The Greatest Focus Series

There are no end to the things we can think of and focus our attention upon, but

the greatest focus of all is to focus our thoughts on Jesus. That is the focus of the

Bible from beginning to end. That is to be the focus of all that we do in church, and

in all the meetings and activities of the church. There is no higher subject for the

mind to consider than Jesus. The text says, "fix your thoughts on Jesus.." He is to

be the primary food for our thinking. He is not to be a now and then snack, but the

full meal of each day. The mind needs a focus for there to be a primary goal of all

our thinking, and that focus is to be Jesus.

Notice, the call to consider Jesus is not addressed to the outsider, or to the part

time believer who is just playing at being a Christian. It is addressed to the holy

brethren. The implication is clear that you can never get so holy and mature as a

Christian that you do not need to make Jesus the central focus of your thinking. It

is not as if you learn about Jesus and then go on to other things. You never cease

to make Him the focus of your learning, for in Him are hid all the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge. Every subject we study is to be related to Jesus. The little

child who sings Jesus loves me this I know, and the aged saint who has read the

Bible for over fifty years need to have the same focus, and that is a mind fixed on

Jesus. You cannot be too young or too old to make Him the greatest focus of your

life.

Holy brothers with a calling

To share in heaven's glory

Let your mind run without stalling

Focused on the great story.

It’s the greatest story ever

That the world can ever hear.

For from His love none can sever

His presence is always near.

Let your mind be fixed on Jesus

There's no greater food for thought.

It is His desire to please us,

For by His blood we are bought.

May this mind be in you and me

So that we are never bored.

And may we daily come to see

Life's best is focus on the Lord.

The best sermons, the best books, the best Sunday School lessons, the best Bible

studies, the best articles and the best of everything you can hear or read are those

things that help you fix your thoughts on Jesus. He is to be the magnet that

continually draws our mind to focus on Him. In contrast, whatever takes your

attention away from Jesus and all He was and taught has the potential of being a

danger to your soul. Of course, we all go many hours of each day without thinking

of Jesus, but when we do begin to use our minds for study that will lead us to know

and do the will of God, our focus is to be on Him. That is the whole focus of this

book of Hebrews. In every way possible the author goes through all the values of

the Old Testament and then focuses on Jesus as their fulfillment and completion.

He is to be our focus because He has made all that came before Him obsolete or

secondary. He is superior to all that have gone before, and that is why He is to be

the focus of our theology and practice.

When people get their minds off Jesus they tend to fix on other things that lead

to all kinds of conflict. There are so many different views of contemporary issues

among believers, and this leads to much conflict that produces bitter fighting

among the family of God. It makes me think of the preacher who wrote a book

titled Come To Jesus. Later he became angry at another preacher who disagreed

with him on some issue and he wrote another book tearing the man apart. He

asked a friend what he should name the book. The friend read the bitter language

of the book and said, "What not call it Go To The Devil by the author of Come to

Jesus." The man got the point that he was over reacting and did not publish his

attack. He had gotten his mind off Jesus, and let it get fixed on some issue that led

him to be unlike Jesus. When you begin to have attitudes and actions in your life

that are inconsistent with Jesus, you know your mind is not focused on Him, but on

something that you have made more important to you than Him. This is the

modern idolatry. Anything or anyone, or any idea that makes you unlike Christ is