Look up

As always, this has been a full week. But I have loved the soundtrack of Colossians that God has provided in the midst of it.

Each day I wake up to the temptation of letting my circumstances define everything: my day, my energy, my mood, my identity.

How can I respond differently? The Apostle Paul gives us a swift kick in the rear:

Colossians 3:1-4, 15-17
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

These words get in my grill and insist that I step back and resist the lie of immediate circumstances. Instead I need to look up.

Then I am more alert to the holy. I am reminded of ultimate reality, and I can rest easily in eternal hope. Hallelujah.