The Proper Focus of the Christian
Acts 1:8
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Keeping a proper focus in any pursuit of life is important to your success in that area. When your focus is wrong, your results will be wrong. However, when your focus is right, you will get the desired and proper results.
Up to the time of Christ's ascension into Heaven, the disciples seemed to have a wrong focus. The disciples were more interested in staying focused on the future kingdom. They were focused upon trying to know the "...times or the seasons,..." However, in the verse above, Jesus told the disciples where He wanted them to stay focused. Jesus wanted them to be focused upon being filled with the Holy Ghost and fulfilling the Great Commission. This is where they were to keep their focus, for in this focus they would accomplish the purpose of why Christ came to Earth.
Christian, it is very important that you stay focused upon being filled with the Holy Ghost. You will never fully accomplish the works of Christ without being filled with the Holy Ghost. In our present day, it seems as if we are more interested in learning methods and systems. It seems as if we think these methods and systems can replace the power of the Holy Ghost upon the life of a Christian. However, nothing can replace God's power upon a Christian's life. There is nothing wrong with learning methods and systems on how to do the work of Christ in a better way, but don't ever let them replace the power of God upon your life. You should daily yield yourself to the power of the Holy Ghost and ask Him to empower you to do these great works of God. The influence of your Christian life will only be to the same degree that you are filled with the Holy Ghost.
Furthermore, the purpose of being filled with the Holy Ghost is so that you can accomplish the Great Commission. Not only do you need to keep your focus upon being filled with God's power, but you need to stay focused upon leading people to Christ, getting them baptized, and discipling them so that you can send them out to do the same. Notice that the Great Commission is not just leading people to Christ. This is one part of the Great Commission. You need to work on getting every person that you lead to Christ into church so they can get baptized and start receiving the training so that they can go out and do the same.
I truly believe that one of the reasons Christianity seems to be floundering in our present day is because we have lost our proper focus. We have become more focused upon building mega churches than we have in fulfilling the Great Commission. We have become more focused on building entertainment ministries than we have on fulfilling the Great Commission. We have become more focused upon building our legacies than we have on fulfilling the Great Commission. The proper focus of the Christian is to be filled with the Holy Ghost so that we can fulfill the Great Commission.
Is there anything wrong with knowing the times and the seasons like the disciples wanted to know? Not at all. However, knowing the times and the seasons will not keep one person out of Hell. It will not baptize one convert. It will not disciple one Christian. It will not send out one soul winner. It will not start one church. Be careful to stay focused on that which Christ commands to be our focus. If we keep a proper focus, then we too can turn our world upside down for Christ as these disciples did when their focus was right.