Edition 10 - Fixed Gaze In Crazy Days

Proverbs 4:25-27 NIV

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

Collectively we can all actually be on the same page, even for just a moment, when we look at some of the headline cutouts above. We have been overwhelmed with fears, worries, anxiety, distraction after distraction, and a general unworldliness of what is happening around us over the past 3 to 4 years.

It is not farfetched to say that we are living in one of the most unique times in history. God, the Bible, and prayer have been under siege of attack for years and have even been removed from many institutions.

The lyrics and music videos that gain the most popularity these days are riddled with perverseness. In middle school, I recall sneaking my newest Eminem cd into my house and constantly keeping it hidden after my friend's sister rebelled and bought us copies. Even those taboo albums back then do not even compare to the perverseness that children are being exposed to everyday on tv, online, and on the radio. It is right in front of us.

Many who are in the corporate world must tip toe around emails and what is said to one another in fear of losing their job by offending someone even due to context. Do not get me wrong, there is an absolute place for being professional via email and your environment. I represent PEO's (Professional Employer Organizations) that help clients with access to Fortune 500 level Human Resources assistance...so I completely understand that these things are super important. However, outside of normal HR concerns, it feels as if cancel culture has pushed the threat of misspeaking or being under fire to the absolute unknown extreme. It makes it tough to navigate when we are constantly under attack from every angle.

It is a suitable time to read Proverbs 4:25-27 again.

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

What are you focused on in your career, your life, your wants, and your needs? If you were to evaluate your current focus..., would you say that you are totally focused, or somewhat to totally distracted?

Ouch. That hurts a little bit for me. Because it is real. The enemy we face is real, and as we discussed in Edition 9 - The Lies We Tell Ourselves, his tactics lie in distraction. The more distracted we become, the less focus we have towards doing good. If we are constantly distracted, the more likely we are to spill out anger to someone undeserving of it, who just so happened to catch us at the site of the spill over. We/I must constantly be more aware of these distractions and make a change.

How has that been working out for you lately?

If your answer to that is, "Not real well," do not worry. (Philippians 4:6-7)

The good news is that you have the power to change that.

We cannot control the actions of others. We can ONLY control our reactions to them.

Making necessary adjustments in our own lives, though small, can lead to the change we want to see in the world. One influential step at a time. Seek to be an example to others in a world that is in a crazy DAZE.

We must control what we can control. Our day-to-day operations. Keep focused on doing everything you can to better yourself, your family, your business, and your community. It starts there.

Nehemiah 4:14

After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid?of them. Remember?the Lord, who is great and awesome,?and fight?for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

Do not settle for the daze and confusion of this world. Not referring to the Matthew McConaughey version of that...

Instead focus your vision back on becoming everything that you had desired to be prior to these crazy days four years ago.

Pastor of Transformation Church, Author - Michael Todd says,

"We have to have Crazy Faith! God is asking you to take the step of faith in the dark that will produce the faith the world will speak about in the light. Even if we don’t know the land we’re going to, teach us how to wait so that we can get the spiritual maturity and the weight. It is only crazy until it happens."

Keep your gaze fixed forward and have a blessed week!