“Let the eye be fixed and not wandering; let it not rove after every thing that presents itself, for then it will be diverted form good and ensnared in evil. Turn it from beholding vanity; let thy eye be single and not divided; let thy intentions be sincere and uniform, and look not asquint at any by-end.” We must keep our eye upon our Master, and be careful to approve ourselves to him; keep our eye upon our rule, and conform to that; keep our eye upon our mark, the prize of the high calling, and direct all towards that.” – Matthew Henry
Proverbs 4:25 says, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” (ESV)
Over the past few weeks, one word has been really hitting me. It’s been slapping me during my periods of relaxation. It has been kicking me under the table in the middle of my exams. It’s been twisting my ear in the middle of sermons.
FOCUS!
It’s such a simple command. It’s only one word. Yet I struggle with it, and I know many of us do. Sometimes it is even hard to realise how much we struggle with it. Sometimes, how busy we are stops us from realising our lack of focus on any one particular thing.
We spread ourselves so thin because we have no focus. We try everything and anything because we have no focus. We aren’t focused.
What are you focussed on? Why do you do what you do? Where is this path leading to? Are you still on the right path, or have you veered to the left? (Right – left, ha, never mind)
The wise man knows where he is headed and maintains his focus on the goal. The fool gets distracted by allurements that call to him from off the path (Prov. 17:20).
Often, once the eyes are indulged, they are never satisfied (Prov. 27:20). All it takes is one look. One peek. One lingering glance. And their appetite will be craving for more. They say it is not the first look that creates sin, but the second, lingering look.
I remember being in a Bible Study and a young man asked something along the lines of:
“At what point does appreciating beauty turn to lust?”
And I don’t remember what answer he was given, but I’d argue its at that point where the glance turns to a lingering look of lust.
There’s noticing someone is beautiful. Then there is that extended look. Those repeated glances. Trying to catch their eyes.
Or let’s flip it. When you’re on the receiving end, yet you choose to hold that prolonged eye contact, as if inviting them to look further and longer.
And I’m guilty of this. I may try to excuse it by saying, “Guy or girl, I’m not trying to be the first to look away,” on a childish vibe. But I do not know what is going on in the other person’s mind. I don’t know what kind of thoughts I am enabling.
But…getting back on track.
I lost focus.
Proverbs 4:25.
How do we let our gaze be fixed straight in front of us?
One excellent way to let your eyes look directly ahead is for us to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2+)
The verb for fixing in Hebrews 12:2 is aphorao means to look away from all else and to look intently toward a distant object, in this case the best object, Jesus!
The idea is to direct one’s attention without distraction. The idea is putting some things away (behind) to go with a forward-gaze.
To close, C H Spurgeon says…
“If a man is to let his eyes look right on, and his eyelids straight before him, then he is to have a way, and that way is to be a straight way, and in that straight way he is to persevere. You cannot see to the end of a crooked way. You can only see a small part of a way that twists and winds. Choose, then, a direct path which has an end which you dare think of and look upon. Some men’s lives are such that they dare not think of what the end of them must be. They would not long pursue their present track if they were forced to gaze into that dread abyss, which is the only possible close of an evil course. The way of transgressors is hard in itself, but it is hardest of all when we behold their dreadful end.
Every wise man will conclude that the best way for a man is the way which God has made for him. He that made us knows what he made us for, and he knows by what means we may best arrive at that end. According to divine teaching, as gracious as it is certain, we learn that the way of eternal life is Jesus Christ. Christ himself says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”; and he that would pursue life after a right fashion must look to Jesus, and must continue looking unto Jesus, not only as the author, but as the finisher of his faith. It shall be to him a golden rule of life, when he has chosen Christ to be his way, to let his eyes look right on, and his eyelids straight before him. He need not be afraid to contemplate the end of that way, for the end of the way of Christ is life and glory with Christ for ever.”
My Sunday Skl 