Stay focused on the task

TODAY'S READING: 1 Timothy 4:6-13
Ok. So did you really think I could write a devo today without talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Well, the Super Bowl is over, the Steelers won, and I am starting to get my voice back. (If you were at the 180 Super Bowl party last night, you will understand.)
If you want to accomplish something, the only way you can really achieve it is if you avoid the distractions and focus on the task at hand. For example, yesterday both teams were focused on the task at hand. Both teams had to practice hard to get there. Both teams had experienced players who were giving advice to younger players. And I believe one of the main reasons the Steelers won was because they stayed focused on the task in the midst of adversity.
Let's be honest. If you were watching they game their offense played horrible for most for the first half. But they did not give up. They did not lose sight of the goal. They remembered what they had trained to do. They encouraged each other. And they weren't distracted by the struggles or anything else around them.
Isn't that what our walk with Jesus should look like? Isn't that what purity is?
I believe we often think of purity as simply staying away from "bad" stuff. But I believe that purity is much more. It is about staying focused on the task at hand. And if you are a follower of Christ, the task at hand is following Jesus.
And what is one of the most effective ways we do that? By being examples to each other. By modeling what Christ calls us to be. Paul offers several ideas of what that is.
What you teach.
The way you live.
Your love.
Your faith.
Your purity.
And before he gets to that point, Paul says that "physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next."
If football players spend hours and hours engaging in physical exercise, why is it we often struggle to find a few minutes each day for spiritual exercise? Is it that our real focus isn't on the most important task at hand?
If those football players practiced as much as many of us read our Bibles, pray, and share Jesus with others, they would not have had a chance to even make it to the Super Bowl. But we, who are fighting a much more vicious enemy in Satan, think that we can win with little or no exercise spiritually. It's no wonder we often give up in the midst of adversity.
I am the first to confess that I must purify my heart more. There are so many things that distract me from serving Jesus. They are not all bad. But are they best? Often the decision is not between good and evil. It is between serving the Kingdom of God and serving the kingdom of self. And when we are poisoned by the impurity of self-centered life we will often struggle to be the Jesus the world needs to see.

shine!
Jason