What Consumes Your Focus?

One of the best purchases I've made this past month is a tiny magnetic device called a Brick. Here's how it works. You download the Brick app, select which apps on your phone are distracting, and whenever you scan your phone over the physical Brick, these apps are blocked.

To unblock these apps, you have to scan your device again. It's wonderful, and it's drastically cut down my screen time.

Unfortunately, life is full of distractions that aren't contained to our iPhones. The worst distractions are often the ones that nip at our heels, constantly lingering, constantly unresolved, and constantly trying to pull our minds from that which is most important.

What Is Normal?

In The 5 AM Club (a quirky but fun read), Robin Sharma writes, "An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production." [1] Of course, he's right, but I think it's far worse than that, because obsessive distraction can lead us to miss the essence of life.

After Charlie Kirk's shooting, I watched an interview with one influential figure who called for a return to normalcy. He's not alone. Whenever there is societal upheaval, there is this natural feeling to return to life as usual.

But what does that mean?

If normal means refocusing on those most important relationships and highest priorities without obsessing over the latest headlines, count me in. But if normal means going back to a life of distraction by watching endless football on the weekend, chasing unreachable significance in our 9-5 jobs, and filling our schedules with everything that keeps us from thinking about eternity, count me out.

The Great Gatsby

Recently, I've been binge-reading some of the classics and last week I finished The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and mysterious man living on Long Island during the Roaring Twenties.

Narrated by Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor, the novel explores Gatsby’s obsessive pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a woman he loved years earlier who is now married to the arrogant and wealthy Tom Buchanan. Gatsby’s extravagant parties and shady dealings are all meant to win Daisy back, but the clash between old money (Tom and Daisy) and new money (Gatsby) reveals the fragile illusions behind his dream.

As the story unfolds, the relationships spiral into tragedy. Daisy chooses to remain with Tom after a confrontation, despite Gatsby’s devotion. A car accident involving Daisy, which kills Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson, ultimately leads to Gatsby’s downfall when Myrtle’s husband, believing Gatsby was responsible, kills him.

In the end, Gatsby dies alone, abandoned by the very society he tried to impress, while Nick reflects bitterly on the corruption, carelessness, and emptiness of the American Dream. The novel closes with these haunting words I couldn't help but highlight:

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. [1]

Gatsby’s belief in the green light represents the human pursuit of dreams, the perfect future we long for but can never fully grasp. Though these dreams constantly slip away, we keep striving, convinced that tomorrow we’ll reach further and achieve more. Yet, like boats rowing against the current, we are always pulled backward by time and the weight of the past.

Fitzgerald's point is that while this relentless pursuit defines the human spirit, it also reveals the tragedy of chasing illusions that remain forever out of reach.

What Consumes Your Focus?

It's tough to do as Hebrews 12:2 says and keep "our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

Like the not-so-great Gatsby, we're "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." [3] And it's why the greatest fight you will have today is one that starts with your eyes. It's the constant, minute-by-minute decision to refocus your eyes on Jesus.

• A work situation pops up that makes you angry? Eyes back on Jesus.
• A family member says something harsh? Eyes back on Jesus.
• Overwhelmed by the complexity of your daily routine? Eyes back on Jesus.

Stay in his word, pray to him each day for strength and wisdom, and ask him to keep you focused on what's most important.

[1] Robin Sharma, The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life. (Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018), 60, Kindle edition.

[2] F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby: The Original 1925 Unabridged and Complete Edition (F. Scott Fitzgerald Classics; Global Publishers, 2024), 161.

[3] This comes from the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."