Focusing on What Matters

As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe 
yourselves with compassion, kindness, 
humility, gentleness and patience.

— Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

I don’t know about you, but as the years pass and technology speeds up and change seems to be the only constant, I sometimes have trouble determining where to focus my time and energy. When the daily news floods our consciousness with fearful images of natural disasters, war, and hunger, how do we focus on what really matters? 

Colossians 3 offers guidance on how followers of Christ should focus their attention. Setting our “minds on things above” means prioritizing “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” and forgiving one another (vv. 2, 12). In this issue, writers share their own experiences of maintaining focus on what matters: nurturing God’s gift of friendship, persevering in prayer even when hope wanes, finding ways to ask for and accept help, and paying close attention to how God is working in the world. 

There is so much to care about and for in this world, and all of it feels weighty and worthy of our time and attention. But we each have a finite amount of time and energy to offer. Thankfully we belong to the one body of Christ, and each of us has unique gifts and abilities to offer the world. Focusing “on things above” might just mean finding where our gifts match the needs around us and pouring our time and energy into compassion, kindness, and patience in that place, trusting our fellow members of the body to care for what we cannot. Where is God leading you to focus your attention and energy? What practices will allow you to follow God’s call and keep your focus “on things above?”