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Where You Look

The man was recalling the time he tried his hand at motorcycle racing. Before he took to the track for the first time, a friend shared with him this crucial piece of advice: “If you begin to lose control, do not look at the wall; look to the infield, because where you look is where you’ll go.” (“Thanks, I think.”) The same is said more generally with regard to influence of any sort—“We become what we behold.”

Life comes at us, fast and furious, and it changes in an instant. When our wheels of self-control go wobbly, we can easily find ourselves looking at the “walls” of this world, be they greed and gossip, lust and lies, or rules and religiosity. This is how Peter went from defending his Lord when among friends in the Garden to denying the Christ when on his own in the courtyard. It’s how he went from savoring dietary liberty amid the Gentiles to choking on dietary legalism among the Jews.

Where, then, do we look when temptations come our way? How do we avoid “crash and burn”? To the church, Paul reveals the reality of our race, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God,” and there is no safer place in heaven or on earth than in Him. The apostle then coaches us with his own crucial piece of advice: look to Jesus. “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God,” he writes, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” For Christ Jesus is our infield, and we look to Him always, because where we look is where we’ll go.

Father, thank you for saving me and giving me new and forever life in Christ. Transform me and strengthen me, so that I look to you — first, only and always. Be glorified in this life. I ask this in Jesus’ name and by the power of your Spirit. Amen.

Christ in me is life.

Read Colossians 3:1-4—Paul’s amazing declaration of our life in Christ.

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Inside and Out

I must admit, it was an unsettling experience for me. A group of us had gone to a nearby bar after work one evening to visit with out-of-town guests before heading home. For me, personally, it is safe to enjoy an occasional drink, so that wasn’t the problem. What I found disquieting was the fact that this bar had been built 100 years earlier as a church. There we were, sipping on whatever, surrounded by stained glass windows and in full view of an altar. Now, I know and even rejoice in that Jesus’ church is not a building but a “body”—the sum total of all His believers throughout the world. So, while I grieved in earnest at the thought of a once-vibrant, now-stagnant congregation closing its doors, the repurposed use of bricks and mortar, itself, was my little cognitive-dissonance problem to get over. (“Yeah, but still.”)

Not lost on me, however, was the fact that this scenario served as a heads-up for us, the true church, for God inhabits all who believe in Christ, bypassing even the loftiest of sanctuaries to do so. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” wrote Paul to the Corinthian Christians. Turning a church building into a bar creates its own little stir, but how deep and real the dissonance in others when we “repurpose” our bodies—these living, breathing temples of God—for anything less than His glory! People peer into us in hopes of seeing God inside to be true, so why do anything on the outside to obscure their view? Jesus has made us one with Himself in the Spirit; why then would we dishonor Him in our flesh? So, Paul continues, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” For when we honor with our body the God who inhabits our soul, we open the door for all to see the vibrant church of His Son.

Father, thank you for choosing to live in me. Inspire me today, so that my outward actions flow from nothing less than your inner love and grace. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Christ in me is holiness.

See what 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 says about our oneness with Christ.

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Courage

I’m not sure why it took me so long to see my mother as the exemplar of courage, but that’s what she was. In retrospect, her whole life was a portrait of courage, so why did it take me so long to realize it? I have a hunch.

Always honest, Mom characterized herself as being naturally fearful, and it’s true that, like so many, she fretted too much. But courage isn’t the mere absence of fear, as some would shortchange it to be; rather, courage means going forward despite our fear, confronting that which frightens us. And Mom only knew one direction in life—forward. For her, there was no retreat from life’s challenges; she faced them with sincere faith and walked through them in steely resolve.

Her second lesson in courage was likely one Mom never knew she had taught, but it remains indelibly etched on my soul, and that is this: courage is best taught—or best caught—by example. When widowed at a young age, it was in courage that she raised three young children to adulthood alone. Asked to manage a bookstore despite having no experience running a business, it took courage to step up to the task. (She turned a profit in her first year.) And though her family was with her as she approached death’s door, we could only look on with deep love and respect as she alone crossed over its threshold, dying with the courage in which she had lived.

The apostle Paul knew the best way for all of us to encounter our fears is to jettison our knee-jerk reactions to them through the Spiritual fruit of self-control, and he understood there is no better way to bolster faith and confidence in others than to exemplify courage among them. So, when coaching a pastor through distance-learning, he wrote this piece of practical advice to Titus, “Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech…” (Titus 2:6-8).

To which I say, “Well said, Paul.” And, “Well lived, Mom.”

Father, though I trust in you, I still fear what I should not fear. Send your Spirit to produce in me self-control and to encourage me with truth. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Christ in me is confidence.