Article 1 - "WHERE ONE'S HEART LIES" by Jessica Kuzmier March 2008 edition of First Church of The Streets

     To be focused on a goal is a good thing. Put your energies into something, make a plan, and go forward. All major achievements in the world, be it any advance in civilization, transportation, culture, or medicine needed some kind of plan and focus for the endeavor to go through. Many experts now lament the lack of focus that seems to be prevalent to them. In their view, media such as television and other electronics are at least partially responsible for attention deficit disorders. This lack of focus is considered detrimental to society and to the people who suffer from this. Clearly, having a sense of focus is a good thing. What a person puts his attention into seems to define his identity. What someone concentrates on shapes her soul.

     Perhaps this is why it seems so important to many writers of Scripture that one puts his or her energies towards focusing on God. The Preacher reminds his listeners to think of the Creator in all things that a person does (Eccl. 12:1, 6). In particular, he tells his reader to do this from youth, before age wears a person down. Presumably, he is making this directive because one is more apt to forget about God when things are doing well, which to him is more likely to happen when a person is young and thriving in the worldly endeavors he has set out for himself (Eccl. 11:9-10). This way, he comes to know the God that he may need in an hour of need, else he will one day be crying out to a stranger he never met; more ominously, he may realize too late that this omission has made him a stranger to himself.

     This advice to remember one's Creator at all times is a reminder of who one is in the scheme of things. In the Jewish Scripture, the First Commandment demands that the listener to not put any gods before the God of Israel, which to many this most literally means that God is the God of the Bible, not Zeus or Krishna. In this interpretation, as long as one directs his or her prayers to the God of the Bible, one is in good shape and can go merrily about the business that one thinks that he or she has been ordained to do. God is good for days of rest, meditation time, and foxhole prayers. In the meantime, life goes on with them at the helm. After all, God helps those who helps themselves, right?

     It is possible, however, that the spirit of the First Commandment goes deeper than once weekly homage and whom one directs occasional prayers to. This depth of spirit was demonstrated clearly by Jesus in his Sermon of the Mount regarding all of the commandments; to him the spirit of the Sixth Commandment "Thou shalt not kill" was more than snuffing out the life of another (Matt. 5: 21-25). That being so, the First Commandment probably has more to it than whether one offers prayers to the wrong Higher Power on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Perhaps, the idea of having no other gods before the God of Israel has more to do with where the focus lies within a person, whether their activities are gods or the actual Creator is.

     When Jesus talks about how no one can serve two masters, he seems to be bringing this spirit of the law into focus (Matt 6: 24-5). Very often the Scripture regrading serving God and mammon sounds like a warning not to put a lot of focus on money and material goods, which makes sense considering the context the verse is put in. Don't store up stuff here, worry about heavenly treasure. Don't worry about what you will eat, be like the birds and only be concerned about today. So it seems to make sense that this verse would mean that one shouldn't be so concerned about making a lot of money, and that rampant accumulations of goods on earth is a vain accomplishment.

     But, like the rest of the Sermon, perhaps Jesus means a little more than that. Perhaps it is not so much the idea of switching focus from obtaining a Cadillac on earth through business to that of obtaining a heavenly Cadillac in the hereafter. Racking up brownie points in heaven may be only a temporary stall, sort of like quitting smoking while being addicted to nicotine gum and saying one is addiction free. It may be an improvement, but it may not contain the whole spirit of what God is directing in thinking of heavenly treasure.

     When the Preacher talks about how one should remember the Creator, however one divines that, he is suggesting a radical change in focus. One remembers the Creator in all that he does, instead of focusing on goals, however noble or charitable they may be. When Jesus visited Martha and Mary (Luke 10: 38-42), Martha was by any standard engaging in good works, trying to be hospitable and serve her guest. But when she became upset at her sister Mary's apparent laziness by sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to his words not helping her, Jesus told Martha that Mary was engaged in a better work. In other words, good works in themselves were not the true spirit of setting one's eyes on heavenly treasure. Only by remembering God was one on the true path.

     After all, even though Martha was doing good works, her focus was ego driven and competitive, which is why she was so irritable and cross about what her sister was doing or not doing. Charitable work can become just as petty as competition on the stock floor, the fashion show, or the office if the focus is not correct. With one's focus on the Creator at all times, all those venues can be a way to serve one's higher power, and all things can be worked together for the greater good.