Focused

Hebrews 11:24-26, "It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward." (NLT)

Millions of people watched the NCAA Basketball Championship game last night  and a large portion of that number were located in the state of Kentucky. People were cheering for their favorite team to win the game so that they could be declared the "Champions." But the only participants in that sporting event who could actually win the game were the players on the basketball court. Many of those players have been involved in the game of basketball since they were a child. Would you like to have a dollar for every time that they have shot the ball, dribbled the ball, passed the ball or ran up and down the court? 

But there is another element to the game that they had to learn. They had to develop the element of "focus." They had to learn that the missed shots, missed free throws, the rebounds that they should have grabbed and the games that they could have won had to be put out of their minds and "focus" on the game at hand. Christians have to remind ourselves of the need to focus on those things that God has planned for our lives. We can easily remember our failures, our "what could have been", our "what should have been." We all have endured those moments of "why me" and those moments of "how can I get through this moment?" 

We can learn a valuable lesson from the decision making process of Moses. The Word of God shares that lesson in v. 26, "He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward." How long has it been since we thought of the reward of serving Christ? How long has it been since we have thought about the blessings that are provided for us as we serve Christ? How long has it been since we looked at our future and not our past? Moses took the better route and I believe that is time for each to remember that serving Christ is the better route!!!