Identity and Focus

I believe there is a path of life for each person that leads to joy and fulfilment. While we do not choose the place or circumstance of our birth, we have the power to choose how we live and the journey we make of life. How we choose to live will be determined mostly by what we believe and our particular belief system will create the highest impact in our life. If you believe in Jesus Christ for instance, and you accept that Christ came to give those who believe in Him access to abundant life, then you will believe Him when He said to His disciples, “The glory the Father gave me I have given to you.” When Jesus talks about glory here, he refers to the fullness of expression and manifestation that a life is capable of. The glory of a flower for example is when it is in full bloom, when the petals are fully stretched expressing its glowing beauty under the sun. In every human being, there is a hidden glory, a reason and purpose for life that is rarely realised and fulfilled but that can be fulfilled.

In the Gospel of John, six days before the Passover, Mary anointed Jesus for His burial or glorification, which was the fulfilment of His purpose on earth. He later rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the chagrin of the Pharisees and the praise of the jubilant but fickle multitude. Many sought to see Him because the incredible testimony of Lazarus who was recently raised from the dead after three days was still a headliner in the grapevine. After Jesus had chased out those selling in the temple he said something quite insightful, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Jesus was saying unambiguously that you have to commit everything to becoming who you are destined to be. There are no half measures. The revelation of the glory within you is not dependent on anyone else but you. Jesus says here, follow my example of totally commitment. If you can be totally committed then I will make you into everything God designed you to be. He is called the author and finisher of our faith. It takes a deadly commitment to receive a fruitful commendation.

Jesus taught his disciples the need for a clear vision and focus, he said, "The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:22). He was warning them that without a clearly defined goal and purpose there would be no compulsion for discipline or restraint. The tendency towards procrastination and hesitation or indecisiveness will be unbearably strong. The lamp here refers to our focus or perception of life. Many people will keep going back and forth and end up where they shouldn't be because they lack a clearly defined purpose. The greatest gift we have is our mind, we can think, we can reason and we can make choices. Our greatest problem can also be our mind because many things can easily distract us or compromise our rational thinking process as well as our conscience. We are capable of accepting a truth intellectually but reject it emotionally. We are such complicated beings that we can hold on to lies because the truth makes us uncomfortable. We are also able to lie to ourselves and defend those lies. Eventually, our perception or what we choose to believe will determine the relative value we attach to things and what we choose to invest our time in. Our eyes as lamps are also connected to our conscience. When we know what to do and don’t do it, the inspiration or impetus to do what we can do will gradually be turned to darkness by our procrastination and disobedience. 

The glory of our lives is revealed when we do all that is necessary to make our vision catch up with us and we keep an active conscience; we will always find our way back to the original blueprint for our life if we learn to keep a clean conscience that is not afraid of the light. God wants you to clarify your vision because until then you cannot become a candidate who can advance with Him. He gives grace to those who humble themselves to discover their purpose and find their path before they start to run. If you pause from reading this for a moment, can you write down the 10 most important things to you right now? Can you whittle this down to the most important three? From this list can you identify the topmost priority?

Fulfilment often begins with a clearly defined identity and self-awareness; self-awareness is what helps us to provoke a God vision. If you are not clear about who you are, you can begin to substitute habits and reflections in the social mirror for your identity. You have to know who you are and that is the objective of that exercise. You have to know who you are to receive a ‘God dream’ because a ‘God dream’ is usually customized to who you are. This may require some growing up or going through certain experiences but you need to know yourself, do a SWOT analysis. You are the biggest business project on earth. It's a catch 22 thing. Grow up to know who you are and then you receive your God dream.

In Genesis, Jacob had an encounter that changed his life and established his identity. He was a man who ran away from problems. He had cheated his brother out of his inheritance and had to run away, he was conned into marrying two sisters but managed to manipulate Laban’s cattle through genetic breeding to own more than his father in law who had employed him in the first place. He then ran away as was his nature. At the place of encounter his thigh bone was put out of joint, he could no longer run away, he had to face the reality of his future from that day. His walk or character was altered; he became a man who had power with God and with men. You must confront your dark side and work through it to change your walk and your destiny. Gideon too in the book of the Judges had a similar encounter; it was also about his identity and his self-acceptance of his identity in a way that builds confidence.

