Where Are You Looking?

The 2012 movie “Les Miserables” begins on a note of despair.  As they languish in a life of forced labor, Jean Valjean and his fellow prisoners sing, “Look down, look down, Don’t look ’em in the eye.  Look down, look down, You’re here until you die.”

Sadly, this is the theme song of so many in today’s world.  And not just secular people who brazenly reject God.  We who follow Jesus are tempted to “look down” and act like our small field of view is everything.  We dwell on our feelings, our abilities, our needs, our achievements, our rights, our knowledge … and forget God.

And yet, looking down is a dead end.  Reality is so much bigger and greater than our little focal point!  And for that reason, the Lord lovingly beckons us to “look up”!  Even if your reflex is to think me-me-me and to see everything through the lens of self-interest, be assured:  God has something much better for you!  Look up!

“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!” (Psalm 123:1).  This is the essential spiritual discipline for all who live by faith in Jesus Christ:  looking up. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

Our spiritual “viewing practices” are formative, shaping our souls for good or ill.  In Matthew 14:30, Peter gives a classic illustration of why “looking down” is catastrophic:  he begins to sink into deep, dark waters.  Looking away from Jesus causes faith to falter.

So look up; fix your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).  Make it the one thing you will do, day by day, come what may:  to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27:4)—for your good, for His honor.

Be wise and take counsel from Charitie Bancroft (from her 1863 hymn, “Before the Throne of God Above”):  “When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there Who made an end of all my sin.”