What's Your Focus

“Magic Eye” pictures
You and I have seen them in the Sunday comics and on book counters,
These pictures look like a mess of colored dots and lines.
Supposedly, if you stare at one long enough
a picture will emerge.
People either see it or they don’t.
Those who see it, … are thrilled.
The images appear three-dimensional.
It’s as if the picture is jumping out at you.

No matter how long I stare,
I cannot come up with the image.
My son would say, “Stop looking so hard.
Relax.”
How can you relax when everyone seems to be seeing something
and you can’t!

Supposedly it has to do with focusing.
If you stop looking at the dots and the lines
and focus on the whole image at one time,
then you will be able to see what is “hidden”.

The lesson for today is about focus,
about how we look at our lives.
Jesus suggests that his followers can see the world (and themselves)
differently than other people do.
It’s not a magic trick.
It’s a question of focus.
Where is our focus in life? on ourselves or on God?
The lesson suggests that we need to be focusing on God
And that focus doesn’t come automatically either.
It’s a perspective we must be encouraged to adopt,
one that we may be inclined to abandon
unless we are continually re-encouraged to adopt it again.
Paul calls it being heavenly-minded.
“set your minds on things that are above”
Jesus calls it being “rich toward God”.
It involves seeing through the clutter of our lives.
It involves seeing God in the clutter.

The man in Jesus’ parable of the rich fool
is one who sets his mind on earthly things,
rather than seeking the things that are above.
Note the 6 “I’s” and the 5 “my’s” in the story
There is no sense of God’s presence, God’s help,
no sense of the need to help others,
or a sense of gratitude for what God and others have done in his life.
Only “I’s” and “my’s”.
The lesson from Colossians describes this man’s focus: Greed!

I read a story about a young man
who one day accidentally found a $10.00 bill.
This “really made his day.”
In fact, he was so enamored about the unexpected good fortune
that from then on, he spent a lot of time with his eyes to the ground
while he was walking.
He never again found much money, but after 40 years,
here’s a partial list of what he found:
29,516 buttons
54,172 pins
7 pennies
a bent back and a miserly disposition
At the same time,
he lost the glories of the sunlight,
the smiles of friends, the songs of the birds,
the beauty of the flowers and trees, and blue skies

We can get lost in the earthly
if we focus our lives on ourselves, possessions, on getting and having.

The power of the parable lies in what it doesn’t say.
It doesn’t say, for instance, that the rich man as evil or wicked.
It doesn’t say that he acquired his wealth
through dishonesty or exploiting others.
Nor does it say that he used his money in ways that oppressed or harmed others.
It doesn’t even say that he refused to share his wealth
to help the poor or stimulate the economy.
If anything,
he must have been providing funds for farm hands - to harvest the grain
and builders who built bigger barns!

Note that the text does not describe the man’s fate.
There is no eternal torment awaiting him,
as in the companion parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
What happens to him is simply a wasted life.
He is a fool
because he believed that life consisted in abundance of possessions.
He spent his life accumulating things that were only temporal.
It’s as they always say,
“You can’t take it with you.”
This is why you never see a funeral coach pulling a U-Haul.

Jesus is not saying that rich people should feel guilty
about the fact that they have lots of money and property
(assuming it was acquired honestly).
And Jesus is not handing out spiritual rewards to those who are poor,
implying that somehow poverty, in and of itself, guarantees greater spirituality.

The heart of Jesus’ teaching is this:
Rich or poor, what is our focus in life?

The man in our lesson had one significant failing:
he was not rich toward God.
He did not focus on God!

What does that mean?
What would he have done differently if he were rich toward God?
Would he have given half of his possessions to the poor like Zacchaeus?
Would he have built a synagogue,
like the centurion whose sick servant Jesus healed? (Luke7)
Could it be that Luke doesn’t say
so that we have to think about it ourselves.
What would we have done if we were he,
if we were rich towards God?
Any number of actions are possible
that might have resulted from our feeling rich toward God.
What would we do if we were really rich?
If our focus were on God and not ourselves?

The lesson suggests that making a plan for the future
and sticking with it is a good idea.
The question is what plan is appropriate?
This man had a plan.
Someday, he was going to enjoy life,
and say to his soul,
“Eat, drink, and be merry.”
Notably there is nothing wrong with saying this
-Ecclesiastes 2:24, agrees:
“There is nothing better for mortals
than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil.
This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;”

The problem was not that he wanted to relax and enjoy his life
the problem was that he never did it.
Not yet, he thought.
First, I’ll build bigger barns.

Apparently, this man had been rich for some time.
The new bumper crop had only increased his surplus to overflowing.
This fool could have started enjoying life long ago, but he didn’t.
He thought
“Let me get just a little more.”
And then our lesson says,
God came to him and asked him for an accounting of his life.
What had he done?
In the RSV the passage said “his soul was required of him”
Which always lead me to believe that he died,
but the newer NRSV says, “your life is being demanded of you”
which leads me to believe that God is asking for an accounting of his life.
What had he done with all that God had given him?

John Lennon (a month before he was shot dead) put it this way:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
This is a parable about a man who had a plan for life,
but never got around to living it.

Stephen Covey who wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
suggests that the second habit is to “begin with the end in mind.”
Jesus is for strategic planning!
but the man was considered foolish
because God and others were left out of the plan.
We must set goals for our lives,
otherwise our lives are meaningless
We also need to remember to put God first in our plans.

There is a story of a conversation
between a young and ambitious lad
and an older man who knew life.
“I will learn my trade,” said the young man.
“And then?” said the older man.
“I will set up my business.”
“And then?”
“I will make my fortune.”
“And then?”
“I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money.”
“And then?”
“Well, I suppose that some day I will die.”
“And then?”
came the last stabbing question.

We need a plan for our lives
but that plan needs to include the ultimate goal of our lives
If heaven is our focus, life with God in the Kingdom of Heaven
how do live our lives in the meantime?
We make the best use we can of each and every day
enjoying what God has given to us - family, friends, possessions
and work to help others enjoy what God has given them

“I remember when I was a boy,”
the old man mused,
“I was riding on the seat of the wagon with my dad.
We were returning to the farm from town.
He had given me a couple pennies
and I had purchased an assortment of candies.

“When my father saw me rummaging through the sack,
He asked me what I was doing.
I told him that I was look for my least favorite flavor.
My plan was to eat those first
and save the my favorites until last.

“Dad scolded me.
Never do that, son.
Always eat your favorite flavor first.
Then no matter what is left in the sack,
It will be your favorite of the remaining candies.

“I have always remembered those words
and tried to apply the lesson to my life.
Always take the best that each day has to offer.
don’t try to store away today’s joy for tomorrow.
I decided to enjoy my children when they were growing up.
I took vacations and traveled when I was young
rather than wait until I was old.
I have just tried to make the best of every day.”

“Always eat your favorite candy first.
then whatever is left will be your favorite.”

When we put God first inour lvies,
our plans for today and tomorrow and the rest of our lives
reflect on our eternal joy of life with God forever in heaven.
We learn to take today’s joys and enjoy them
not store them up in a barn for some future use
not worrying about possessions
we see family and helping others as our most important priorities in life.
Don’t get lost in gathering up possessions for future us
enjoy today, appreciate God today,
have fun with family and friends
for we never know when today may be the last chance
to love God and family

Amen.