During my workout yesterday, I found a twenty-dollar bill in a puddle along the road that I run to keep my buffet belly from getting any bigger. Over the years, that’s not the first thing I’ve come across. In the past, I’ve found a nice pair of scissors, and a tape measure along the road, in the middle of nowhere.
Consequently, lately, I’ve noticed how much I look down and around instead of looking up during my workouts. That troubled me because I realized that I was missing the beauty and wonder of God’s creation.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen the same tendency of first seeking help from who or what’s around me versus God, who is in me.
While reading my devotional: New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp, I was reminded of this when I read, “We seek horizontally for the personal rest that we are to find vertically, and it never works. Looking to others for your inner sense of well-being is pointless.”
Comparing the horizontal vs. the vertical, we find that the horizontal focus on pride, progress, profit, prestige, products, and pleasing people. In contrast, the vertical emphasis is on God’s presence, promises, purpose, plan, protection, and peace.
The book of Hebrews speaks to this vertical focus; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV
These days, I am learning to look up, “fixing my eyes on Jesus’, seeking His will, way, what, who, and when to meet my needs instead of others. I hope you are too.
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