A few days ago, I read a verse from the book of proverbs and I have ruminated on this passage for a few days, wondering why it caught my attention and what God wants to teach me from His word. Let’s look at it together:

Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness.

Proverbs 4:25-27 TPT

Fast forward to this week, I have been reading about the life of Elisha. And every time I have read his story, I have been impressed by this one thing: Elisha was a man who simply refused to be distracted from his mission and goals. In today’s post, I want to zoom in on his life and show you specific areas of his life where he demonstrated this.

Elisha’s Call into Ministry

This story is found in 1 Kings 19: 19-21. One day, Elijah, a prominent prophet in Israel, found Elisha plowing a field. He went up to Elisha, threw his cloak on him, and walked away. Elisha, realizing that was an ordination to service, immediately slaughtered his oxen and used his plow to build a fire on which he roasted the oxen. Elisha gave up his everything, even his livelihood, and by so doing, ensured he was never going back to his life as a farmer. He severed all ties to his former way of life so he could be effective in his new vocation without any distraction. Elisha’s actions are reminiscent of the life God calls us into:

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy

1 Corinthians 5:17/ Ephesians 4:21- 24 NLT

So here are my first questions for you to ponder: What is distracting you from your life in Christ? What life’s distractions are preventing you from keeping your gaze ahead?

Elisha’s Desires for Growth: A Double portion

This event can be found in 2 Kings 2. Elisha found out that Elijah was retiring from his role as lead prophet. Elijah asked him what he wanted as a parting gift, to which Elisha responded, “a double portion of your anointing.” Elijah promised that Elisha would have what he asked for under one condition: that he would see him being taken away into heaven. On the day Elijah would be taken up to heaven, Elisha was on high alert and hyper-focused. Nothing was going to distract him from his goal. Even as he and Elijah journeyed along the way from Gilgal to the Jordan river, there were many opportunities to be swayed from his goal, but he refused to be sidetracked. He had his eyes on the prize and was acutely aware of what was at stake: a double portion of Elijah’s anointing.

I ask, after all is said and done, are you aware of what is at stake? What have you set your sights on?

Novice drivers learn very quickly that when you drive you unconsciously steer your vehicle wherever your eyes are focused to. If you look to the left, your car will drift to the left, and the same applies if you look to the right. Neither is it advisable to drive while looking exclusively in the rearview mirror. Apostle Paul, in the book of Hebrews, tells us where we need to fix our eyes as Christians.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. 

Hebrews 12:1-2a

Juxtaposing this scripture onto the one we read earlier from Proverbs 4, the path before us is our journey through life towards an eternal end. We are encouraged to stick to the path of truth in order to have a safe and smooth journey. And we do so by fixing our eyes on Jesus who is Truth, and the author and perfector of our faith. Detours along the way will lead to darkness. Jesus who is the only path to eternal life. Like Elisha, we need to strip off every weight that will slow us down or distract us from what is at stake: eternal life. Elisha indeed received the promise of a double portion of anointing because he was not distracted when Elijah was caught up into the heavens mid-conversation. Similarly, if we are undeterred, with our gaze firmly set on Jesus, we will make it safely home to eternal glory.

I conclude with a hymn written by Helen Lemmel in 1922. May its ancient words wash over you:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Yours Truly.