We at Focus Press put out a lot of articles. Between the blog and Think magazine, every month we produce and publish dozens of articles, and just like our friends and fellow laborers in other similar ministries, it’s all aimed at helping Christians grow in their walk with God. Because of this we write on issues like marriage, bringing up children, Christian evidences, ways we can improve our churches, common misunderstandings, and countless other ways we can all improve in our walks with the Father. Personally, I like to focus on bringing attention to things we Christians do out of habit and look for ways to engage our minds so that we might be able to do those things better. Unfortunately, as we zoom in on these individual issues, it can sometimes seem that we’re thinking only about the things we do wrong, focusing solely on issues and getting away from the main point of it all. I’ve received a few comments that while folks enjoy the articles, they feel like there’s a negative aspect, like we’re always coming short somewhere or another and the encouragement can be lost in the midst of it.
While our work will always maintain that focus on growing in those individual areas, we don’t ever want to leave behind the idea that drives it all. What is that idea?
We have been given the inexplicable privilege of serving an awesome, unfathomable, incredible God who loves us and is working daily to conform us to His image.
In every article that talks about ways parents can’t afford to lose focus of the eternal in the lives of their children, at the heart of it is the idea that God has blessed us all with adoption as His children, and He loves the next generation and wants a relationship with them despite the sins they’ll undoubtedly commit just the same as He does with us. In every sermon on how our churches can improve on neglected practices is the foundational point that our Lord loved us enough to die for the church and purchase her with His blood on the cross. In every podcast on how we must do better in confessing our sins is the reminder that God has extended us the grace to forgive us of those sins and remember them no more. As we go from issue to issue and try to reason through the Scriptures as to how we can do better and not get complacent in our Christianity, we as writers, preachers, and speakers along with our readers should constantly strive to keep in mind that God already loves us and isn’t basing it on how well we can do at following Him. Instead, we look for ways to help each other follow Him more closely because of His amazing love.
Sometimes it’s hard to make the men and women in the Bible come to life, but if we consider their struggles and triumphs in faith as parallel to ours we see a God who has cared for His people from the beginning of time. The sovereign Creator who fulfilled (and is still fulfilling) His promises to Abraham is the God who has promised you salvation in Christ. The God who was mindful of Elijah and Job at their lowest points is the God who knows everything you go through and has a plan for you through it all. The powerful Conqueror who brought down the walls of Jericho and slew thousands of oppressors for His people is fighting on our behalf as we follow Him. The loving Father who gave mercy to David in his great sins is the God who sees our sins and is ready to forgive if we are willing to offer a broken and contrite heart. As we think of all of those people, we shouldn’t think of them as statues in some museum of faith, but people who had the same trials and temptations as us. God was there for them, and He’s here for us. How great is our God? How cool (am I allowed to say “cool”?) is it that we get to serve Him, have a relationship with Him, know more about Him, and walk with Him?
So as we at Focus Press and all of our fellow ministries write these articles and give these lessons on ways we can improve, I don’t want the incredible encouragement of this simple yet profound truth to be lost. Despite all of our sins and shortcomings, God loves each and every one of us more than we can ever fathom, and there’s no greater or happier message than that. Because of that we’re going to continue to strive to “be well-pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9) and “exhort one another daily” (Hebrews 3:12), all while living under the blessed assurance that comes from knowing Him.
By Jack Wilkie