I almost failed my permit test when I was fifteen.
There I am, in the DMV (because in Vegas it’s the DMV, not the BMV like it is in Ohio), having passed my written test with flying colors. The next part is just the typical quick eye test and paperwork. I dutifully covered my right eye–and frowned, because I watched all the letters blur or disappear completely.
“Can you read that line?” The lady asked. I blinked.
“Uh…no,” I said. “What line?”
She looked at me from over the top of her glasses. “You can’t read it at all?”
“Is it a ‘w’?” I asked. My dad and her shared a glance.
She sighed, filed the rest of the paperwork, and as she handed me my permit, said, “Just promise me you’ll get your eyes checked.”
I got my eyes checked, and my dad shook his head and asked why I didn’t tell him I couldn’t see very well.
My answer? I didn’t realize I couldn’t see because it was all I was used to seeing.
What do you see?
Unless you’re blind, asleep, or dead, you’re always going to be looking at something.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Sometimes, we’re so used to something that we don’t even realize that our focus is on that thing instead of what we should be looking at.
The question is, what are you looking at?
It might not feel like you have a choice. There’s a lot going on in the world right now. A lot of bad. Wars, and rumors of wars.
It’s not hard to find what the enemy is doing in our culture—and it’s important to talk about those things. It’s important to talk about the lies he convinces us of, so that we can fight them back.
But finding out those lies, educating yourself on the politics going on around us, the wars. All of it is useless if we don’t also have our attention on God. The enemy has a plan, but guess what? God already won. If we don’t have both extremes, if it’s not both that the enemy is scheming, seeking whom he may devour, and that God has won and we can rest in him…then what’s the point of it all?
Everybody is looking at something.
The question is, are you going to look at what the enemy is doing, or are you going to turn your full attention to God, to his plans, to what He is doing, and praise and glorify him? You get a choice.
Having a hard time reminding yourself to focus on God? Try out my 21-day devotional!