Ten Looks at Christ

I recently started a new journey in my walk with God. I decided to get a Give Me Jesus journal from Life Lived Beautifully. (You can check it out the one I got here. There is also a men's/unisex version here.) The journal is designed to bring structure to your "quiet time" with God. I'm a very organized person, but when I spend time alone with God, I feel scattered. As much as I want to give God my focus, it is a struggle. So when I saw this journal, I was on board. The first few pages has introspective questions to fill out to and gives you some guidance for how to go about having a daily time with God. I've been a Christian since I was little and even went to Bible college, so I thought that filling out these questions would be a piece of cake. But they made me really evaluate where I am - where I truly am in my relationship with God. There was one page in particular that really struck me...

Based on a a saying by Robert McCheyne ("For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ!), this particular page gave a challenge:

"We must redirect our gaze to Jesus throughout the day. Take time to write down your 'ten looks' you will take at Jesus." 

When I read these words, I felt my breath stop for a moment. Write down the ten looks I will take at Jesus? I know the things He said, things He did, and how the Bible says to live. But do I know Jesus well enough that I can articulate ten things about Him that I can look at? Off the top of my head, I drew a blank. I was overwhelmed and at a loss. So I sat for a while in the realization that after so many years of living for God, I knew much about what He had done for me, but I did not know as much about HIM as I had thought. I began to flip through my Bible and look at passages that I had highlighted, searching for glimpses of Jesus...

1.  "...Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm...even the winds and the sea obey him..." (Matthew 8:26-27)

2. "...But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

3. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

4. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

5. "He is the image of the invisible God..." (Colossians 1:15)

6. "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians1:17)

7. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1)

8. "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power." (Hebrews 1:3)

9. "the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2)

10. Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!...You alone are holy..." (Revelation 15:3-4)

I keep this journal on my nightstand open to this page (with my phone far away, charging in the living room). So in the morning when my alarm clock goes off, before I have had time to dwell on the pain and stiffness that lupus brought my body through the night, before I start counting the items on my to-do list, and before social media has flooded my mind with so many useless and dramatic things, I grab this journal and take ten looks at Christ.

IMHO...

It is so wonderful that we're allowed to have our own opinions and have the ability to share those opinions with the world. It is truly an amazing privilege that is very unique to our place in history.

For me, I have never been lacking of brilliant awesome many opinions and I have never been shy in sharing them. Of course, the world is not clamoring to hear my opinions as much as I would expect it to. At least, that was true until I had lupus. There's something about being a joyful person with a chronic illness. All of a sudden, your opinion starts to matter to some people. That's sort of what made me decide to start blogging. And I can't believe how many people have joined me on this journey!

There is a saying I heard a lot when I was growing up: "To whom much is given, much is required." There is responsibility that comes with what we have been given. And if you don't want to take responsibility, you are not exempt from the consequences. Words have power. They can encourage, they can hurt, they can make the ears dull. They can bring life or death. They can cause great change or cause something that needs to change to stay the same. So pick your words wisely. And if you don't, don't be surprised if you don't like the results.

So, let's take a moment to talk about social media. There's something about social media that has made us less skilled at the art of conversation. In a conversation, you don't just intermittently spout snippets of your opinion. You listen. Then you respond. You don't just respond to words. You respond to body language, voice inflection, and nuance. You respond to emotions like happiness and heartache. In a conversation, it is (hopefully) less about spouting your opinion and more about what matters most - people.

Social media allows us to make statements without context, without human interaction, without a conversation. The writer and the reader are blind to what the other is thinking or going through. We are often saying "mid-conversation" statements when no conversation had begun. We are given the illusion that we can say such "mid-conversation" statements and assume people are at the exact same place in our conversation. This is not how reality works. There is always context. And if we are not careful, our well-meaning proclamations of our opinions can be hurtful words in the context of someone else's life.

And that is the problem with our new found ability to declare to the world our opinions. We are too quick to stomp all over people in the name of "our opinion." You're going through something very difficult? Well I have an opinion based on a theory I have or something I read so I'm going to minimize what you're going through and treat you like you don't matter. And I am going to feel good about it because I'm exercising my right to free speech.

What have we become? Is this really the way we want to live?

To be honest, I'm writing this in response to a hurtful encounter I recently had in the social media world. Without going into any detail, someone was so focused on expressing their opinion about a matter that they flippantly said things that were extremely insensitive to something difficult my husband and I are going through. (Btw, if my husband says an issue is "hitting home because my wife has lupus," this is a hint that the topic is a painful one.) I do not believe that everyone needs to agree with my opinions. I do not believe that people should be restricted from having or sharing their opinions or beliefs. I also do not believe that our opinions are ever an excuse to treat people in a way that is uncivil, rude, or hurtful.

So, I propose we make a pact:
Let's remember that we can't see everyone's context.
Let's value people over our opinions.
Let's choose our words wisely.

Who's in?