Focusing on God

The mind is strong and we possess certain degrees of self-actualisation. But nothing beats God.

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“When considering myself in the grand scheme of things, many worries fade away. The significance of my relevance and validity dwindle when I eventually see the forest for the trees; when I look past small details that grab my attention more than they should. Because when my present moment is my be-all and end-all, I find it really hard to breathe.”

It’s important to look at what is inside you – how it relates to you, how you can make it better, and whether it’s hindering or helping you somehow. But it’s equally as important to look outside of yourself and into things that also matter. Emphasis on the also, absence of an instead. It’s possible for you to matter while you focus on other pressing issues in life.

But beyond that, there is a greater and ultimate importance in focusing on the only thing that created and understands everything, which is God himself. I find peace so quickly when I remember that I have God, the One who created me and the other things I choose to focus on, on my side.

When I was in school, I put it down to a simple analogy. If a classmate and I are revising for a difficult test on a topic that we know we’re not good at, and they don’t have a belief in God or any higher being for that matter, they are relying on themselves and their own strength to help them with the test. Whereas I, with the same lack of self-belief, can put my trust in something bigger and better than myself – I have something else on my side when my human efforts fail.

That’s the foundation for my belief in God. The presence of that extra something is what makes up the 100% I need to approach something with confidence. And sometimes I can’t even bring 1% to the table.

But I digress.

This is all to stress the importance of focusing on something bigger and more powerful than yourself when life becomes overwhelming. The mind is strong and we possess certain degrees of self-actualisation. But nothing beats God.

And all too conveniently, when life brings difficulty and pressure, (sometimes self-imposed), I forget to focus on God – this greater and more capable being.

But when I finally ask myself how focused I am on His undeniable strength and capability, the answer is often very little. So, I shift my focus back to God and the pressure for me to perform fades away because I know He will complete it for me. And there is no need to prove myself to Him anyway.

What this means

So, to refer to what I wrote at the beginning, the small details of life are simply my own resources, and the bigger picture is God. There are benefits to focusing on the grand scheme of things rather than finnicky details, because the control that God has over every situation makes fretting about them pointless.

This can relate to the current desires that I know aren’t a matter of life and death; I consider them in the grand scheme of things and come to realise that they really don’t matter. People won’t care too much about what I’m doing – and if they do, it will hardly affect me. Besides that, my focus on God sets my thoughts in a more wholesome direction.

When sprinting you look ahead so as to not lose focus or slow down. Likewise, in life, I look to God to keep heart and know that everything in life will be okay. He is watching and guiding me, so worry (although natural) is something for me to give less power to. All power goes to God.

Philippians 4:6 (NIV) – Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.