Keep Looking Forward

When I was a kid, I hated getting my hair cut. In fact, when I was a little child, I would throw a tantrum and cry in fear. I don’t really remember what I was scared of, but I was terrified in that chair.

The barber would try to do all the tricks of the trade. He would talk to me, hold my head, tell jokes…anything to get me to settle down. All of it was of no use. I just wanted to be done, and I made that very abundantly clear.

Once, when I was about four or five, I was getting my hair cut, and I was having none of it. I was screaming and going crazy. The poor barber tried everything, and kept up with the task. Finally, it all came to a head. I got so frustrated that I jerked my head…just as he was cutting by my right ear.

You can guess the outcome. His scissors were a little sharper than my ear! Thankfully, only a tiny piece of my ear was cut, but it was cut off. In fact, to this day, that part of my ear has a tiny “notch” in it. You have to look for it, but it’s there. It is a testament of the time I would not simply look forward.

How well that describes our lives when we fail to keep looking forward towards Christ! We are told to look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:3), and to set our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2). Jesus stated, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

But, we do turn our heads. We see temptations around us in this world. We get distracted by all the noise and allure of this life. We get in a tough spot in our Christian life and we begin to act like I did in that barber chair, throwing a little tantrum because things aren’t just they way we might like.

And it hurts us every time.

Thankfully, the cut on my ear is tiny, but every so often I find myself feeling it and remembering that night 3 decades ago. When we turn our attention away from God, the pain might be minor or major, but we will find ourselves remembering that time for the rest of our lives, and it will not be a pleasant memory.

Don’t let the common things of this life cause you to turn your eyes away from Jesus and the life He has in store for you. Keep looking forward!

QUESTION: What are some ways you keep your eyes focused on Jesus?

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photo credit: JogiBear2 from Flickr Creative Commons

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