Lately I've caught myself spending more and more time sitting in front of the computer, scrolling through my smart phone, or – as embarrassing as it is to admit – simply standing idly watching a television show that I care nothing about. There's just something about the flashy, new technology and entertainment that attracts people, and there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that it will only get worse.
Sure, there's nothing inherently wrong with being entertained, but I can't help but feel like we as believers are robbing ourselves by spending so much time seeking the entertainment. After all, we are called to a higher mission, as 2 Timothy 2:4 states:
"No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."
So how do we "detangle" ourselves from the world that is constantly crying out for our attention?
In 1918, a missionary read a tract entitled "Focused" to a friend, Helen H. Lemmel, that contained the answer to that question. The tract stated, "So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."
Ironically, Lemmel was blind, but her soul was deeply impacted by the words she heard. She immediately began to write and sing in her soul the chorus of the hymn now known as "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" (which can be read and heard here). She wrote the verses within the same week.
Do these words have the same impact on your soul? I pray that we would all be willing to stop looking around and start looking to Christ, the One whose radiance is brighter than any flashing lights this world has to offer.