CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 745

“Eyes Front”

 Proverbs 4:25 (ESV)  Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

———————————————————————————-

Keep your eye on the ball!  Watch where you’re going!  Keep your eyes on the road! Eyes front!  There are constant reminders in life, whether in sports, walking, driving, or marching, to focus ahead.  The truth of God’s Word found in the Bible underscores the eternal wisdom and necessity of ‘fixing our eyes’ in the proper direction.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith – Heb 12:2

What is your purpose in life?  What motivates you and drives your day to day decision-making?  Do you have an eternal perspective and outlook or are you consumed with the temporal things of this world?  What are your eyes fixed upon?

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2 Cor 4:18

It is so easy to become distracted in life.  We are constantly being bombarded with temptations to trip us up and get us to change our focus. Eyes front!

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. – Prov 4:27

Soft core pornography has become the norm on billboards, magazine and television ads.  Many times we cannot escape seeing it.  However, we can decide not to dwell on it or take a second or longer look.  Eyes front!

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. – Psa 101:3

We see coworkers, neighbors, church members that drive expensive cars, have nice outfits and luxurious homes and we lust after what they have or gossip maliciously about them. Eyes front!

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. – Eccl 4:4

And he (Jesus) said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15

In a recent Olympics competition, as the lead runner approached the finish line, he turned his head to see where his closest competitor was.  This cost him precious fractions of a second and he failed to win the race.  Paul, in his letter to the church in Philippi, uses such a competitive metaphor to illustrate the focus we need to have on living our lives for the one true prize.

…one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Phil 3:13b-14

May you hear and obey when the Holy Spirit quickens you with an ‘Eyes front!’ command whenever you are tempted by the distractions of this life.  May you press on with passionate focus on the only prize that matters: an eternal loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Close in prayer, thanksgiving & dedication of your work to the glory of God