Focus for Effect: Love | Mac Hammond
 
Recap
 
Pastor Mac taught the third installment of his series entitled, “Focus on Effect,” based upon 2nd Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The apostle Paul said the hardships in our lives can be light and momentary. It all depends on what we place our focus upon. Paul says we are to focus our attention on what is eternal, rather than what is temporal. There are three things that are eternal: faith, hope, and love. We are to focus on that.
 
Dive Deeper
 
We are not to focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen, on that which is eternal.
 
When something is in focus, we gain a clarity that enables us to better understand.
 
Clarity only comes by what you give your attention to. And that is a battle over our attention: what you hear, what you renew your mind to, and what you think upon.
 
The challenge is to keep your attention where it belongs. There are many things in this world that want our attention. It can be information overload for the purpose of distracting our attention. Some things are good; however, these things should not be our life’s focus.
 
The one thing that should be our focus is the Word of God. You’re an eternal spiritual being, but you live in this world and how to live it successfully is important.
 
Living in this world as a spiritually alive human being, things aren’t always in focus. The Word says we see as though through a glass darkly right now. The temporal realm often contradicts the Word, which makes things “fuzzy.”
 
Seeing things as though through a glass darkly will often generate questions: “Well, why isn’t this working? Why have I prayed so many times and nothing’s happened? Why did I get hands laid on and nothing’s gone down yet?”
 
When you get a question, don’t dwell on it. Questions that are “dwelled upon” become a seed of unbelief which will separate you completely from the promise of God. You can’t let that occur.
 
Faith, Hope, and Love are eternal truths…
 
1st Cor. 13:12, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” (KJV)
 
The New Living Translation puts it this way: “…three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love.”
 
Now we see as though through a glass darkly, “but” there are three things that last forever and that are eternal: faith, hope, and love. And God is saying this is where your focus needs to be given.
 
When you are engaged in trying not to pay too much attention to something going on in the temporal realm, shift your focus to faith, hope, or love: these three of which love is the greatest.
 
You are to be cognizant more of the spiritual realm than you are the natural realm.
 
The Lord has placed before us the choice of “life and blessing,” or “death and cursing.” It’s our choice on which to embrace. Every decision you make is going to be for either life and blessing or death and cursing.
When you take your attention off what the seen realm says about your life and place it on what God says, whatever hardships come your way, they’ll be light and momentary. They’ll be less intense because you’re looking at the realm of truth that changes the temporal realm when you give it enough attention.
Read About It
 
2nd Cor. 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
 
1st Cor. 13:12–13, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
 
Discussion Questions
 
If you were to describe what it means to think on things on the seen realm, what would that sound like?
Conversely, if you were to describe what it means to think on things in the unseen realm, what would that sound like?
God has placed before us the choice of life and blessing or death and cursing. Describe what kind of life choices you would place in these two categories. What are choices for life and blessing? What are choices for death and cursing?
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