Where we fix our gaze often reveals where we're headed. In the middle of busy schedules, problems, and everyday distractions, it's easy for our focus to drift. But when our eyes remain fixed on Jesus and our eternal home, our lives begin to reflect that destination to the people around us.
Where Is Your Gaze Fixed?
One morning while opening a coffee shop, I noticed something I had probably seen hundreds of times before. The shop sits in a parking lot beside a side road, and when regular customers are approaching, they naturally turn their gaze toward the coffee shop. They aren't trying to find it. They already know where they're going. Their eyes simply move toward their destination.
It made me wonder: Can people tell where I'm headed by looking at where my gaze is fixed?
Proverbs 4:25 says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” The passage goes on to tell us to give careful thought to the path beneath our feet and not turn to the right or the left.
There is something powerful about intentionally keeping our eyes fixed on where we're going.
What Has Been Consuming Your Focus?
Life gives us plenty of things to look at. Our problems, responsibilities, work, relationships, and everything happening around us can quickly become the focus of our attention.
Sometimes we don't even realize how distracted we've become.
We can say that we're living for eternity, but if our attention is constantly consumed by temporary things, it can begin to shape how we see our lives. Our problems can become bigger than they really are, and the things happening around us can begin to feel like they are the whole story.
That's why it's worth stopping every once in a while and asking, Where has my gaze been?
Remember Where You're Going
We talk often about living as pilgrims. This world is not our final home. We are passing through this life on our way to our eternal home with Christ.
If that is where we're going, then our destination should affect our focus.
We don't simply want to talk about eternity. We want our lives to demonstrate that eternity is where we're headed. The people around us should be able to see something in the way we live, even before we ever say a word.
Just like I could recognize where those customers were going by the direction of their gaze, people should be able to recognize something about our destination by what continually holds our attention.
Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
When we become distracted, the answer isn't to become discouraged. It's simply to turn our eyes back toward Jesus.
There will always be things competing for our attention. There will always be problems that need to be dealt with and circumstances that require our focus. Fixing our eyes on Jesus doesn't mean ignoring those things. It means remembering that they aren't our ultimate destination.
Our focus determines so much about how we walk through the ordinary moments of life.
When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we can walk through difficult circumstances without allowing those circumstances to determine our direction. We can remain intentional about where we're going and allow our eternal perspective to shape how we live today.
Let Your Life Point Toward Home
Take a few moments this week to consider where your gaze has been. Maybe you're driving to work, sitting in traffic, waiting at a train, or simply moving through another busy day.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what has been consuming your attention. Have you been looking too far to the right or the left? Have temporary circumstances become the focus of your life?
If they have, simply turn your eyes back toward Jesus.
Our lives are always moving somewhere. And when our gaze is fixed on Christ, the people around us can begin to see the destination we're living for.
So keep looking forward. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your heart fixed on eternity.
Let the direction of your gaze remind you—and everyone around you—where you're going.
