Ordinary Time

Pause

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Helen Howarth Lemmel in “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” (1922)

Listen

Someone else said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those in my house.”

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.”

Luke 9:61-62

Think

I’ve never been very good at basketball. I’ve been told over and over again how important it is to keep your eye on the basket when shooting. A coach told me once, “You have to see where you want the ball to go. Don’t let anything else distract you.”

I think Jesus would have been a great basketball coach. It seems in today’s passage he is saying basically the same thing. Many people are willing to tell you how to “be a Christian.” However, Jesus reminds the man in the text and us that we have to keep our focus on the most important thing.

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray for that most important thing — “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s it. Our focus has to be on making earth better reflect heaven each day. But be focused. You have to see where you want to go. Don’t let anything distract you.

Dale Tadlock

Pray

Jesus, many times I have prayed the Lord’s prayer and never understood what I was praying.

Help me to not only understand what I am saying, but to live those words.

Help me to be focused on what is most important — your Kingdom. Keep me focused and give me the strength to live those words each day.

May I be the answer to my own prayer.

Amen.

Go

We are travelers on a journey
Fellow pilgrims on the road
We are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ light for you
in the nighttime of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.

Richard Gillard in “The Servant Song” (1977)