every two people; today there are two rooms for every one person.

e. By any measure of affluence — health care, leisure, technology — the average American enjoys a quality of life beyond anyone’s wildest dreams even a few decades ago.

3. We have more of everything except, of course, happiness. The percentage of Americans calling themselves ‘happy’ hasn’t changed since the 1950s, but those describing themselves as ‘very happy’ is down and continues to decline.

4. During the same period, the percentage of Americans and Europeans who suffer bouts of depression have climbed to 25 percent and show no signs of abating. 7% of all Americans suffer at least one incidence of major, debilitating depression a year.”

5. Somehow we’ve stopped seeing how good and wonderful life is.

C. NEEDED: A CHANGE IN FOCUS

1. How do I keep from becoming ungrateful and taking my blessings for granted?

2. What we need is a change of focus.

a. Psalms 103:2; “Praise the Lord, my soul, and FORGET NOT all his benefits.”

b. James 1:2-3; “My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

c. Phip. 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known unto God.”

3. The title to this Thanksgiving message is “Life Out of Focus.” We’re going to see three things, if focused on, that will give us God’s clear vision of Life’s Purpose!

I. FOCUS ON WHAT I DO HAVE

The first change of focus I need is: I need to change my focus from what I don’t have to what I DO have.

A. COMMERCIALIZATION

1. It used to be that people did not even recognize much of the poverty they lived in, because everyone was the same. They looked around them and no one was significantly better off than they were. My parents used to talk about this when they grew up during the Great Depression. They didn’t realize they were poor, because everyone lived like they did.

2. But now we have television showing us beautiful cars, clothes, electronic gadgets, new homes, new tools, new appliances, etc. We have malls crammed with the latest of everything. The internet is filled with ads. Even our bills come with advertisements disguised as “offers.” Game shows give away millions of dollars every day in cash and prizes.

3. People we know are able to afford things that we wish we could have. American businesses don’t want us to be content; in fact, they work very hard to make sure we’re NOT content.

B. RELEARN CONTENTMENT

1. Somehow we have lost touch with the Scripture that says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” Heb. 13:5. When you have God, you have it all.

2. Greed is simply the desire to always have more. Greed is never satisfied. Paul warned Timothy, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” 1 Tim. 6:9-10.

3. Greed kills gratitude. It also kills our spiritual sensibilities, and dulls our appetite for the things of God. It can, as Paul said, actually lead us away from God.