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Focus: A Daily Devotional
Each day of our lives we are faced with the decision to focus on Christ or go our own way. This book enlists God’s Word to provide practical and personal insight as in encourages your daily walk with God.
“So we do not look at the troubles we see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” —2 Corinthians 4:18
“So we do not look at the troubles we see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” —2 Corinthians 4:18
376 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2013
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April 15, 2016
I have frequently been somewhat dissatisfied with devotionals for gliding over biblical contradictions, not providing any new spiritual insight, or preaching illogical, traditional, conservative morals. However, I have never been quite so dissatisfied with a devotional as I was with "FOCUS: A Daily Devotional," which promised to help readers keep a daily focus on Christ and proved, instead, to be a poorly written set of anecdotes. At the beginning, I disliked the writing style and use of colloquialisms. It was so easy to read without providing much insight, I would read 2-3 passages each night. As I progressed, however, I found a lot more to dislike. I ended up reading several passages each night in order to finish it quickly so I could start a new devotional. Hopefully, this time, one that will actually teach me something.
FOCUS felt a lot like a high schooler's attempt to meet a word count and a deadline. There were typos, grammatical errors, frequent misuses of ellipses. The formatting was strange: an odd font, wide margins, and two tabs in at the beginning of every new paragraph. It was packed with metaphors; either these metaphors were obvious and overused or they were vague and barely connected. Many passages were filled with unexplained quotes. She frequently uses cliches and rhetorical questions. Then, she reuses the same bible quotes and passages (which, the bible is massive; it is unnecessary to use the same passage monthly) She also reuses some of the same anecdotes about her family.
Moreover, some of the ideas the author upholds are appalling. She supported the burning of the Quran for its "stark contrast to the Christian faith." She believes our laws "protect homosexual and transgender rights," and she seems to oppose that protection. In reference to the Puritans--the oppressing women, burning dissident people for "witchcraft," overly patriarchal, children-don't-speak Puritans--she said, "I think they had it right."
Despite upholding appalling ideas that further marginalize already marginalized people, the author shows that she lacks a certain amount of social and political understanding. For one thing, the Quran preaches love, forgiveness, and mercy as does the bible. While large chunks of both don't agree with one another, the morals taught by both are in line. When considering the persecution of LGBTQ+ peoples, it's clear that our laws often do not protect them, and really ought to; it's unChristianly to wish pain and misery on any group of people. Hopefully, the author simply doesn't know much about the Puritans other than the fact that they were super religious. Also, she called Socialism and Communism "all that is evil and ungodly," which either shows a lack of understanding for what Christ said or a lack of understanding about what those economic theories are.
FOCUS felt a lot like a high schooler's attempt to meet a word count and a deadline. There were typos, grammatical errors, frequent misuses of ellipses. The formatting was strange: an odd font, wide margins, and two tabs in at the beginning of every new paragraph. It was packed with metaphors; either these metaphors were obvious and overused or they were vague and barely connected. Many passages were filled with unexplained quotes. She frequently uses cliches and rhetorical questions. Then, she reuses the same bible quotes and passages (which, the bible is massive; it is unnecessary to use the same passage monthly) She also reuses some of the same anecdotes about her family.
Moreover, some of the ideas the author upholds are appalling. She supported the burning of the Quran for its "stark contrast to the Christian faith." She believes our laws "protect homosexual and transgender rights," and she seems to oppose that protection. In reference to the Puritans--the oppressing women, burning dissident people for "witchcraft," overly patriarchal, children-don't-speak Puritans--she said, "I think they had it right."
Despite upholding appalling ideas that further marginalize already marginalized people, the author shows that she lacks a certain amount of social and political understanding. For one thing, the Quran preaches love, forgiveness, and mercy as does the bible. While large chunks of both don't agree with one another, the morals taught by both are in line. When considering the persecution of LGBTQ+ peoples, it's clear that our laws often do not protect them, and really ought to; it's unChristianly to wish pain and misery on any group of people. Hopefully, the author simply doesn't know much about the Puritans other than the fact that they were super religious. Also, she called Socialism and Communism "all that is evil and ungodly," which either shows a lack of understanding for what Christ said or a lack of understanding about what those economic theories are.
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