[RE] Focus

In a distracted world, what we need right now is focus. We need to have the kind of focus that brings clarity to confusion. We also need the kind of focus that separates the essential from the non-essential, the real from the outrage. Paul was now an old man when he was in prison in Rome. He was far from home. He was awaiting execution. Everything has been taken from him — his friends, his freedom, his ministry, even his privacy, with a guard chained to him 24 hours a day. It wasn’t exactly a happy time for Paul. But there was one thing they could not take away from Paul: his purpose. Paul made the choice to stay focused on his purpose, even when he had lost everything else. What was Paul’s purpose? Serving God by serving others, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and discipling others around him. Frank was a Jewish psychiatrist who was taken to one of the death camps in Nazi Germany. All of his family and all of his friends were gassed and murdered. He talks in his book about one day when he stood in front of the Gestapo stark naked. They’d taken away the prisoners’ clothes and even Frankl’s wedding ring. He stood there with nothing at all when he suddenly realized there was one thing the Nazis could not take away from him: his choice in how he would respond. You cannot control what other people do to you. You cannot control what life throws at you. But you can control what you focus on! Your mindset determines your mission. What’s your mindset?