Tunnel Vision

Text: Matthew 6:33

“Tunnel Vision” is one of my favorite Justin Timberlake songs, mostly because of the chorus.

                         A crowded room anywhere

                         A million people around all I see is you there

                        And everything just disappears, disappears, disappears, disappears

                        Yeah, a million people in a crowded room

                        But my camera lenses only been set to zoom

                And it all becomes so clear, comes so clear, becomes so clear.

                        I got that tunnel vision for you…

                        Tunnel vision, I only see you.

Despite the fact that there are other people around Justin, he is only seeing the one he loves. He is eliminating the distractions of the everything around him, just to focus and fully be committed to this girl. This is the kind of love that people want from their significant others because it shows that they are committed to us. Because of this type of commitment, couples are able to receive the benefits of the relationship. We want this type of commitment in our relationships with the ones we love on earth, but it seems that we struggle with this type of commitment with our Father in Heaven.

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” The verse itself is straightforward, but we will dive into it’s meaning a little bit deeper. First, let’s take a look at the second half of the verse, “ and all these things shall be added to you.” What things is Jesus talking about? Going back to verse 31, Jesus was telling His followers not to worry about our necessities (food, drink, clothing etc.) because God will provide them for us. God blesses us with these things, but there are other blessings that we want such as new job opportunities, vehicles, cars, relationships, education opportunities and the like. These things will be provided to us once we seek God first, and focus solely on Him.

The first half of the verse has three keywords: seek, first, and righteousness. Though the words seem to have simple definitions, it is important to truly understand those definitions in order to understand the verse.

• When looking at the word seek, we tend to think that it’s related to the word look. But, the definition of the word seek is more complex than just looking. Look means to direct the gaze, but seek means to attempt to find or achieve. It means to actively search for something, not just fixing your eyes on a certain something.
• The definition of first is coming before all things in time and order. It is something that becomes a priority in your life, nothing ever coming before it.
• When you see the word righteousness, you automatically think that it means something good. According to the Greek definition, righteousness is something that is deemed right in the eyes of the Lord, or God’s judicial approval, not just man’s approval.

With these definitions, the new verse reads: Attempt to achieve the kingdom of God (Heaven) before everything else and the things that are deemed right in the eyes of the Lord. Once you do these things, you will receive multiple blessings.

We want a relationship with the Lord and certainly want His blessings, but we do not put Him first. We prioritize our social and work life over spending time with Him. We also have a nasty habit of coming to Him when it’s convenient for us, which could be when we need something from Him or when we’re hurting. We make our way to church on Sunday, but don’t use the message to strengthen our relationship with God. If that is your relationship with God, that’s perfectly fine! But He wants us to be completely focused on Him so that He can bless us. We ask those around us to dedicate 100% to us, and God is asking the same. This is why we must have a tunnel vision for God. We have to learn to put God before everything else, directing our attention to things that are of Him and learn to please Him so that He may give us the desires of our heart.

It is easier said than done, believe I know. Using the key words from the first half of the verse, I have come up with a few tips that will help you with the tunnel vision relationship with God.

FIRST – Make Him your priority by making your Jesus time the first thing you do before you get your day started. Caution: this could mean getting up earlier in order to read the Bible and prayer. But in the end it’s all worth it.

SEEK – Attempt to achieve the kingdom of God through scripture in prayer. Seek His wisdom through the Bible and pray for Him to guide your steps so that they directly align with the plans that He has for you.

RIGHTEOUSNESS – This one is a challenge. Becoming righteousness may mean altering your music, movie, or book choices. Seeking righteousness could mean fasting from those things for a certain period of time, allowing you to eliminate the distractions of the world and bring you closer to God so you can focus on Him.

What is important to understand is that we must focus less on what God can do for you, and focus more on wanting to live for Him. Once you SEEK Him by coming to Him daily, and put Him FIRST in all aspects of your life, and eliminating the worldly distractions so you can feel yourselves His RIGHTEOUSNESS, He will bless you abundantly.

This is the HARDEST concept to grasp and hardest thing for Christians to do because it requires us to sacrifice the things that we have come to love and focus on, and teaching us to shift our focus to God. It’s a lifestyle change that is difficult but has great benefits. Once we put God first and have tunnel vision for Him, all things will fall into place.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to seek You first. Help us to prioritize you in all things and continue to seek your righteousness. Help us to focus less on what You can do and focus more on our walk with Christ. We know that you will take care of the rest once we shift our focus from the world, to You.

Amen.

For those that need some motivation for putting God first.

 “Gotta Have You” by Jonathan McReynolds

Tunnel Vision Image: https://blog.centralaz.com/tunnel-vision