Wrong Focus | Crosstraining 7.27.15

Daniel 3:1-6 Have you ever been working on something for a long period of time but find yourself stumped over and over? This can be very frustrating, but, what’s even more frustrating is when someone who is brand new comes in, looks at your problem, and immediately finds the fix to the issue. Many times, this happens because we get so caught up staring at the problem in one way, and it takes someone from the outside to come in with a different set of eyes to get a unique perspective. When we focus on the wrong things, we waste a lot of time and energy. King Nebuchadnezzar built a giant statue to honor himself. The king brought all the officials together around the statue when it was going to be dedicated. Nebuchadnezzar ordered that everyone had to bow down and worship the giant statue. If someone refused to bow down and worship the statue, the king ordered that those people would be thrown into the fire. Instead of turning toward God after Daniel interpreted his dream, the king did all that he could to gain honor and glory for himself and not for God. It can become easy to make our lives all about us, but that’s not the way God designed for us to be. When we put something above God in our hearts, it becomes a false idol. This includes ourselves. When we, not God, are the most important thing in our life, we are making ourselves a false idol. God alone is worthy of our praise and worship. Our lives should be pointing to Him and not merely to ourselves. REFLECT: What are some giant statues that we create in our lives to point toward ourselves instead of pointing toward God? Why do you think we do this? PRAY: As you pray today, ask God to help you avoid putting yourself over your relationships with God. // TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS // Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:

1. What was the best part of your day?
2. What was the toughest part of your day?
3. Where did you mess up today?
4. Where did you see God today?

READ THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT: Today’s Reading: Luke 14]]>