What You Constantly Consider

I once heard a preacher talk about scoring a goal at soccer. According to him, you have to constantly look at the goalposts both with your eyes and your mind. Now, I don’t play football or soccer so I cannot dispute his stated strategy. What I do know is that you eventually become what you constantly consider. That is why those who focus on losers soon become failures. And that is why those who focus constantly on Jesus have a tendency to become like Him.

However, not many of us find it easy to focus on Jesus or even that it is a command in the bible. He is the one who authors our faith and the One who has the power to perfect it. Ask yourself what you constantly consider and you will see it is your problem. You see, Jesus is gentle and we can go on with life while we ignore Him.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” is an American proverb that conveys this concept extremely succinctly. The most noticeable problems are the ones to which we pay attention. They are what you constantly consider, not the gentle Jesus. That is because, by their very nature, problems clamor for attention. And because Jesus does not squeak, it becomes very easy to ignore Him and focus on our problems instead.

In that, we are no different than sinners through the ages, starting with the devil. When satan stopped focusing on God and focused instead on himself, he fell and God had to throw him out of heaven. As long as Adam and Eve focused on God, they were free from sin. But as soon as they shifted their gaze to the possibility that God may be hiding something from them, they fell.

Don’t Shift Your Gaze

They looked at the supposed problem and it truly became a problem, one that got them into real trouble. They died, eternally separated from God. Of course, satan helped them to shift their gaze but you don’t always need the agency of satan. All by yourself, you shift your gaze from the solution (Jesus) to the problem, as Peter did.  

Poor Peter, he is the poster boy for wandering eyes but I doubt he is any worse than you and me. As we study Peter’s lack of focus, don’t forget to consider how often your eyes (and mind) wanders from Jesus. Even when you are reading your bible, what you constantly consider may not be the word of God or God Himself.

In any case, we see Peter and the other disciples in deep trouble in the middle of the sea. Just before dawn, when Jesus came to them walking on the sea, they all assumed it was a ghost. And then the Lord spoke comforting words to them to let them know He was not a ghost. You know the story, no doubt. Peter, ever the forward one, wanted to be certain.

And for a few minutes, he did what no one has done before or after – he walked on water. That is, as long as he looked to Jesus. But he shifted his gaze from Jesus to his environment and his problem. And although the bible is silent on that score, shifting his gaze was the only way he could see his problem. He was operating by sight and no longer by faith.

Abraham Did Not Consider His Own Body

Your environment and problem can easily become what you constantly consider when you walk by sight. Naturally, when that occurs, what happened to Peter is very likely to happen to you. He started to sink. Have you been sinking in your walk with God?

The reason Abraham was strong in faith is that he did not consider his own body. As I wrote that, I chuckled because that level of faith is not easy to come by. How can you not consider your own body, the same one in which you go to bed and come awake? It is tough but the man made up his mind not to shift his gaze.

Even if he looked in the mirror, he did not see the body of an old (one hundred years) man. Instead, he saw God, the one who is able to do all things. Little wonder he became the father of faith. Can anyone safely list what you constantly consider or would such a list cause you embarrassment? God will help us. Even in our minds, Paul says we should only focus on things that will glorify God. That is the only way we can have the God of peace with us.

Let Jesus Be What You Constantly Consider

Perhaps you are walking by sight, which is another way of saying you are depending on your five senses to take you through. It cannot happen, just as it did not happen with Peter. Your best bet is to do what the bible commands – Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Don’t shift your gaze from what you constantly consider – Jesus.

In any case, according to the bible, it is a sin to lean on your own understanding. We dealt with that already in our post on the unilateral declaration of dependence. Click here to enjoy it and start letting Jesus be what you constantly consider. If you make Jesus your focus, eventually, you will become like Him. And one day soon, we shall reign with Him.

Maranatha!