I remember as a child, at one stage one of my favourite toys was the magnifying glass. I would do all sorts of things with it - some not so productive things (which I won’t go into) but also some very interesting things.
One of the things I noticed was how we can look at things in much greater detail. I could focus on an ant… and see how much detail I could see... before…
Anyway, I noticed that through a magnifying glass I  could see things that I couldn’t with the natural eye. I noticed that the detail increased. The object not only looked larger, but clearer. The further away I took the glass the more detail I saw, until I took it to a point where it became blurry, and I could no longer focus on it. I also noticed that I needed to be close to the object in order to see it. Looking at the world as a whole through a magnifying glass, depending on where you hold it, does nothing more than blur the image, or turn it upside down. 
It’s interesting that as we get older, we never really put away the glass. We don’t physically hold onto one, but we do regularly use an internal glass a lot more often than we realise.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “What am I focussing on? The things we focus on are what become magnified. It’s really quite simple: Focus on problems, they will only get bigger. Focus on Jesus, and He will get bigger. The things you ‘focus’ on will be the things that you will focus on and they will ultimately control the direction of your life. 
Have an awesome week, 
Adrian Nyhuis.

 

Progress

06/10/2010

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Progress is a wonderful, wonderful thing to behold. We see the basketball stadium with all the exciting facilities going up before our eyes and it does your heart good to see it happen because of the joy that it holds for the children (your children).
And so it is when God sees the progress in our lives as we go from glory to glory, as we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and His ways for our lives (Col 1:10; 2 Pet 1:8; 2 Pet 3:18). His desire for our lives is that He sees progress in all our lives, all the while becoming more like Jesus.
I conduct, in speech, in the giving of love, grace, forgiveness and acceptance, just as Jesus Christ embraced and accepted you and me while we were still sinners (Rom 5:8) and what did that do for you and me? It led us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Now that is what you call progress - from being dead in our sins and trespasses, He made us alive (Eph 2:1). From death to life, from being useless for His kingdom purposes to being useful. From being a taker to becoming a giver.
Thank you for allowing me to see your progress as we serve the Lord together, and becoming fruitful in His Kingdom. Thank you Lord for your wonderful work in us. (Phil 1:6).
Ps Bernie