It Matters Where We Look

 

It matters where we look. Whether we fix our gaze on the lovely or the ugly. But lately there has been a lot of ugly. Ok, there has been ugly since the beginning of time. But now we can see ugly faster and from further away and in larger doses than ever before.

 

Sometimes the ugliness inspires us to rise and fight against it.

Sometimes the ugliness shuts us down into a hole of silence.

Sometimes the ugliness unsettles us, not quite knowing how to respond.

 

Most of us have experienced all three this year, but those unsettled moments are often triggered when people like us do ugly things. The “like us” could be gender, age, race, or faith. When it is our faith, as Christians, we carry the same name, so our name gets tarnished when any of us act ugly. When we snap at the store clerk while wearing a Jesus T-shirt. When we carry signs with His name while being destructive and violent. When we interchange earthly kingdoms with His kingdom.

 

If you have never believed in Jesus Christ, I pray you will still consider giving him a look, even if you have seen some of His followers act ugly. Know that not everyone professing His name is a perfect follower. In fact, none of us are. He loves us no matter how bad we have been. And while bad behavior is never justified, Jesus’ grace is the very core of what we believe.

 

Maybe you have once believed in Jesus Christ but have stopped following Him because you’ve been hurt by His people or have been disgusted with the hypocrisy. I pray you will reconsider allowing Him to be King of your life even in this imperfect family by looking at Him more than the family.

 

And if you are a believer accepting His grace when you mess up, but feeling embarrassed when others do, may I encourage you to shift your focus. An old hymn recently revived says to turn your eyes on Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. Then the things of this world will grow strangely dim.

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, … [Heb12:1-2, NKJV]

 

Looking towards Jesus does not mean we have to put our heads in the sand or ignore the news, although you may feel you need to for a season. We are called to live in this world, lovely and ugly, by dimming down the ugliness. And we can dim it by looking at Him and the loveliness of His light. It matters where we look.