Overcoming Self-Focus

Towards the end of any given day, if you reflect on the thoughts that pervaded the mind and you recognize that one person was of preeminence, and that person is you, there is a need to make an adjustment in your thinking. In the mind of a sufferer of depression, this may seem almost impossible until you will to make a change. “It is within the power of everyone, [however], to choose the topics that shall occupy the thoughts and shape the character.” Education, 127 (1903).

John the Baptist spent much time in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus. John 1:7 says, ”He [John] was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light [Jesus]”. You may say that it must have been easy for him to focus on God in the quietude of the wilderness. It is not necessarily so! Only as he kept his mission that was ordained by God before him could he have looked away from himself. Isn’t it also possible for the mind to be engrossed with the things of the world while being in a place as serene as the wilderness? Do you think John was exempt from temptations in the wilderness?

In the book, The Desire of Ages it is noted that it is the studying of the prophecies that helped John the Baptist to exalt Jesus by saying, “[He] is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” John 1:27. He was so enchanted by his studies that he had lost sight of self. As a result of this experience, when Jesus was in his vicinity, he declared, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

What a noble purpose it is to set the mind on the One who is above all others. Let the last message of mercy be studied --- The Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14. It declares the love that Jesus has for all He came to save. It is bound to lift the mind and to call forth His assistance in developing a character that will prepare you for His second coming and for a life with Him forever.