Keeping Your Focus On Christ

Life brings a host of difficulties and trying times, and even in days of calm, we tend toward busyness.

Daily, we navigate the challenges, and in the process, we are apt to lose focus on the things that are most important to us—especially the One who is our everything.

Charles Spurgeon penned a few words that put this important truth into perspective:

“If Christ is not all to you He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Savior of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything He is nothing to you.”

Can we all say, “Ouch!”

I’m no stranger to this struggle, and as I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately, I’d like to share three areas that we, as homeschooling parents, can make specific and attainable changes in order to keep our focus on Christ and to center our lives on Him.

Our relationship to Christ is of central importance. Prayer and the reading of His Word are the life-blood of our faith. We cannot know Christ aright nor can we grow as Christians if we neglect to walk with Him. We have emptied ourselves of grace and strength.

If this is one area you struggle in, you are not alone! But this day determine to walk with Him. Even fifteen minutes spent in prayer is time worth spent. Ask Him to create a desire in you to know Him more, to seek Him with all your heart. Confess your sins, your weaknesses, your struggles. Pour out your heart to Him. Beloved, He cares for you!

Make it a habit to pray every day, all day as it comes to your mind. Write down your prayer requests in a notebook and carry it with you wherever you go. Your prayers need not be lengthy or elaborate but heartfelt.

Spurgeon noted, “Prayer irrigates the fields of life with the waters which are stored up in the reservoirs of promise.” How true this is!

In the Scriptures are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Cornelius Van Til said, “The Bible is authoritative on everything of which it speaks. Moreover, it speaks of everything.” We are meant to dig into it, to discover the jewel that is Christ, and to learn to apply its principles to every area of life. The Bible is a great source of wealth!

Begin making a change in your life. Saturate your heart and mind with Scripture. Write out verses and post them on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror, on the walls, everywhere! Select a passage and meditate on it, asking the Spirit to lead you in all wisdom.

Make it a daily habit—as you rise in the morning, as you sit down at the table, as you get ready for bed.

Just a few minutes at a time, pray over His Word and ask that you would hunger after righteousness—that you would desire to know Him more, to love Him more, to serve Him more. Beloved, be assured He will indeed answer such a prayer with a resounding, “Yes.”

Carry over your desire to seek communion with Christ into your family. Set aside a time daily, perhaps after dinner, to read from the Bible and pray. Family worship is another important area we, as homeschooling parents, can pursue to put our focus on Christ. If you feel so inclined, sing psalms and hymns, read from a devotional book, or discuss a particular passage from the Scriptures. Encourage your family to pursue this change daily. Worship should be an integral part of our daily lives. Everything we do should seek to glorify God!

Finally, let your focus in homeschooling be on Christ! It is not enough to give the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords a cursory glance as we nurture our children. Saturate your children and your homeschool in prayer. In every subject you teach, learn how to apply the principles of Scripture. What does God have to say about communication? About history? About mathematics? About economics?

Learn to think Biblically about these things and incorporate them into the classroom.

For more information, I highly recommend R. J. Rushdoony’s book on the Christian curriculum.

Do not be discouraged. If you have failed in times past, rest assured that many of us have. Ask for wisdom and a renewed heart to seek Him. If your desire is that you keep Christ as your focus, you have every assurance that He will graciously answer.

Cheryl L. Stansberry is a Reformed Christian (OPC) writer with a desire to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of the people. She homeschools her four children out on the eastern plains of Colorado.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ~ Joshua 24:15b http://www.crossandquill.com/journey