Self-Occupation – a Faith Destroyer!

Hebrews 12:2a (AMPC)
² Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]…

Hebrews 12:2a gives a very clear and simple direction to a believer on how to develop faith and stay full of it; it tells us to look to Jesus.  Many versions/ translations of the Bible say, “Looking to Jesus”, but a number of translations say, “Looking away to Jesus”.  As seen in the scripture above, the Amplified Version Classic Edition adds, “from all that will distract”.  So, a good question to ask is, “What distracts us from looking to Jesus?”

While there are any number of things that keep us from looking to Jesus, probably the number one “distracter” is self-occupation.  One definition of occupation is “that which engages the time and attention” of a person.  Self-occupation, then, would be when a person engages time and attention on himself. Another name for it is self-centeredness. The danger of self-occupation for the non-believer is that the person is relying on himself for answers and direction concerning his life that he cannot provide. 

A believer can also be caught up in self-occupation; it is a major distraction of the enemy. The roots of self-occupation are found in unworthiness and condemnation.  If the enemy can get us focused on our unworthiness (yes, we are unworthy without Jesus) and accuse us of missing it (yes, we do still sin, that’s why Jesus died – to remove our sins, past, present and future), then we become distracted and do not look to Jesus, Who is the only true source of any victory in our lives. 

What is the answer to self-occupation?  We must become “Jesus-occupied.” We must realize that when Father God looks at us He sees the same thing He sees when He looks at Jesus; We are His “Beloved” child (Matthew 3:17); we are “joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17); and, God loves us just as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:23).

As we get greater revelation of this Truth, we will realize that our lives are really not about our behavior or misbehavior.  Jesus died so that we could rely on Him to take care of all of the issues of our lives – emotional, financial, relational and social. That’s the amazing thing about GRACE.  We don’t deserve any of it, but we get access to all of it by faith. What’s our part?… To get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus, take hold of the faith that He gave us, and let Him lead us to victory in every life circumstance. 

Hebrews 12:2a (NLV)
2 Let us keep looking to Jesus. Our faith comes from Him and He is the One Who makes it perfect.

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