READ MY LIPS
“Read my lips!” Have you ever heard a parent, spouse or anyone else say to you those words? Usually when a person tells you that, they want your attention. They want you to focus on what they are about to say. In Webster’s dictionary, focus means “a center of activity, attraction, attention, clear perception or understanding.”
Let’s think about some times that we can be focused. My granddaughter, and some girls from my work, are taking college finals this week. Their focus for several days has been on what those tests might have on them and the grade they will get. If, during the test, they are focused elsewhere, they are not going to do well. At church, we are taught that we must focus on Christ’s death, his body and blood, when we are taking communion. We are to be thinking about Jesus and his sacrifice for us and praising God for that. At church, many years ago, when my granddaughter was little, she was sitting by me. During communion, she was rolling around on the floor and being quiet, so I just left her alone. As the communion was being passed to my pew, she stood up, right in the middle of the isle, and her hair was standing straight up on her head! Do you think that I and the people sitting around us, still had that focus? No, we were looking at my precious granddaughter and looking at her little smiling face! I remember as a young mother, that during that time of the church service, there were many times that my focus was drawn to one of my kids, especially when they were little. When a surgeon is in the middle of a surgery, does he try to focus on what he is doing? If I am the patient, I absolutely want him to focus! When I have to be at work in the early morning, I eat toast with peanut butter & banana when I am driving into work. One day, on my first bite, I started to drop the entire thing on the floor. For a moment, my focus was not on driving but on loosing my breakfast. If I had not brought my focus back to the road and the deer that darted out in front of my car, my lack of focus would have caused an accident. Being focused is important!
There is a really good example of being focused in the Bible. Matthew 14:22-33 tells us of a time when some of Christ’s disciples were in a boat, in the middle of the sea and there came a huge storm. The boat was being “tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” Jesus was not in the boat with them because He had stayed behind to send the multitudes of people away and then he went up to a mountain to pray. When this storm came it was dark. All of a sudden, the disciples saw something or someone walking on the water towards them. They became afraid, thinking it was a ghost and “cried out in fear.” The text tells us that immediately, Jesus spoke to them and told them “be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid!” (These words have helped me through many tough times. It shows me that Jesus is there by my side, immediately, when a trial comes into my life. Actually, He has never left our side! He is always there. He was by my side helping me through all the many days that I worked 12 hr. days, then went home to a depressed husband who had been in bed all day or going to the hospital where I had taken him at 4 in the morning before I even went to work. Jesus was there when we had to go through foreclosure on our home and when we had to take bankruptcy because of the huge pile of medical bills.) Jesus has told us that we will have trials but He also tells us that He is right there helping us take one step at a time, one moment at a time, one second at a time!
Then, in our text, we are told that one of the disciples, Peter, said “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus told him to “come.” I have always thought that Peter had a lot of faith to just step out of that boat and head towards Jesus in the middle of this storm. But then we see that Peter took his focus off Jesus, looking away from Jesus at the churning sea. He became afraid and started to sink. He called out to Jesus for help “and immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.” This made me think of, after I found out my husband had died of the surgery, that we had hoped would help him live a much better life. I was sitting just staring at the hospital wall, in so much shock and heartache. All of a sudden, I felt someone hugging and wrapping around my shoulders, what felt like a shawl. I turned to see who it was and no one was there! The truth was Jesus was right there, holding me!
The reason I told this story about Peter was to remind us that God is always there for us. He is always ready to “stretch out His hand and catch us” no matter what is going on in our lives! Even when all we can do is stare at the wall in disbelief. Even when our world comes crashing down around us. Even when we feel we are all alone, He is always there. We just need to bring our focus back to Jesus! He should be on our mind and heart throughout the day. Even if there is no one else who will listen to our hearts, He is always listening. We just need to turn our focus back to Him and make Him the center of every decision, every choice, every marriage, every rough time this cruel world sends our way.
Jesus told Peter to “come.” Matthew 11:28-29 tells us to come to Him. “Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” We just need to turn our focus back onto our Savior and He has promised us that He will take care of us.
The next time someone says “read my lips” and they are trying to pull us away from God, put your focus back on who we should always have our focus on and who we are to always turn to when the world starts tossing us around in the sea of this life. When you feel that you are being pulled down and drowned by the struggles of this life, turn your focus back to the only one who can save us! God will help adjust our “vision” of what is swirling around us. He will help our attitude to change towards those contrary “winds” of our lives!
Stay focused on who and what really matters! The world puts focus on so many things other that Jesus. But when we put Jesus in the center of our focus, life becomes so much clearer! He helps us to have an attitude adjustment! Thank you, God, for always being there!
May God bless your life with clearer focus! Till next time!
Keela