Keep Your Eye on the Ball!

“This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.” 1 Timothy 1:18-20

The tennis instructor told her students, “I want your eyes so fixed on the ball that when it crosses the net you can see the name imprint.” This is truly a “fixed focus.” It is also the way God calls us to live. Nothing should impair our concentration toward Him.

Paul describes how Hymenaeus and Alexander allowed this very thing to happen. Once counted among the faithful, a yielding glance at something other than Jesus Christ delivered a devastating blow to their Christian walk. Paul rebuked their blasphemy: “I have handed [them] over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20). Apostasy sears the conscience and dilutes our devotion.

“Paul warned Timothy,” writes Warren Wiersbe, “the only way to succeed [is] to hold fast to ‘faith and a good conscience’....Professed Christians who ‘make shipwreck’ of their faith do so by sinning against their consciences.”

Many times it is far too easy to resist His correction by failing to heed His warning. Make sure your spiritual focus is solely on Him, then all you do and say will fall in line with His purpose and plan for your life.

Program your life by the Word of God.