Set your Sights Higher

Fortunate as Altha and I are to live at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains, there is hill close by I can climb when I need a little perspective. My friend John Woodward recently wrote a post entitled, “A Higher View,” in which he poses the question, “Why is it so fascinating to get a higher perspective? Could it be that we get accustomed to the ordinary appearance of our surroundings and lose sight of the larger scene?”

One of the reasons I was put off by the movie (remember, I didn’t read the book) “Heaven is for Real” is that it presented Heaven as a “place”—more than what it is: a higher realm. The closer I get to my last days on earth, the more I take comfort in higher thoughts. (I am just sorry it took so long to get me to this point!) While we are yet living in this lower realm, it is “natural” to get caught up in it (or is it ‘caught down’?). What better person than Paul—who was once caught up to the third heaven—to exhort us, “Set your sight on things above” (Col. 3:2, Jubilee Bible). To do otherwise is to be terribly short-sighted (2 Peter 1:9).

Chips to make you Thin

No, not a potato chip. Swiss scientists are developing a computer chip implant that will check for fat in the blood and release a hormone that satisfies hunger. It occurs to me many people with insatiable hunger would admit they need an appetite suppressant less than they need a better way of dealing with unmet emotional needs for which food becomes a comforting substitute. A computer chip can’t cure that.

God created us with an eating-motivator called appetite, without which we might not eat enough to stay alive. Likewise, He has given us spiritual appetites, without which we will die. “I made you hungry and then I gave you bread that wouldn’t satisfy you so that you would know me as the Bread of Life” (Deut. 8:16). Scientists may think their discovery is 'all that and a bag of chips.' But it is only the life-changing, deeply satisfying words “that come from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4) that will satiate that lonely ‘self’ searching the fridge late at night for fruitless fare!

Blind or Just Short-sighted

Over my 20+ years of employment with the Federal government, I had many co-workers from different regions of the U.S.  One time a co-worker from the South, said: “I miss magnolia trees; there are none in California.”  Of course that’s false—we had a magnolia tree in our yard at home. Another time, a co-worker told me there were no drive-up banks in California.  Both of these ‘foreigners’ had come to false conclusions based on a small vantage point. They were short-sighted. 

Short-sightedness began with Adam, who, at Eve's beckoning, succumbed to the wiles of forbidden fruit (symbol of desires that claim our immediate attention) and concluded it was a better offer than God’s long-term plans.  In hindsight, you and I ask astonishingly, ‘how could anyone be so short-sighted?’

But are we really any less so?’ Whether by ignorance or willful neglect of God’s truth, all of us have a propensity for short-sightedness, “falling short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). After reminding his readers they have inherited God’s divine nature, whose qualities include moral excellence, self-control, perseverance, godliness, love, etc., Peter tells them if we were not growing in these, they must be either blind or shortsighted” (2 Pet 1:9). Let us examine, honestly, our own short-sightedness. “Open our eyes so we may behold these wonderful things” (Ps. 119:18).

Winning is everything—or is it?

Depending on your political persuasion you are either rejoicing or lamenting over President Obama's ‘win’ yesterday. The world says “Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.” As the end of his life neared, Vince Lombardi said, “I wished I'd never said that; I sure didn't mean for people to crush human values and morality.” But this ‘winning at all costs’ philosophy was palpable in the campaign of 2012.

At one point in the campaign Governor Romney said, “It’s not so much winning and losing… it's about something bigger…” I wonder if he was aware of the profundity of his words.

Would it surprise you that the word “winner” is not in the Bible? Can you imagine Jesus saying to Peter: “Now, go out there and win one for the Gipper!” Jesus redefined life. It was not about winning, but doing the will of His Father (Matt 12:50; Heb 10:9).

To those with an eternal perspective, it’s only and always about God’s plans. And though they are not always clear to us, we can be sure He has them. “For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

“I only have Eyes for You”

“Are the stars out tonight? I don't know if it's cloudy or bright 'cause I only have eyes for you” is the opening line of a popular song written in 1934, and since sung & recorded by thousands of performers. But I wonder if any of them were thinking of Jesus.

Yet that is exactly what the writer of Hebrews tells us to do: “fix your eyes on Jesus” (12:2). The word translated “fix your eyes” is a Greek compound made up of “away from” and “see,” meaning to look away from all distractions in order to fix one’s gaze on one object, i.e., having eyes for no one but Jesus.

“Fix your eyes” also implies continuity—continuity of heart, purpose, and direction. And from the word “continuity” we get our English word “continue.”  There are dozens of Scriptures that tell  us to continue in the faith, in love, in hope. Paul told Timothy to continue in the things he had been taught (2 Tim 3:14). The great sin of Israel is "they continued not" (Heb. 8:9).  They had wandering eyes!

The world is full of wonderful, interesting, fascinating things to look at.  Certainly God knows that (He made them!).  But He asks us stop staring at them, and start fixing our eyes on “things above” (Col. 3:2) so we will never lose sight of “Him who is unseen” (Heb. 11:27).

Don't Lose Sight of...

Does it seem to you that things are getting worse on planet earth! In just the last few weeks and months, we have seen a rash of natural crises: cataclysmic earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, mudslides, fires, soaring temperatures (not to mention the man-made crises). And on every continent, ethnic, tribal, religious hatreds and animosities continue unabated, exploding in senseless, inhuman violence, while all human effort at peacemaking fails miserably.

By the natural eye, things look pretty bleak. So Paul says look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). Paul and Silas demonstrated this while in prison. If they had focused on their circumstance, their hearts would have been filled with fear and anxiety. Instead, they focused on God—their hearts full of praise (Acts 5). Long before the angel opened the prison doors, they were already “free.”

If earthly circumstances are causing you to focus on that which is seen, you need a visual adjustment. Don’t allow the things which are seen cause you to lose sight of what Jesus is doing.