Focus on the Good

I heard a prominent pastor once say that life isn’t best described as hills and valleys, rather railroad tracks. It’s not so much that there are highs and lows in life as much as there are simultaneously good things and bad things happening in your life. I’ve found that to be true in my own life. And in this blog post I want to encourage you to focus on the good. In any situation there are good things to focus on and bad things to focus on. Choose to focus on the good. Today, on Easter Sunday, some truly awesome things happened. We had a brand new record high attendance of 381, we had 21 first time guests (many of whom are completely unchurched and far from God), and 8 salvations. One first time guest told me after service how application the message was and that we’d probably see him again. Someone else wrote me saying “Loved the message this morning!” Yet another person texted me “Thanks so much for that message this morning. Certainly what I needed to get me motivated to go back to work after vacation.” Additionally, we added some really cool lighting elements to our stage that we’ve been wanting to do for a while (progress!). I could go on and on with all the good things that happened today. But you know what, a couple bad things happened today too. And while it’s tempting to focus on the bad things that happened, I’m choosing to focus on the good. I’m going to think about the good stuff. I’m going to talk about the good stuff. I’m going to praise God for the good stuff. I don’t have time to get bogged down in negativity. No matter what we do, some people won’t like it. Not everyone liked some of the things Jesus did and not everyone will like some of the things we do. But there are many who love what we do (particularly those far from God - and that’s who we’re trying to reach). So stay focused on the good God is doing in using us to reach those far from God. Don’t give another thought to complainers, malcontents or the things that didn’t go just right. Look ahead, stay positive and focused on reaching lost people for Jesus.