Jesus tells us we are not to worry about the material things of this world, but are instead to focus on the eternal. He says we are to seek first His kingdom, not the temporal things of this world. That may be easy to do for a moment or two, but how are we supposed to maintain this fixation?
Visual Fixation
If you have ever ridden a motorcycle, you have experienced the dangers of visual fixation. Imagine riding a motorcycle on a narrow two-lane mountain road. You are enjoying the twists and turns of the trip up the mountain. At the same time, you are fairly nervous as you try to keep you and your motorcycle in the middle of your lane.
This is difficult because there are cars and trucks coming at you on your left. If you let your bike drift too close to the yellow line, you could easily find yourself catching your handlebars on their side view mirror (or worse!).
On your right side is a significant drop-off down the side of the mountain you are climbing. Sure, there is a guardrail that is supposed to keep you from falling, but you are not sure that would help if you ran into it. You are determined not to find out!
Visual Fixation Dangers
This is where visual fixation comes into play. See, if you allow your eyes to become fixed on either side – the yellow line OR the guardrail – then you and your motorcycle will naturally drift toward that point. It will not happen suddenly, but will sneak up on you before you know it.
In an effort to prevent this from happening, you are instead taught not to fix your eyes on any given point. Initially, you may not even take this instruction seriously. However, let your eyes fixate one time on that guardrail and you will quickly find out that this is no joke!
So what does this have to do with maintaining an eternal perspective?
Good question!
Turn To Your Advantage!
My answer is that I think there is a principle in this idea of visual fixation that we can turn to our advantage! Rather than avoiding a fixation on something, I am suggesting that we embrace the idea.
See, I believe that God desires our fixation on Him. I believe that Scripture points us to this fixation and calls us to embrace it. Take a look at these examples:
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
Hebrews 3:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2
The Enemy’s Strategy
I also believe the enemy knows this and is just as determined to prevent it.
If you think about it, everything that is thrown at you by the world is a distraction or decoy. Most often, it is not what it appears. At first, you are led to believe whatever it is will fulfill you, but in the end you realize it only disappoints. This is fine with the enemy. All he wants to do is interrupt your fixation on God!
Fixation On Jesus
If we can somehow use this visual fixation to our advantage, I think you can see what happens. Rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted by the enemy, we focus with more determination on fixating our eyes on Jesus and our relationship with Him.
Instead of getting sidetracked by the countermeasures thrown at us by the world, we choose to glue our eyes on the One that created us and will supply our every need. We do this simply by creating the disciplines in our lives that we know should already be there: Bible study, prayer, small group and one-on-one accountability, etc.
Maybe not suddenly, but over time we will begin to see our lives drift more and more toward God. Over time, our thoughts and actions will begin to reflect an eternal perspective rather than a temporal one. Before we realize it, we are locked in and seeing eternal fruit!
Examples
What would this look like?
You get a bonus in your paycheck and your first thought is not to spend it on a new toy. Instead, without even trying, your mind jumps to an opportunity you recently saw to help someone else. You act on it.
Someone asks to meet you for lunch to discuss a personal issue on the same day you had lunch plans with your best friends. You choose the person in need over your friends.
Business is not great and you are concerned about the end of the month results. At the same time, you are notified that your employee assistance program is paying out more than it is taking in. It doesn’t even cross your mind to shut it down or even decrease what it is paying out. You realize it is simply a cost of having an eternal perspective.
While I would not recommend trying this on a motorcycle, I think this visual fixation could really work in our Christian walk!
How do you maintain a fixation on Jesus?
Have you allowed your fixation to fade lately?
What action steps do you need to take today?
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