Devotional: Keep Your Eyes on God

John 15:4-5: "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

I sat in the third pew from the front, staring anxiously toward the back of the large Catholic church where my three-year-old daughter would be appearing at any moment. Suddenly, there she was--the picture of beauty and innocence. She took a few hesitant steps, then spun around and bolted toward the exit.

I hurried down the aisle toward her, and led my sobbing daughter to the pew where I was sitting. When I asked her about it later, she simply said, "I couldn't see you, Mommy."

As Christians, we mess up because of one reason: we take our eyes off God. When we are not "remaining in the vine," keeping God as our focus, we can be overwhelmed by our surroundings. Tempations are everywhere, we can easily lose our way or give in to fear.