Morning Devotional 061526 Lifting Our Gaze To God

Morning Devotional 061526

Passage selected from today’s Upper Room Verses

Colossians 3:1-4

¹ Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side. ² Think about the things above and not things on earth. ³ You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 

Good Morning, Through Christ we live!

Whenever I sit and scroll through social media posts, I am intrigued by the vast array of things I encounter. First, there are the pop-up ads that AI manipulates to imitate my shopping interests. Oh, I see way too many shoe ads. There are the humorous quips that friends pass along to friends for a good laugh. I see pictures of friends and family which I adore. Finally, I see the posts of groups and people that I purposely follow. 

Then comes the sifting of opinions and random stuff. One of the key components of programming is to create algorithms that mimic our interests. A benefit to this is each time I click on a post with a positive, uplifting message, then I get similar posts that show up on my feed. The downside to programming is for each click on a negative post, I get inundated with similar negativity ranging from basic to extreme. 

It is easy to get caught up in the web of doom-scrolling. This is where you move from images and words showing everything that is wrong, broken, and painful about society. It's not that we ignore what is in need of fixing, but if that is all we see, we are quickly overwhelmed. 

In Philippians 4:8, Paul reminds us to focus on what is good, instead of what is bad.

From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. 

When we feel as if we are being tugged by the tractor beam into the web of negativity, look to God to find all that is holy, just, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise.

God of Wind and Flame, you bless us abundantly! O Lord, you create beauty. Help us focus on your wonderful handiwork when we feel overwhelmed and weary. Thank you. We love you. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Thought for the day: With God’s help we can always choose to focus on what matters. 

We can adjust our lens to see God’s beauty that surrounds us! Pastor Liz