So glad for a new day! I am still focus and pursuing my goals. Well, only five days into the new year! It amazes me that even as we taste and see the goodness of God and how awesome it is to spend time with Him and to study His Word, our tendency is to go back to the vomit. The flesh pushes hard to go into the busyness of life, the addiction of social media, watching TV excessively and, the struggle to make time for God. 

In Matthew 26:41 Jesus tells the disciples, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (NIV) The reality is that our flesh is weak, and it will always fight against God’s will, but our born-again spirit is the part of us that wants to cooperate with God. Today I want to focus on the word watch. 

The word watch is the Greek word, grēgoreúō; meaning “To watch, to refrain from sleep. It was transferred in meaning from the physical to the moral religious sphere (Matt. 26:38, 40, 41). It denotes attention to God’s revelation or to the knowledge of salvation.”^[1] I like the latter part of the definition of this word; “…to pay attention to God’s revelation and the knowledge of salvation.” This is where our focus should be; to know what God is saying and to grow in the knowledge of the gospel; perhaps how to share the good news, the story of God’s redemptive plan, etc. 

As of today, I feel that I am focus. I deleted my Facebook and Twitter account last year, and, this year, I am using my blog and my YouTube channel to communicate what I feel the Lord is telling me to communicate, without the distraction of looking and reading at other’s foolishness or engage in vain debates with typist tough guys and ladies. This year I am going a step further; I am not listening to talk radio. I have to tell you that I love to listen to talk radio, especially politics and, sometimes sports. 

Politics is too toxic right now and sports is getting into politics too much also. At home I am not watching TV other than Christ-Centered programs and movies; that keeps the TV off, for the most part, and makes room for quality time with God, the study of his Word, reading in general and quality time with my wife and family.  I feel that I am now in a better place to watch for God’s revelation and to grow in the knowledge of his salvation. It is a wonderful place to be. When we do not watch and pray the alternative is constantly falling into temptation; constantly making bad decisions and the hurt that is left after we make them. This year, like never before, lets us watch and pray.

^[1] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).