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Proverbs 4:25 - Keep Focused and Avoid Useless Distractions.Proverbs 4:25 (NIV) Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.INTRODUCTION Our hearts - our feelings of love and desire - dictate to a great extent how we live, because we always find time to do what we enjoy. Solomon tells us to guard our hearts above all else, making sure we concentrate on the desires that will keep us on the right path. Make sure your affections push you in the right direction. Put boundaries on your desires: Don't go after everything you see. Look straight ahead, keep your eyes fixed on your goal, and don't get sidetracked on detours that lead to sin. (See Philippians 4:7 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3 for more on how God guards our hearts.) [Life Application SB 2019] COMMENTARY PEARL One of my favorite things about where my family lives is our proximity to several cities. For instance, Louisville, Kentucky, is only a 2-hour drive. It's home to Churchill Downs, famous for the Kentucky Derby. On a recent visit, my daughter and I watched the horse races. Those beautiful animals appear so smooth as they move so fast. It amazes me that the horses don't run into each other more often, and I know this is due in part to the blinders they wear to keep them from being distracted. I learned something new about why horses wear blinders. Horses interpret surprises as threats to their safety. Blinders guard their field of vision, blocking out fears and thus helping them relax. Blinders guard horses against their own reactive vulnerability, which could cause danger to itself, other horses, and jockeys. This idea of wearing blinders to block fear beyond other distractions made me think about my relationship with Jesus. In a similar way, Jesus invites me to focus on His face and block out fears by trusting Him so I don't react from fallible human instinct. At times I sense Him urging, "Look at Me." When I do, my entire being relaxes. Jesus calms. He wants us to put on spiritual blinders that guard against our own vulnerability to real or perceived threats. In this way, we can live steady and secure. We can't remove every source of distraction or danger. But by focusing on Jesus, we can relax as we live each day with His calming strength. Erin Keeley Marshall Faith Step: What fears distract you? Ask Jesus for spiritual blinders so you can focus on Him. [Mornings With Jesus 2025 Devotional by Guideposts and Zondervan] LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY Job 31:1 - Not to Stare and Sin. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2005/20051130-1137.html Proverbs 4:23 - GUARD YOUR HEART!!! https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240629-0829.html Hebrews 12:1, 2 - FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240125-0725.html LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT https://abible.com/links/ |