Look Up

I’ve realized once more in the last few days how easy it can be to get caught up in the excitement of things going on around you. This is so especially if it’s the same thing everyone is concerned with. It’s easy to let passions run high, emotions fly, words spew forth without regard and generally forget anything else but the importance of your opinion.

But it’s not just elections that do that to us. Every day, we are faced with a myriad of cares that have incredible ability to absorb our full attention. Sometimes they’re small things and other times they’re significant things, but we spend a good amount of time trying to work things out and make things work the best way we know how. 

Inevitably, we end up with a ‘rat race’ of sorts, with a fire-fighting life composed of moving from one crisis – or one ‘event’ – to another, losing sight of the bigger picture we’re supposed to be living for God. It is perhaps this aspect of human nature that Christ was referring to in the parable of the Sower when he pointed out that ‘the thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life…”

The Bible paints pictures for us to help us figure out what to do to keep ourselves from getting absorbed in the cares of our daily lives, and the message is simply this – keep your eyes on Christ and what He’s about.

In one instance, Jesus was taking a nap in the boat when the tempests hit. The disciples, most of them seasoned fishermen, turned instantly into a scared bunch, waking Jesus with the exclamation that they were about to die. When He did wake up and calm the storm, his rebuke was gentle but clear – why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith in me? While their fear and anxiety may have been justified in the heated moment, His concern was with the bigger picture, the fact that their reaction to the situation said something about the state of their hearts.

At another time, they went out by themselves and came back with glowing reports of how they had healed sick people, cast out demons and stuff like that. Jesus was curt – rejoice not that the demons listen to you, but that your name is written in the Book of Life. In other words, even in the ‘victory’ moments of life, we shouldn’t be carried away by the moment and forget to keep our eyes on Him and what it’s all about.

I love how Paul puts in Colossians 3:1-2 (MSG): “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”

 All Christ wants us to do is to ‘get’ Him, to get what He’s about and run with it. Easier said than done, of course. But every time you find yourself caught up in the cares, anxieties or passions at ground level in your life, take a moment, step back and look up. Ask yourself what is going on around Christ, tap into His perspective, and stay there. That, really, is where the action is. And His perspective will keep you from getting off tangent with the things around you.

A Resolution You Shouldn't Miss

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 

As popular as this verse is in Christian circles, few people know that its origin has to do with the somewhat tragic story in 2 Chronicles 15 and 16, about Asa, king of Judah. The son of Abijah, Asa is one of the few post-David kings that have the introduction “…for he did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord.” 

Like many of us do, Asa got into his new job with almost unparalleled zeal. He brought down the pagan altars, restored worship and commanded that the law of God be obeyed. He deposed his grandmother from being the queen mother because she was involved in idolatry. He repaired the altar of God, led his countrymen in swearing allegiance to the one and only God, prompting a national revival. As a result, Asa enjoyed a rather peaceful reign.

The Bible takes care though, to describe two wars during Asa’s lifetime that sum up the whole lesson from his life. The first, in the early years, was from Ethiopia. Asa, in realizing how outnumbered he was (about 1 to 2), cried out to God for help, saying, “Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone…” He won that war, leading him to even more worship and reverence for God.

The second war came about 35 years later. This time round, Asa, probably emboldened by years of ruling, chose a different route. He responded by taking silver and gold from the Temple and his palace, and sent these to the king of Aram, asking for a treaty. Ben-hadad heeded, and helped Asa attack, and defeat Israel. The war was won, but Asa’s relationship with God was irreparably destroyed.

But what was Asa’s undoing? The prophet’s rebuke after the war contains the answer: “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God…” Asa had made the mistake we all have a chance to make over and over again in our walk with God – shifting out trust from the God of our salvation to our own means. Asa was angry at the prophet for saying this, but his heart was already hardened. In fact, four years later, Asa contracted a serious disease and “even when the disease became life-threatening, he did not seek the Lord’s help but sought help only from his physicians.” And so he died.

It seems incredible that such a young king, who began with so much promise, would die off so easily. But it shows us just how serious God is when it comes to trusting only in Him. The minute we begin to put stock in our own abilities, or in the abilities of our ‘rich uncle’ or in whatever else we think is the source of help, we are sliding towards death.

A few years later, the prophet Jeremiah would echo this lesson: “This is what the Lord says, “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert with no hope for the future…But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted by the riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.”

Since the world didn’t end in December as rumored, another ‘resolution season’ is here. I pray that we would make trusting God our top resolution this New Year!