Livin Lively

By Peggy Lively

            At the conclusion of our Church’s Vacation Bible School, we had a family celebration service on Sunday morning focusing on what the children had learned during the week. The preschool children had learned a new song with hand motions, so they all went up on stage to sing for us.

            As they began to sing and move their arms with the words, there were a few of them that lost their focus. They had caught sight of the big screen behind them that was zoomed in on them on the stage. They were so mesmerized with looking at themselves, that they froze and completely missed out on their performance.

            As I watched this, I thought about how easy it is for us to focus on ourselves and forget what our purpose is. We can get so distracted with our needs, our problems, and our agenda that we forget our focus should be on Jesus. Even Jesus’ disciples lost perspective at times by focusing on themselves. We see this happen to John in a passage of scripture that is particularly funny to me.

            Peter and John had just been told by Mary Magdalene that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb; the tomb was empty! So the men took off running to see the tomb for themselves. As you read these verses, keep in mind that the “other disciple” is John, and he is writing this:

“Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.” (John 20:4-8)

            John is writing about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the empty tomb! Yet he finds it necessary to let us know 3 times in 5 verses that he outran Peter to the tomb. (I can hear my children saying, “I got there first!”) I’m not sure if he wanted us to know he was a faster runner than Peter or if he just wanted credit for being the first disciple to get to the tomb. Whichever it was, he got a little sidetracked from the main thing by focusing on himself.

            John wasn’t the only disciple that got distracted by focusing on himself. In another passage of scripture we read: “[The disciples] came to Capernaum. When [Jesus] was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.” (Mark 9:33-34) The disciples were walking with Jesus, the only perfect man to live on this earth. But they chose to distance themselves from Him just enough so that they could discuss which of them was the greatest.

            It is a little comforting to know that we are in good company with Jesus’ disciples when we get too focused on ourselves. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are doing it. Because it isn’t always self-pride and self-promotion. Sometimes it can come in the form of self-pity or self-defeat. But whenever we become self-centered, we lose sight of following Jesus and loving others around us. So whether we struggle with self-righteousness or self-contempt, both can easily distract us from our purpose. Instead of looking at ourselves, let’s look to Jesus.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)