Shift Your Focus
Upon even a cursory reading of the Gospels, one should notice how Christ interacted with people of differing backgrounds. In Matthew 23, Jesus displays anger at the hypocrisy of Jewish religious leaders. He shows disgust at the greed and oppression of the poor in front of the Temple (Jn. 2:13-17). Upon the death of Lazarus, He expresses grief (Jn. 11). With some individuals (and multitudes), there was compassion (Mt. 9:20-22, 36; Jn. 8:1-11). With others, He became frustrated for their lack of faith (Mt. 17; Mk. 4:35-41). At the cross, Jesus showed empathy for His mother (Jn. 19:25-27). There were also teachings on forgiveness (Mt. 5:43-44).
As you can see, Jesus was a man of great feeling. He was, as we are. However, there is one emotion of which we do not have a record. It is the expression of self-pity. There is no Scripture detailing an occasion when Jesus felt sorry for Himself nor where He dwelt on any personal suffering He was going through. We read of His testing in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13), but we do not find Him speaking of it anywhere. In John, chapter six, after feeding the five thousand, Christ addresses the people, going so far as to tell them, "...you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (v. 26). Later, in verse sixty-six, "many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." After this, He does not mention it again.
Jesus' focus was always on others, never on Himself. Even at the cross, He focused on caring for His mother and forgiving those who crucified Him. Anything that occurred in Christ's life resulted from the Father's Will. If a disciple came and then left – even under unsavory circumstances as Judas did – it was a matter of "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away" (Job. 1:21). If people were not thankful (Lk. 17:11-19), He did not dwell on such things.
Christ saw how the Law applied to the two greatest commandments (Mt. 22:36-40), and He displayed these edicts perfectly. How unlike Christ we are when we exhaust ourselves focusing on what does not matter. Rather than lingering over periods of drought, misery, heartache, and loss, choose instead to see them as but a small part of God's larger design. Let us look to serve God and not ourselves. Let us seek heaven's clouds, not the earth's plains (Col. 3:1-3).
