focus

Acts 1:6-11 (JDV)

Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
Acts 1:7 But he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own right.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Sacred Breath has come on you, and you will be my testifiers in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the land.”
Acts 1:9 After he had said this, he was lifted up as they were watching, and a cloud took him up away from their sight.
Acts 1:10 While he was going, they were gazing into the sky, they noticed that two men in shining clothes had stood by them.
Acts 1:11 And these said, ” Galilean men, why have you stood looking up into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been picked up from you into the sky, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into the sky.”

focus

The image of blurred vision is an apt way to describe what happened to the believers gathered around Jesus at the time of his ascension. They were sincere, devoted, and eager, but their spiritual sight kept drifting out of focus. Like someone trying to drive without corrective lenses, they were in danger of missing what mattered most.

Their first distraction was prophetic timing. Having finally grasped that Jesus truly was the Messiah, they naturally assumed that the next event on God’s calendar must be the restoration of Israel and the overthrow of Rome. Their expectation was logical, even scriptural, but it was still misplaced. Jesus gently corrected them, not by denying the future kingdom, but by redirecting their attention. The timing of the Father’s plan was not theirs to know. Their focus belonged elsewhere.

Then came the second distraction. After Jesus ascended, the believers stood staring into the sky, overwhelmed by the glory of what they had just witnessed. It was a holy moment, but it was not meant to become a permanent posture. Two heavenly messengers reminded them that Christ would indeed return in the same visible manner—but that glorious return was not meant to occupy their attention in the present. Gazing upward would not advance the mission. Waiting passively would not fulfill the calling.

The proper focus for the church, then and now, is the mission entrusted to it. The ascension was not an invitation to speculation or to passive longing. It was a commissioning. The nations still needed to hear. The gospel still needed to be proclaimed. The Spirit would soon empower them, but their eyes needed to be fixed on the work before them, not on the sky above them or the mysteries of prophetic chronology.

This remains a challenge for believers today. It is easy to drift into fascination with timelines, signs, or future events. It is equally easy to become paralyzed by longing for Christ’s return. Both impulses are understandable, but both can pull attention away from the task Christ assigned. The mission requires clarity, urgency, and focus.

Lord, we drift out of focus so easily. Wake us, steady us, and turn our eyes again toward the mission you have entrusted to your people.