How Worry Moves Your Focus and Hurts You Spiritually
Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence: “It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.
On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since.”
Focus is important. Lose it and you lose your way.
Sometimes we miss what God is saying because we are too focused on earthly circumstances and not on Him. This happens to me, to you, and we have a record of it happening to the disciples. In fact, the account in Mark chapter 8 is a little humorous, or would be, if the subject was not so serious. In the account, the disciples in the boat with Jesus were so focused on their hunger that they missed an entire spiritual lesson, and Jesus could not have been more frustrated with them.