You Want Me Looking WHERE?

Some people constantly talk about what we should be doing. Others tend to talk more about what Jesus has done and is doing. I have found, and continue to find, that the latter brings me closer to Him while the former just drags me down into the pit where all I hear are all the lies the devil wants me to believe. Now, why do you suppose that is? I think it's because when people talk about what Jesus has done and is doing and will do, in our lives, it inspires confidence and faith. It reminds us how powerful HE is, how trustworthy HE is, how righteous and holy and wonderful HE is, and how much HE loves us. When people talk about what we should be doing, are we bearing fruit, are we living right, etc. it does not inspire confidence or faith. I don't feel confident about myself, and my faith is not in myself or how good I can be. How can it be? Without Him I am nothing. Being reminded of everything I should be doing better, doing more perfectly, doing more of, period, reminds me of how powerless I am, how untrustworthy my flesh is, how depressingly unrighteous and unholy and self-absorbed this little creature can be, and what a poor job I do at loving others like He loves me.

Here's the thing: I don't need reminding of that. It's with me every day, staring me in the face, robbing me of peace, robbing me of joy, robbing me of assurance, killing my hope, killing my motivation, killing my faith, destroying my worth, destroying my confidence, destroying my efforts. Now, I don't know about you, but the scriptures say there's someone who is out to steal, kill, and destroy, and it certainly isn't my Jesus!! On the other hand, there is Someone who is there to give us LIFE, and that more abundantly, and that IS my Jesus. So here's the thing: reminding me of everything I must be doing wrong, I should be doing right, I could be doing better, I ought be doing more, is not going to help me in the slightest. It's only going to drag me down, beat me down, and suck out all my energy till I can't possibly care anymore whether I live or die -- and at that point I am ripe picking for the darkspawn. And so will anyone be if he feeds on a steady diet of that toxic spew.

What's worse, I start believing all the things about me that darkness wants me to believe: that I'm garbage, I'm junk, I'm sh*t, that I will never amount to anything, never be of any use to God, never have any worth in His kingdom, that I am nothing but a failure and a phony and a hypocrite and you know what? When you start believing those things you start acting on them and acting LIKE them. When you believe yourself to be something, whether it is good or bad, whether it is truth or lies, whether it is what you WANT to think about yourself or what you are FORCED to because others seem to constantly be sending you those messages, guess what -- that is exactly what you will become, because it is exactly what you will see yourself as being, which means it is exactly how you will act, reflect, conduct yourself in life. That is what we mean by the term "self-fulfilling prophecy". It could be entirely untrue but if people believe it, they will begin to arrange their conduct accordingly and by doing so, make it true. We've seen it happen in politics, society, and the economy, and it happens in individual lives as well.

But here's the thing: when I'm reminded of who JESUS is, what JESUS has done, is doing and will do for me, then guess what? My eyes are on HIM. With my eyes on HIM, my focus is on HIM, and with my eyes and focus on Him, I start to unconsciously imitate what I'm seeing, just like a little child unconsciously copies his parents to learn to walk, speak, eat, etc. and to adopt their mannerisms and habits. With my eyes on Him, I feel joy, peace, contentment, excitement, anticipation, and an overwhelming desire to do good and love others. I might not be perfect at it, but with that desire in place, which comes only from Him and from focusing ON Him, I keep trying. I keep looking for new ways to do it. I keep learning and growing. And nobody has to tell me what I should be doing more or better. As long as I'm watching Him, I'm moving in that direction already; I don't need to be reminded that I'm not there yet and I certainly don't need to be told the steps I'm taking today are not good enough simply because I don't have twenty league boots that can get me to perfection in 0.60 seconds.

Bottom line: remind me of Jesus and I keep moving forward. Get me looking at me and I stop dead in my tracks and fall backwards. So it's just a matter of what you want to see in me or get from me. From now on if you come to me trying to tell me what you think I should be doing, or should be doing more of, or should be doing better, or how I'm falling short, I'm going to assume you want me to fail, want me to die, want me to be cut out of the Body and no longer a part of Christ, and guess what. I'm not going to be listening to people with those kinds of agendas, period, EVER.