Focus on Jesus

Last night I watched the Shack movie with my parents and the Habermas's.  I've never read the book, but had heard the book had some things in it that I disagreed with.  But I wanted to see the movie so I could really make a judgement on it.  There are spoilers in this entry so if you want to watch the movie/read the book, don't read further!












------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


There was a scene in the movie that effected me (well, there were other ones to but I want to focus on this one scene).  The main character lost his youngest daughter and was grieving about it and really pissed off with God about it.  So Jesus tells him to go across a lake in his boat.  When the main character (Mac) is about half-way there, his boat starts to break and he's sinking in the water.  There's black oil-like stuff around him.  Jesus starts walking towards him on the water and says "Look at me!  Focus on me!"  As soon as Mac starts doing that, the boat starts to repair and the oil in the water disappears.

I've been told by a couple people that I focus too much on my pain and sorrows, and not enough on Jesus.  The thing about depression is you really do feel like you're drowning.  I've used this metaphor before because it describes depression very well.  Often times we get so caught up in our problems, we lose sight of Jesus.  Jesus wants to help us through our struggles.  We can't get through them on our own.  It's too heavy of a burden to bear on our own.  Only Jesus can truly help us with that.  If we don't rely on Him, we WILL sink.


We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.


Hebrews 12:2

Fix our eyes on Jesus.  This is SO important!  We can't tackle our struggles without Him.  So why tackle them without Him?  Focus on Him, fix your eyes on Him.