Eyes on the Prize

Dr. Randall Smith taught from the pulpit this week. The message:

Look up --- anticipate the real world.

Read the passages from Sunday, Isaiah 65:17-25 and Luke 21:5-9, 20-28.
(If you don't have a Bible within reach, click the Scripture reference to read online.)

Isaiah's message from God speaks of the future, the time when the heavens, earth, and all creation will be redeemed. Restored.

Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,

and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

Isaiah 65:17 NLT

Living in a broken world, a world that appears bent on self-destruction, we often lose sight of this truth. There aren't just rumors of wars... there are wars. There are earthquakes... typhoons... famines... and plagues... terrifying things.

"People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth,

for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone

will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up,

for your salvation is near!" ---Jesus

Luke 21:26-28 NLT

When things look shaky, Jesus told His disciple: Stand and look up! 

We are not to be terrified along with all the rest. We are called to see beyond the terrifying, to the hope of the eternal. A perspective that inspires us to draw others to the reality found in Christ.

Set your focus on what is to come, not on what is or what was.

As Rev. Smith reminded us:
keep your eyes on the prize...
your hand on the plow... 
hold on...

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Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!

And look!

Isaiah 65:17 NLT

Where are your sights set? feeling hopeful or terrified?

Father God, fill me with the hope found in Jesus 

and keep me focused on the reality found in Him.