Why can’t you see your nose?
It’s one of your most prominent physical features, right there in the center of your face. But despite it being so obvious to everyone who looks at you, why can’t you see your own nose? Put simply, you don’t see your nose because your brain ignores it. While your nose is always in your field of vision, your brain filters it out because it’s not information you need to function on a day-to-day basis.

Your brain filters out your nose in a few ways: One, your nose blocks part of the visual field of both your eyes, so when your brain receives the information your eyes are transmitting, it constructs a whole image from the unblocked information from both eyes. Two, your nose is in your peripheral vision, so you don’t notice it as much. Three, it’s so close to your eyes that it’s out of focus, because you’re focusing on things that are farther away.

One more body trick. I’ve done this before here, but it really does help explain what we’re looking into today. Stretch your arm out and hold your hand up in your field of vision. Look at your hand. Your focus is on your hand. What is behind your hand is blurry. Now look past your hand. Now your hand is blurry and what’s behind it is clear.

The same thing your brain does with your nose, it does with your hand.
If you look past your hand, your brain fills in the gaps based on the fact you have two eyes with two different positions.

What am I trying to tell you today? What is the little thing that is today’s focus? There is more to life that what is right in front of you, so if you really want to move forward on God’s path for your life, you are going to have to begin looking past what is at the end of your nose, and start focusing on what God has ahead of you.

There. I let the cat out of the bag at the beginning, but before we get too far away from the nose and hand, let me show you a few things that can help you focus forward.

CAVEAT:
This message is not about the idea that what is at the end of your nose isn’t important. Don’t hear what I am not saying. Everything is important, but not everything deserves your immediate attention. Hear that. Everything is important, but not everything deserves your immediate attention.

The goal today is to help you put things in perspective, so let’s highlight some little things that can help.

First, be okay with blurry.
Whether your nose every day or your hand when you focus beyond it, you are going to experience some blurry in your life. There are way more gray areas in life than we’d like to admit. Now, some people say this is a cop out. "The Word is black and white! Ain’t no middle ground!" On some things, yes, but:
- describe election and predestination
- the rapture
- once saved always saved
You see, there are blurry areas. Let me prove it to you.

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

There are blurry areas. I don’t mean when it comes to sin, but there are when it comes to life, to relationships, even with God.

Are you ok with that?

This is one of the few areas where D personalities and C personalities overlap. While D personalities can deal with chaos exponentially better than C personalities, we both want clarity.

How many times since January has God spoken to you so clearly that you had zero doubt what you should do?

How many times have you had to take a step even though you weren’t 100% sure if it was what God wanted?

That’s blurry.

Side Note:
Life has blurry moments, but if everything is blurry, that is indicative of a problem and you need to get help.

Back to the context of what is in front of you.
There are times in life when we are so focused on what is right in front of us that we miss the big picture. On one hand, we can get so lost in what we’re facing that we miss what God has for us.

Matthew 14:22
28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” 29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. 31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

Don’t hate! We’d be sinking right next to him! Peter saw the wind and the waves and he took his eyes off the guy who was standing on the water out in front of him. The wind was closer to his skin than Jesus. The waves were crashing against his face. What was in front of his nose became more important to him than who was walking on the water before him.

Don’t get so wrapped up in the miracle that you miss the miracle worker. But also, don’t get so wrapped up in the storm that you miss the storm stopper.

If you feel like you are in the missile of a storm right now, I invite you to look beyond your nose and trust Jesus.

On the other, we can get so lost in what we have that we miss what God has for us.

Matthew 19:21-22
21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

The young ruler saw what was in his hands and valued it over the one standing out in front of him. The security was too satisfying to his flesh. The money was too gratifying to his ego. What was in his hands was more important to him than who was offering a seat at the table before him.

Don’t get so wrapped up in the gift that you miss the giver. But also, don’t get so consumed by the issues in your hands that you miss the only one who can bring real security and satisfaction. Because things won’t do it.

If you feel like what is in your hand has more of your attention than Jesus, I invite you to give what is in your hands to him so you can experience genuine satisfaction.

So what do I mean by “be okay with the blurry?”
I mean learn to lean into faith harder than you lean into figuring it out.

Hebrews 11:1
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith doesn’t happen when you have it all figured out. We learn things in the fire. When the heat is on and the hammer blows are raining down on us, when we don’t know what two do or how it is going to end, that’s where faith is forged.

The best place you could ever be is with Jesus. The second best place is in a blurry moment. But you’d better make sure that it is the problem that’s blurry, not Jesus.

Blurry moments happen so you can learn to focus on Jesus better.

I know you want a resolution, but Jesus wold rather you have faith than clarity. And like it or not, our faith grows in blurry seasons.

You lean in harder on the road when it is raining. You pay more attention when it’s dark and you’re walking.

Don’t be mad at God for a blurry moment. Thank God that he’s giving you a chance to focus in on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

We’re not focusing on
- the other runners
- or the heat
- the road under us
- nor the sweat dripping from our nose.
Our focus is on Jesus Christ!

There is MORE beyond what’s at the end of your nose or in the grasp of your hands! Be okay with the blurry.

