Focus Week 3

Focus on Giving Something Up

[INTRODUCTION]

Focusing isn’t easy. Whether you’re struggling to focus on school work, the book you’re trying to read, or the new skill you’re trying to learn, here’s what I’m wondering - if you could give something up in exchange for becoming a better focuser, would you?

In exchange for better focus, would you rather give up...

Cereal or pizza?

Data or Wifi?

Your phone or your bed?

All cats or all dogs?

TikTok or YouTube?

Soda and sports drinks or fast food?

Social Media or phone calls?

Video Games or time with friends?

I’m glad we don’t have to choose any of those things, though it wouldn’t hurt to get rid of some of them.

Let’s think about this another way. Let’s pretend we’re all on a desert island. Usually, when people get stranded, they usually don’t have time to plan. But somehow, in our special universe, we gte just enough time to grab three important things. Which three things would you take with you?

do you think...

Some of you focused on your vital needs and chose an endless supply of water?

Others focused on more handy things like bug repellant, a Swiss army knife, or a first aid kit.

And a few of you focused on simply being happy with a book or your fully-charged phone until your rescue came.

The things we choose to hand onto say a lot about what we value, don’t they? But so do the things we’re willing to let go of.

[TRANSITION]

I talked about this a few weeks ago, but what is fasting? Someone explain what they think fasting is.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that’s been around for a long time and is practiced by just about every faith tradition. Fasting simply means giving up one thing, for a set period of time, in order to gain something else.

Fasting often involves giving up food, but giving up foos is not safe, healthy, or wise for a lot of people. Fasting can also mean a period of giving up...

Social Media

Candy

Caffeine

Streaming shows and movies

Or whatever it is that’s distracting you from focusing on God.

Fasting is when you give up something you like, but can live without, in order to focus on something so much more important.

Fasting has been a strategy people have used for centuries to grow their faith. When Jesus was here on earth, fasting was a pretty common way for people to try and get closer to God.

But not everyone used fasting the way ti was intended to be used. Instead of fasting in order to get closer to God or grow their faith, people sometimes fasted to....

Get attention or sympathy

Earn other people’s respect or praise

Impress God

Show off how :”holy” they were.

In the book of Matthew, we find a story where Jesus addresses this with some of his earliest followers. Jesus encouraged them to see fasting differently - not as a routine of religion, but a relationship beyond it.

Read Matthew 6:16-18

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The people Jesus was speaking to had a good amount of experience with religious practices like fasting. They fasted on their own and they saw the religious leaders they looked up to fasting too. So Jesus didn’t need to teach them what fasting was - he needed to help them see fasting differently, because they had lost focus.

Instead of focusing on fasting as a way to get close to God, some people used fasting as a way to put the focus on themselves.

First, Jesus gives a big thumbs up to fasting in general. He wanted people to know they should fast - but for the right reasons. Next, Jesus helps them see what fasting should look like, and what it shouldn’t.

Jesus wanted to help them reset their focus when it came to fasting. The whole point of fasting is to remind us that God can be our source of strength, regardless of what we lack. But it’s not something we do to seem super holy or spiritual.

[TRANSITION]

So let’s say you do want to try fasting. After all, Jesus didn’t say “if you fast,” He said, “when you fast,” like he was expecting us to fast at least once in a while!. What does good fasting look like?> How can we fast in a way that actually helps us get closer to God?

Remember, fasting is when you give up something you like, but can live without, in order to focus on something so much more important.

Whether you’re giving up candy, caffeine, video games, screen time, or something else you really like, it’s not enough to stop focusing on that thing - you have to choose something else to focus on instead.

But here’s the thing about fasting, life doesn’t shift into easy mode when we try something challenging for Jesus. During your fast...

you might start noticing someone’s needs more clearly.

God may speak to you about restoring a relationship or offering mercy to someone who has hurt you.

You might feel compelled to help solve a big problem or join a movement of people in a wya that scares you.

you may see something in your own life standing out in a way you didn’t notice before.

You might see where you need to grow but you’ve been distracted from seeing it - until now.

And you’s probably be tempted to break your fast. Giving something up isn’t easy or fun for very long.

But no matter how difficult fasting can be at times, it’s worth it and there’s help available. God promises to be there through all of it.Whenever you fast, don’t be l

When you focus on giving something up, God doesn’t give up on you. God does the opposite. God shows up for you. So when you’re fasting...

Keep looking for God while you read your Bible, listen to people teach about Jesus, or have conversations with others about what God is doing in your life.

Notice God giving you strength when you are outside or in a place that makes you feel safe or inspired.

Talk to god and ask for help during your fast and through everything that you go through.