Self-Awareness will lead you to self-acceptance, it is when you identify what is truly and deeply important in your life and you begin to focus on it that your journey into fulfilment begins. Self-acceptance produces in us the strength to overcome opposition because you suddenly accept the fact that everybody cannot like you. It also helps you to develop the vocabulary to maintain positivity in your internal dialogue with yourself. You must realise that because somebody loves you might make somebody else hate you, and that your gift, uniqueness and vision will attract opposition from people who cannot see or are seeing darkly. Without a strong disciplined focus no one can make the most of life. Jesus had one very clear and well-defined purpose. If you don't begin to identify clear goals and objectives you may get frustrated when you find that hard work is not giving you comparative or commensurate results. Sometimes out of fear, we can refuse to work out the specificity and rather escape into daydreaming or wishful thinking. It is important to know the difference between what you want and what you are good and skilled at doing and then find ways to bridge the gap if there is a need to do so. Find your uniqueness and develop your uniqueness by all means, seek help, find tutors and mentors and pray for divine connections.

The book of wisdom says, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he,” I have turned that around to say, “As a man thinks in his heart so he sees.” How you think will determine what you see. If you don't begin to identify your worth and become aware of your uniqueness you may never generate enough strong desire to fulfill God's vision for your life. God hates indecisiveness so make up your mind about what is most important to you and what you really want and then start generating a strong desire for the end result. This is where faith comes in.

"A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways." - James 1:8

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." - Luke 9:51

The story of Blind Bartimaus in the bible is a true-life story, it wasn’t related as a parable. This poor blind beggar we are told heard a commotion as people thronged around Jesus who was passing by his town. He had heard rumours about the astonishing miracles of Jesus, so when he noticed the change in the atmosphere, and he heard people talking about Jesus as Jesus approached him, he made up his mind that he wanted to be heard. He shouted for attention but everyone around him told him to keep quiet, nobody wants to listen to a nonentity, a common beggar. But remarkably, we are told, this man threw off his garment, which was the way beggars were identified and he ran towards Jesus and shouted the more. He was so determined that before he received his new identity, he rejected the old one, flung it away and boldly advanced towards a desired future. I never heard of a blind man running before but such was the passion and determination of Blind Bartimaus that he ran towards his destiny, he despised the naysayers who tried to keep him down, he would rather run and fall and get up again. He had heard something that he believed in and was willing to risk everything to get it.

The Woman with the issue of blood is a similar story; this was a weak infirm woman who after twelve years of haemorrhaging had exhausted her resources with physicians trying to find a cure. She also heard of the miracles of Jesus and determined in her heart that she was going to change her circumstances. She broke through the cultural barriers that demanded her to cry out “unclean” because of her condition, she despised the intimidation of the crowd and those thronging masses who were merely there for the excitement of being there. She had a purpose, she was focused and determined in her heart for one thing and she got it. These are two real life stories of people who made a firm decision and backed it up with action. The victory began on the inside. They saw it first before they received it.

Three things will continuously direct our lives and control our future, these are focus, perception and resultant actions. Once we start to focus, focus will put a demand on us to develop a plan for what picture our focus brings up. Planning will lead to preparation because everything that becomes great is prepared for. When you decide on what you want, you initiate a chain of events and indicate to God your willingness to make His will happen. Something you don't plan or prepare for will rarely take place. It is the choices we make on a daily basis that define our ultimate destination. Where you stand in your heart will dictate eventually where you sit. At the foundation of every successful vision lies the kind of person you are. The kind of person you are will eventually determine the height you can attain and your faith in God will determine how fast you realise the vision. Be real and be the best you can be. Resurrect!

Dr. Peter Adegbie