"Turn to Me and be saved . . . For I am God and there is no other." (Isaiah 45:22)
Just what is it that I am looking at most of the time? I know that I am not looking up as much as I ought to be, that is for sure. Yes, when there is some kind of an issue, I typically look for God in it. And when I am studying or teaching or counseling, I am prone to turn my focus to God, as well. But when everything is just fine, and I am just moving through the day, I find myself looking in one of two directions: looking around me or at myself. I rarely will be caught looking to God in the "everyday stuff" of life.
When things are simply going well, I seem to fall into the trap of just living life without turning my eyes upward. I forget to be thankful and grateful for the simplest of things because I am not seeing God in them. I am not "praying always". I am not meditating on the Word of the day. I am just moving from one thing to the next most of the time.
It is a concentration issue. I am very good at concentration. I am a tunnel-vision kind of gal. When I work on anything, my focus is only on that thing, and I do not hear or see much of anything else. This can be a very good trait; however, when it comes to my relationship with God there are plenty of opportunities throughout the day that are open doors for me to "multi-task". By that I mean that I can be focusing on going and getting my groceries while glancing up to God at the same time. But I rarely think to do that.
Oswald Chambers says this in his devotional today:
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is, in effect--'Narrow all your interest until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ.' "Look unto Me."
That's just my problem. My life is not consistently narrowed to just one focus; my focus takes me in many directions. Yet, I have seen in those rare moments when I bring only Jesus into focus in the middle of my day, I find my salvation to be very real and all else fades away. It doesn't matter what I might be looking at--problems, pressures, frustrations, or nothing at all--it simply vanishes when I look up.
"No matter if there are a hundred and one thing that press, resolutely exclude them all and look to Him. 'Turn to Me,' and salvation is, the moment you look."
PRAYER
Sweet Jesus, how often my eyes are looking at everything around me but You. I want to know what it is like to keep my eyes looking up to You throughout a whole day. I am quite convinced that it could radically change the way I move through my days. But I know that this will not happen just because I want it to. I need Your help, Holy Spirit, to prompt me to look up more, until it becomes my habit. Come and help me. I know this is the right way. Help me to walk in Your way.
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