It has been said that, "When all is said and done, a lot more gets said than done." Well, that has been my story in relation to writing a blog. I've been talking about doing this for a very long time but the time for talk is over. It's a new year, a new season in my life and it's time to crank this thing up. So, here we go...
My intention in writing this blog will be to make observations in relation to the Scriptures, life and worldview. As I do so I hope to encourage you, motivate you, challenge you, exhort you, and maybe even entertain you. I know your time is precious and I will do my best not to waste it, but to help you redeem it.
So, I've named this blog "Lift Up Your Eyes" in hopes that you and I will do just that. Blog after blog I want to encourage you to "fix your eyes on Jesus"...where else can we look...from where else does our hope come from? This command has captured my heart and my meditations over the last several months. What is being called for here? What is Jesus trying to convey about the focus of our gaze? Would you agree that we are "navel gazers" by nature? More often than not it is our own little kingdom that we are constantly surveying, building and securing. What has been the subject of your thoughts over the last 24 hours? What direction have your eyes been looking? Are your eyes looking down at your own little world or have you found the grace to lift up your eyes and behold the desperate world into which God has sent you as His ambassador?
The great commission requires this of us. God, the true God, is a missionary God. He left the glories of His heavenly homeland and clothing Himself in human flesh He lived and died to seek and save that which was lost. And He says to all who claim to be His followers, "As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you" (John 20:21).
How should this commission affect our daily lives? How would it change our priorities if we actually cared about what Jesus cares about and fearlessly and selflessly followed in His steps? Or, have we been so anesthetized by our materialism, technologies and entertainments that massive numbers of us who claim to know Jesus Christ just don't care anymore?
These are sobering questions to contemplate, but we need to ask them of our own hearts...often. What matters of course is how we answer...how we respond...do you care anymore?
My intention in writing this blog will be to make observations in relation to the Scriptures, life and worldview. As I do so I hope to encourage you, motivate you, challenge you, exhort you, and maybe even entertain you. I know your time is precious and I will do my best not to waste it, but to help you redeem it.
Why have I named this blog "Lift Up Your Eyes?"
Jesus commands us to lift up our eyes...John 4:35 "Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white (ripe) for harvest. (NASB). In another translation it says, "open your eyes" (NIV,) and in yet another, "wake up and look around" (NLT).So, I've named this blog "Lift Up Your Eyes" in hopes that you and I will do just that. Blog after blog I want to encourage you to "fix your eyes on Jesus"...where else can we look...from where else does our hope come from? This command has captured my heart and my meditations over the last several months. What is being called for here? What is Jesus trying to convey about the focus of our gaze? Would you agree that we are "navel gazers" by nature? More often than not it is our own little kingdom that we are constantly surveying, building and securing. What has been the subject of your thoughts over the last 24 hours? What direction have your eyes been looking? Are your eyes looking down at your own little world or have you found the grace to lift up your eyes and behold the desperate world into which God has sent you as His ambassador?
The great commission requires this of us. God, the true God, is a missionary God. He left the glories of His heavenly homeland and clothing Himself in human flesh He lived and died to seek and save that which was lost. And He says to all who claim to be His followers, "As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you" (John 20:21).
How should this commission affect our daily lives? How would it change our priorities if we actually cared about what Jesus cares about and fearlessly and selflessly followed in His steps? Or, have we been so anesthetized by our materialism, technologies and entertainments that massive numbers of us who claim to know Jesus Christ just don't care anymore?
These are sobering questions to contemplate, but we need to ask them of our own hearts...often. What matters of course is how we answer...how we respond...do you care anymore?
Line that made me say OUCH!
ReplyDeleteOr, have we been so anesthetized by our materialism, technologies and entertainments that massive numbers of us who claim to know Jesus Christ just don't care anymore?
Sobering question indeed!
What a challenge! I want to choose to FIX my eyes and not be a navel gazer!
ReplyDeleteApplying this to someone who is seeking to build a support base to go out into the harvest this speaks volumes. It seems that it is so easy to get so focused on building the little kingdom of a support base to go out to the harvest that one can loose sight of the harvest. Thanks for the reminder and the challenge to look up at the harvest as the main motivating force of all our efforts. I look forward to reading this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your insight and words to encourage us to be involved in this great harvest.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this reminder Pastor Billy! Naval gazer and being so anesthetized by the other "junk" really gives me something to think about. Don't just want to think though....want to DO!!!
ReplyDeleteI will look forward to reading your blog, Billy! Recently I read a biography about Dietrich Bonhoeffer you would enjoy. Much fodder for great thought. Next I'm tackling Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship" - trying to keep 2013 a year of growing and learning.
ReplyDelete