Luke 9:51
"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,"
One of the main ingredients to the success of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ was that He was focused.
It says in the verse above, "...he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem," What was so special about going to Jerusalem? It was that He knew He would die for the sins of the world in Jerusalem. That was the whole reason He came to Earth, and that was why He was focused.
The word "focus" means, the center of interest or activity. In other words, everything Jesus did centered around Him dying on the cross for the sins of the world. If something came His direction that would have been a good thing to do, but it wouldn't center around Him paying for our sins, then He would not get involved. The focus of our Saviour is one of the main reasons He succeeded in His earthly ministry, and the main reason you and I can go to Heaven.
A person without focus is a person who is going nowhere. When I ran track in high school, we were trained to keep our eyes on the finish line. We were to be focused on where we were going. We were told that if we turned our head that we would get of course. Over and over again we were drilled about staying focused on the finish line. The finish line was where we were going.
Are you truly focused on what God wants you to do? A preacher who is not focused on his calling is a preacher who will one day find himself out of the ministry. A Christian who is not focused on winning souls will find themselves involved in activities that are meaningless. A church that is not focused is a church that will start useless ministries that have nothing to do with winning the lost to Jesus Christ.
Friend, focus is the key to keeping sin from ruining your life. When you get focused on what God wants you to do, then you will find that sin's lure will not be great. One of the biggest reasons people step into sin is because they lose their focus. It's not that they are bad people, they simply lost focus of what they were supposed to do. Saul lost his focus and went into sin. David lost his focus and committed adultery. Samson lost his focus and hobnobbed with the enemy. If you don't want sin to ruin your life, then you need to stay focused on the souls of men.
Christian, be careful that you don't allow the noise of the world to distract you from your focus. Keep your eye on what you are supposed to do. Don't let your trials cause you to lose focus. When going through trials it is easy to lose focus of why God has left you on this Earth, but you must continue to stay focused on the souls of men. Furthermore, you must not let good things pull you away from your focus. There are many things with which you can involve yourself, but you must never allow yourself to be involved with things that pull you away from your focus.
The best way to look at this is to look at a bicycle wheel. Your focus is the hub of the wheel, and every spoke comes from that hub. Everything you do must come from the hub or the focus of your life. If what you do is not attached to the hub, then you are losing focus. Regularly look at everything you do and make sure that you are not losing focus. Be sure that everything you do is connected to the hub of reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. That should be your focus of life. Staying focused will not be easy, but if it is achieved it will help you to succeed as a Christian.