Becoming One as We Focus on Christ

I've been cleaning off my desk today and going through old study journal notes from September 2013. One page I have written some thoughts about this article by Benjamin Erwin called Overcoming Addiction Through the Atonement.

Many of us are familiar with the story in Numbers 21 in which the fiery serpents come among the children of Israel. To save the people, at the instruction of the Lord, “Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (verse 9).

Numbers 21 isn’t the only scriptural account about Moses’s brass serpent saving the children of Israel. In the Book of Mormon, Alma spoke of this symbol as well:

“Behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.

“But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.

“O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

“If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (Alma 33:19–22).

Consider the details Alma shared as he recounted this story. He focused his comments on the Savior and the healing power of His Atonement. He did not even mention the fiery serpents!

What Alma chose to tell—and what he chose to leave out—teaches one key to overcoming pornography addiction (or any challenge we may have in this life): to “cast about [our] eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (verse 22).

... when we spend so much time describing the attacking “serpent” that we fail to see the source of healing, we’re not much different than the Israelites. The children of Israel did not have to focus on the serpents or the pain of their venomous bites or their fear of death in order to be healed. They simply had to look to the source of healing: their Savior, Jesus Christ.

I went to high school with Ben, so it was fun to see an article from him in the Ensign. I loved that article and the thoughts he shares - that you get what you focus on - so if you don't want to be poisoned by serpents, don't focus on the serpents! Focus on the Savior! It went along with other notes I cleared on my desk today - this excerpt from a book that Corey's dad shared with me - "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. I really liked this thought on page 321 ... Our car and thus our life will go where our eyes and focus are:

The Car goes where the eyes go. Racing in the rain is also about the mind. It's about owning ones own body. About believing that one's car is merely an extension of ones body. About believing that the track is an extension of the car, and the rain is an extension of the track, and the sky is an extension of the rain. It is about believing that you are not you; You are everything and everything is you. 

Racers are often called selfish and egotistical. I myself have called race car drivers selfish. I was wrong. To be a champion, you must have no ego at all. You must not exist as a separate entity. You must give yourself over to the race. You are nothing if not for your team, your car, your shoes, your tires. Do not mistake confidence and self awareness for egotism.

As we focus on Christ, we can become one in Him and lose our life by giving it to Him ~ and that is how we will find it.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. -Matthew 16:25