Focus, Decide and Go

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

Psalm 25:4-11

Life only goes forward; it doesn't go backward. Learn from your mistakes; don't relive them.

God alone is timeless. He alone can journey to our past mistakes and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we attempt to solve our past mistakes, we are trying to live life backwards and get our mind stuck in a place where we can not physically go. Humility will lead us to ask God to teach us His paths. His path always moves forwards as we leave behind the “sins of my youth.” As we focus on God’s mercy and His great name, He forgives our past and teaches us his path. We have to focus on His goodness if we want to see the path ahead. Our hope has to be in Him and not in our own strength to walk the path.

You choose all of your decisions.

We decide how we will walk down the path and what we will focus on as we move forward step by step. We choose whether we will stumble forward while looking behind us or face the future, trusting God to watch over what lies behind us while guiding us forward. We get to choose whether we remember our sins, making that our focus, or whether we will remember God’s great mercy and love. When we decide to remember our sins, we become inwardly focused on ourselves. If we ask God to forgive our sins and walk forward focused on God, we will become more self-less. Selfishness is a decision, and we don’t have to live that way.

You can change.

Each day we decide where our focus will be. The habit of making God or ourselves the focus of our life will greatly influence what we are inclined to focus on, but we still decide whether or not to follow our habits. We have the freedom and responsibility to adjust our focus and choose our action to align our life with God’s will as revealed in His Word. When we remember God’s Word over the many voices in the world calling for our attention, He will guide our actions and help us change into the person we can become.