“The forest is never so invisible as to those who are lost within.”
— Ben James (2012)
When I first wrote those words fourteen years ago, I was thinking mostly about politics.
Today, I realize politics was never the forest.
It was only one tree.
The forest is anything that consumes our attention until we lose sight of what matters most.
It can be our career.
Our finances.
Our health.
Our relationships.
Our fears.
Our ambitions.
Even our ministry.
The closer we stand to the trees, the harder it becomes to recognize the direction we’re actually traveling.
That’s one of Satan’s oldest tactics.
He doesn’t always have to pull us away from God.
Sometimes he only has to keep us looking everywhere except toward God.
Peter didn’t begin to sink because Jesus stopped holding him.
He began to sink because he stopped looking at Jesus and started looking at the storm.
Martha wasn’t doing sinful things.
She was simply so consumed with serving that she missed the One she was serving.
The apostle Paul wrote from prison with remarkable peace because prison wasn’t the forest.
Christ was still his focus.
The writer of Hebrews gives us the answer in just a few words:
“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”
— Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)
Everything changes when our eyes return to Christ.
The answer isn’t to ignore life’s responsibilities.
The answer is to refuse to let them become our horizon.
When Christ remains our focus, careers find their proper place.
Politics finds its proper place.
Money finds its proper place.
Even suffering finds its proper place.
Because we finally begin to see the forest from above instead of being lost within it.
Scripture repeatedly tells us to lift up our eyes.
Often the greatest miracle God performs isn’t changing our circumstances.
It’s lifting our eyes and changing our perspective.
