Focus Forfeits Failure

UV 1359/10,000 Focus Forfeits Failure
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Philippians 1 v 20

A magnifying lens collects and focuses the rays of light of the sun on a focal point- particular limited area so that it gets the warmth, the heat and catches fire in due course. When we focus, we forfeit failure and misery. Similarly, each of us is expected to be a magnifying lens for the light of Jesus to be collected and focussed in an intensified degree on the dry faith and hope of the hearts and souls of people so that they feel the warmth of Jesus, the heat of the Holy Spirit and in due course, their lives too catch the fire. It is a creative fire- a limited and controlled experience of divine energy. It is an irony that the sun which is such a mighty ball of fire can make use of a tiny magnifying lens to focus and magnify its heat. Similarly, the mighty Son of God uses you and me as a magnifying lens. We magnify Him in all the positive and good that we think, speak and do. We also diminish Him in the negative things we think, speak and do. When we are unduly proud, we are put to shame. When we fail, we are ashamed. When we boast without justification we will be embarrassed when our claims are found to be empty and vain. When we are disappointed in our hope, we are ashamed. When we are confused or understood something wrongly and we are proven wrong, we are ashamed. When we are deceived or deluded, we are ashamed. Focus forfeits failure and defeats fear. We should so live that we ought not to be ashamed in anything that we have spoken or done. We will not be ever ashamed if we are sound in our knowledge and practice of the Word. A testimonial life magnifies the name of the Lord. The word is magnified by the focus of faith into actions, the actions are magnified into experience of blessings and the experience is magnified into exaltation of the Lord, the Sun of Righteousness.

It is our earnest faith and sincere hope in Christ that needs to be fanned into full flame in our hearts and souls. We must not let go of the handle of the magnifying lens- rationality and good sense. We need to be confident and bold in our witness of our faith. We need to spend time in waiting with expectation for the Lord’s grace and glory to manifest in and through our lives. We should set our faces like flint or be determined to do the will and word of God. The Word is much bigger than us. We can hide in Him. Yet He humbles Himself such that we can hide His Word in our hearts and souls much like solar panel batteries store up the energy as the sun shines and releases it whenever required. We need to store energy when the sun shines and not make hay while the sun shines. Making hay while the sun shines implies to live and work only for our own selfish gain and self gratification without a larger purpose in life. It is such hay that catches destructive fire when the sun’s scorching heat hits it.

Nothing we say about the Lord as we try to magnify Him in our lives is empty boast. For He is always able to do much more than what any man can boast. We are able to magnify Him better and more when we are clear and not confused about our beliefs and the teachings of the Lord. We can magnify the Lord by growing and increasingly using the gifts, talents and abilities the Lord has given us freely. We can also magnify the Lord by amplifying the whisper of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. In order to magnify, the lens should be kept clean and unbroken. We need to keep our lives clean and whole in order to magnify the name of the Lord. When we magnify the Lord with continual praise, worship and thanksgiving, He enlarges our vision, our lives, our blessings and our impact. We can magnify the Lord in our lives as in our death as nothing that happens to us, nothing we do or experience will be in vain or purposeless.

Prateep V Philip