14 Ways to Keep Your Focus on the Things That Matter Most in Life
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Life has plenty of challenges, and living in a state of confusion doesn't make a day go any easier—or be more fruitful. Here are fourteen ways, along with corresponding Bible passages, to keep your focus on the things that matter most in life.
1. Begin each day remembering God's blessings.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. (Ps. 143:8)
2. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and get a good night's sleep—you'll be well rested and better able to complete your pursuits.
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It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Ps. 127:2)
3. Follow Jesus' example and start your day by praying to your heavenly Father.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35)
4. Remember the Gospel.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
5. Read your Bible daily and go to church on Sunday to hear the preached word of God.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Tim. 3:16)
6. Remember your consequent duty as a child of God to strive to honor your heavenly Father in your daily comportment.
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Rom. 6:13-14)
7. Know what your responsibilities are—and fulfill them.
Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds. (Prov. 27:23)
8. Be organized—plan ahead so you will be prepared.
"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’" (Luke 14:28-30)
9. Don't overcommit yourself—God will give you the time you need to complete the work he has for you to do.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Eccles. 3:1; see also Eccles 3:2-8)
10. Be diligent like the Proverbs 31 woman.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. (Prov. 31:13-16; see also Prov. 31:10-31)
11. If possible, try to take some time each day to enjoy the simple daily pleasures of life God has given to you.
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. (Eccles. 5:18)
12. Put people first—don't vainly strive for excessive wealth and achievements.
Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. (Eccles. 4:7-8)
13. Consider implementing a simpler lifestyle as is practical for your particular circumstances.
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (2 Cor. 1:12)
14. Remember that this world is passing away—keep your focus on the things that will last.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:16-17)
This article was originally published on July 26, 2018.