cheap imitation

Today at church it really hit me that Jesus, showing His humanity, asked God if the cup (God's wrath) could pass from Him but Jesus made it very clear that it wasn't what He wanted but rather what God wanted.  "Yet not what I will, but what you will."  (Mark 14:36b)  That hit so close to my heart for some reason this morning.  I wrote down the question: How many times do I say, "Not what You will but what I will."  Instead of getting it the other way around I ask for my will, not God's.  


That breaks my heart because I know it's not just something that I struggle with - it's something humanity struggles with.  Our perspective is off.  We view the world around us in such a limited way.  We say "this is what I want and this is what will make me happy" but we choose the wrong thing(s).  Instead of lasting happiness and security, we pick things like wealth which diminishes, beauty which fades, and momentary pleasure which stops satisfying much to quickly to be of any good.   Sure, these things seem like the answer at the time, but they are quickly exposed for what they truly are - a cover up.  A band-aid.  A cheap imitation.

We have to re-focus; adjust our perspective to put Christ at the center.

I love photography and when you take a picture, what you focus on is so important.  In fact, it shapes the entire point and purpose of the photo.  When I look at a portrait I've taken and notice that the eyes aren't in focus it pretty much ruins the while picture.  What good is it if the ear is in focus but the eyes aren't?  The same is true with our walk with God.  What good is it if we have only one aspect of our relationship with God in focus while everything else is left blurry?  


I want to sharpen my focus on the important things, the things that make up the picture.  It wont help me to hone in on certain aspects of my life if Jesus and the cross are out of focus.  I hope that my passion for taking photos will help me to remember where my focus needs to be.  Every time I got to take a shot I want to be reminded that the same idea will be helpful in my own life.   Focusing on Him will lead me to put everything else into focus.