What a full day it has been, Father! I kept control on almost every front, but I know that You are by my side encouraging me all along the way. Help me to be attentive to Your direction in all areas of my life. Amen.

Luke 12:4-5 (<<click to read the passage)

An issue that many of us deal with as we traverse the dusty paths of our world is tunnel vision. I’m not speaking of the physical issue some deal with where they can only see what is before them and suffer from a lack of peripheral vision but a metaphorical tunnel vision.

Take high school students, for example. Over time this has become a more acute observance of mine. It has been magnified in that I have been around that particular age bracket more in the last year and a half.

All the pieces and parts of high school are exceedingly important to many of them. It controls most aspects of their lives. Besides home, and possibly church, that is where they spend the vast majority of their time. And if they are active in any extracurricular activities, the time commitment is even greater.

This past year was very problematic for many students, seniors in particular. So much was taken from them because they essentially lost 3 months of normalcy. No normal school routines, no spring sports, no prom, no graduation, no real closure to a big part of their first 18 years of life. Our school did a great job in making the best of a bad situation and most students were grateful but…it just wasn’t the same.

For many of us, that part of our lives is extremely important. We participate in the activities. We get the class ring. We put the money into the school jacket. We buy the yearbook. We fork out the cash for tuxes and beautiful gowns. And of course, we can’t leave out the time, effort, and resources for senior pictures.

There is nothing wrong with any of it. Taking part in those aspects of life gives us great fulfillment and wonderful memories but what happens for many students within a few months after graduation? The school jacket hangs in the closet. The yearbook collects dust on the shelf. The beautiful gown never gets worn again.

As human beings, we tend to have tunnel vision regarding where we are at any given point in time. We all do it and really, it’s hard to see past that point in time. It’s a challenge for us to see very far down the pike. It’s enough to keep up with the “here and now”. The “there and then” will have to wait. It will get here when it gets here. We do our best to prepare for its arrival but 9 times out of 10 when we get there, it’s not at all what we thought it would be like.

So, how does this factor into our spiritual life? If we are honest with ourselves, through a majority of life, where are we going to stand if it comes to a choice between what God would have us do and what we think we should do – or maybe better yet, what do we think others think we should do?

What sways our decision? We don’t want to alienate those we want to like us. We don’t want to disappoint parents or spouses or classmates or work associates, so it is just easier to go with the flow.

But of all the many things we invest our lives into, what will still be there in 5 years or 10 years or 25 years? What will be there, what will carry over when we die? Honestly…very little of it. And in reality, what does carry over is what few of us would think of…

In this passage from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus makes it very clear that we need to get past our tunnel vision. We need to see beyond our scope of sight.

Our lives are important, yes, but even if someone were to take that from us, there is nothing more that they can do. v4

What we should be placing our focus on is the One that after we are dead has authority and power to hurl [us] into hell. That’s pretty strong language for a culture that doesn’t even believe in its existence and even those who do believe, just want to go where all their “friends” are going so they can party on for eternity. But again, we can’t see beyond our own noses.

Hell is eternal separation from the only Person who ever truly loved us, warts and all. It will be a place not of fun and parties but a place of eternal pain and woe. And the saddest thing of all? God will send us there, but it will not be His choice. We will be the ones that chose that destination. It will be our free will that lands us there.

Lord Jesus, help us. We have a hard time seeing beyond the here and now. We do what pleases us with no thought of what inevitably lies ahead. As you said in verse 5, may we [stand in great awe of God and] fear Him for only if we invest in those things that will last beyond death, only if we trust and follow Your leading in our lives…only then will we live life to the fullest here, carrying on with a bounteous life for all of eternity. Amen.

July 9th, 2020, Thurs, 10:18 pm