Lift Your Eyes…and Sit Down.

Here in Spain, I often find myself walking through the streets looking up—at balconies, windows, and the sky above them. It’s almost instinctive. Sometimes the street-level things feel claustrophobic and a bit…dirty. The unfamiliarity of being in a dense, apartment-style living area often draws my eyes upward, and there’s something about it that invites my head into the clouds, away from the busy, loud streets.

But then I catch myself. No one else is looking up. Plus…

Sometimes you see things you’re not meant to see—people in their private space, laundry hanging, an old man in his skivvies standing on his balcony. And in that moment of self-consciousness, I quickly redirect my gaze back down to street level.

One day, while doing exactly that, Paul’s words to the Christians in Colosse came to mind:

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.¹”

And my first thought was, Lord, I feel that I actually do that pretty well. I think about kingdom work. I think about ministry. I think about people, eternity, heaven, the things of God. Your love and provision for everyone.

But then the Spirit cut past all of my “activity” for the Lord because this passage isn’t primarily about what I do for Christ.It’s about keeping my mind fixed on Christ Himself.

I cannot understate what a subtle but important difference there became in my thinking here.

It’s easy to confuse kingdom activity and the things we think we do for Christ with a mere gaze upon Christ. To think that because we’re busy with good things—ministry, service, mission, leading and serving our families—we’re automatically keeping our eyes where they belong. But Paul wasn’t calling the Colossian Christians (and us) merely to heavenly tasks; the Spirit through Paul was (and is) calling us to an heavenly gaze.

Suddenly, another passage came upon my heart—one I hadn’t consciously connected before:that we are seated with Christ in heavens². When I went back to check for this phrase in Colossians, I noticed the Lord was connecting something. This particular Text says Christ is seated above³. And yet to the Ephesians, Paul wrote that we share in that position with Him.

And suddenly the two passages clicked together.

When I look up, I’m not just looking at Christ. There is a certain sense in which I’m called to see myself seated next to Him: secure and at rest with Him, my life hidden with Him in God⁴.

Street-level life has a way of pulling your attention downward. It’s messy. It’s repetitive. It’s claustrophobic, often unpleasant: unclean sidewalks, noise, distraction, irritation. And if that’s where your gaze stays, it slowly shapes how you think, how you hope, and how you endure.

This can be especially tempting when others aren’t looking with you and suddenly you find yourself with your spiritual head in the clouds, embarrassed you look back down at the mundane and normal, oftentimes the worldly.

But when your gaze is fixed upon Christ—when you remember where He is seated, and where you are seated with Him—something changes.

The big concerns become smaller.

The sense of wandering and lostness in this life fades.

I can already see not only where I’m headed, but where I’m seated. With Christ. In Christ.

Even now.

You and I walk the same streets. You and I still live in the same world. But this way we’re no longer feeling as pressed in and churned about, our gaze is upon the heavens and on Christ and where He is seated.It may be that no one else is looking up but that ought not deter us. We are a “peculiar people”⁵ after all.

We must learn to lift our eyes—not just upward, but Christward.

Even if it means lots of people will look at us like we’re out of our minds..

Maybe it will prompt them to look up, too. And Lord-willing, one day we'll see them sitting next to us. Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me to set my mind not just on heavenly things but on Your Heavenly Son. Remind me that Communion with You is more important than Activity for You. And may many people be drawn to You because of the place you hold in my heart. So be it.

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Footnotes

¹ Colossians 3:2

² Ephesians 2:6

³ Colossians 3:1

⁴ Colossians 3:3

⁵ 1 Peter 2:9 (KJV; “a peculiar people”)