Whatcha lookin' at?

Often in our lives we are affected by people and circumstances that surround us. This happens to the best of us even though we are warned about the dangers of it by Scripture.

Isaiah 60:1-2

1. "Arise, shine, for your light has come,and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

Darkness covers the earth...that tells me that the earth is not the place I want to fix my gaze!

The point is that if we are looking at the world that is covered in darkness (disasters, famines, economic collapse...) then we are promised to be discouraged, depressed, and disheartened by it.  

When we live in that state we tend to only be hopeful for the next God encounter.  We come to church and other meetings to get a "boost" so to speak.  We have to have these encounters to lift us up.  Sounds good and sounds like we are "fighting the good fight" and "enduring till the end."  This is "survival" christianity.  Jesus didn't come and die for mankind so we could get by.  He made us more than overcomers!

This is why we are commanded by our God in Isaiah 60 to ARISE AND SHINE!!!  You see, our Light has come, the Glory of God is upon us.  Jesus is the Light of the world.  He tells us to let OUR light shine before men.  We need to come to each gathering with our heads already lifted because the Bible says He IS the lifter of our heads!  We need to come to each meeting not as though we need a "pick me up" but to get to the next level.  We are supposed to go on from Glory to Glory.  Not Glory to empty back to Glory.  Each encounter is designed by God to take us to a new height and a new level in Him.  We won't get to a new level if we keep going down after each encounter.

Don't allow the darkness around you to bring you down.  You may be saying: "that is easy for you to say..."  I would like to point out that the Bible says that we are to live by faith and not by sight.  We are never given permission to live by what we can see.  More times than not we are living by what we cannot explain much less see!  We have only one choice...look up!

Justin