Second, let your eyes fill in the gaps.
If you really want some scientific, physical evidence that God exists, take anatomy and physiology. I don’t know how any medical student can be an atheist.

Notice what I said earlier:
“…your nose blocks part of the visual field of both your eyes, so when your brain receives the information your eyes are transmitting, it constructs a whole image from the unblocked information from both eyes.”
That is some next level stuff right there.

Sometimes we get bogged down, not by what we can see, but what we can’t. It is the information in those blind spots that can terrorize us.

Proof:
How do you respond when someone says to you, “Hey Max pulled me to the side yesterday to tell me about an issue he has with you, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
Your brain is about to go into overdrive. You will concoct every possible scenario you can imagine. All bad lol

Biblical proof:
John 20:19-20
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were [e]assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

How many times did Peter and his huge personality show up in a moment like this? But nothing from him. We can see his pain in John 21:3
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” “I am done. It is over. He is finished with me.”

If you aren’t careful, you will create a narrative based only on the information you can see. This is where the enemy loves to live. It creates more brokenness and hurt.

But you have two eyes.
Your two eyes see the same situation but from a slightly different angle. It just so happens that angle is just enough so that each eye has information that the other one doesn’t have. When the eyes send that info to the brain, the brain creates an image using both eyes’ individual information. The result is the clear image without the obstruction of the nose.

Let me bring it home here.
You are one eye. Your squad is the other. But when you get together, you have a more complete image.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Just like God put 2 eye sockets in your skull, he put 2 needs in your life.
One is him. The other is people.
He knew obstructions in your vision were coming but he had a plan. He connected you with godly people to help you, to see what you couldn’t, to form the compete image when you only had a piece, to make a godly decision even when you weren’t sure.

He gave you two eyes so you could see, even past obstructions. He gave you godly friends for the same reason.

If you want your eyes to fill in the gaps, here’s what you have to do:
keep your eyes open, and keep them close together.

Same with your team.

Third, focus forward.
At the very beginning of this message when I asked, “Why can’t you see your nose,” I am positive that you because acutely aware of the fact you couldn’t, so much so that you intentionally tried to look at your nose.

Have you ever tried to walk while focusing only on your nose? Of course you haven’t because you would bust your bum.

It is funny how we wouldn’t imagine trying to walk physically staring at our nose, but we often try to walk spiritually staring at our issue. And then have the nerve to wonder why we fail.

Why do I need to focus forward?
First, because there are other parts of your vision besides your focus that make walking successful.
Like peripheral vision. This is the part of sight outside of a person's central field of vision and allows them to see objects to the side without having to move their eyes or head. When you focus hard, you limit your peripheral vision, opening the door for issues like tripping. Focusing forward helps you identify where you are going more clearly, and gives your vision the opportunity to create a path to where you want to be.

Proverbs 29:18
18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint

Vision starts with focusing forward. You looking at the issue or where Jesus wants you to go? Where your eyes look, your feet follow.

Second, because satan wants you distracted by what is on the fringe.
He’s smart enough to know you probably won’t cross a hard boundary very easily, but all he needs to do is to create enough of a disturbance in the periphery, that we shift our gaze away from Jesus and onto temptation.

Isaiah 50:4-7
4 The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. 6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 7 But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

This is why you need to focus forward. No matter how many distractions, my focus is on Jesus, on my mission, on my calling, on the Kingdom. NOT on the distraction.

Proverbs 4:25-27
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

One more reason to focus forward: Because what you see in the world is a distortion of what God created.
Genesis 2:8-9
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Don’t get mad that God doesn’t snap his finger and fix everything. He gave us that to begin with and we messed it up. Because of our choice, that last tree, satan was allowed to roam. What we see in this world is a distortion.

Al Wolters - Creation Regained
“The effects of sin touch all of creation; no created thing is in principle untouched by the corrosive effects of the fall. Whether we look at societal structures such as the state or family, or cultural pursuits such as art or technology, or bodily functions such as sexuality or eating, or anything at all within the wide scope of creation, we discover that the good handiwork of God has been drawn into the sphere of human mutiny against God.”

You may know that when an image comes into your eye, it is distorted. It is upside down. Your brain fixes the image so you can see it properly.

My goodness if that isn’t what Jesus does for us,
Isaiah 26:3
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You

Peace here is shalom. It means completeness. Kind of like being back in the garden. It is like he takes the visual information from a broken distorted world, and as long as our mind is set on him and he is our focus, he corrects the distortion so we can see what he sees.

What am I saying?
Focusing forward allows us to step more securely, resist temptation, and allows Jesus to redeem what we might see happening around us as if we were back in the garden.

Today’s little thing is simply this:
Look beyond your nose, past what is in your hands. Focus on Jesus. He is who makes the difference.


How do you respond to this today?

I always want to respond first with repentance. I don’t always focus on Jesus. I get caught up in what I am feeling or thinking or the storm at hand. I allow my emotions to cloud my vision and it ends up hindering my walk. If you can relate, let’s ask Jesus to forgive us. Look at how Job said it:
Job 31:7-8
7 if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, 8 then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

In other words, God not only forgive me, but let the produce from what I’ve sown blindly be eradicated

Second, Jesus help us focus beyond what is here before us, but to focus on you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?