What are your eyes fixed on today?

We've all heard the old adage, "You are what you eat", but have you ever heard this one: "You go where you gaze?"

Vulnerable moment alert: The last two weeks have been very challenging for me. In fact, I would describe last week alone as being one in "darkness". Recently, the LORD our God has been revealing to me parts of my life that I have NOT surrendered to Him, specifically my trying to control my body's physical appearance in unhealthy and, yes, sinful ways to be "pleasing" and "acceptable" to others.

One day last week, I woke up and wanted to stay on the couch all day in order to avoid the difficult feelings and the lies of the enemy that seemed all too overwhelming to deal with. Having "off" days like this is not new to me, but waking up and not wanting to do God Time (praying and reading His Word), this terrified me! It was the first time in a long time that I felt my flesh fighting agaisnt me to spend time with God.

Thanks ONLY to the Holy Spirit, Who encouraged and gave me strength to do that which was to His glory and not my own, I moved from the couch of "woe is me" to the comfy chair in my lady lounge where I could have the posture of "Wow is HE!" I felt led to read Hebrews, but not just the favorable verses I had priviously highlighted, I felt led to read it as it was originally intended as a letter - from start to finish.

Thanks ONLY to the Holy Spirit... I moved from my couch of "woe is me" to... the posture of "Wow is HE!"

Beloveds, it was there in my "wilderness" that the Word of God seemed most alive, most present, most gloriously real to me!

Hebrews 4: 12-13: "For the Word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

That morning, the Spirit revealed to me a theme in Hebrews that I had never acknowledged before: That as Christ-followers, we are to keep our eyes set on the things above, the promise to be fulfilled, the Kingdom to come!

Hebrews 12:2: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Did you catch that last part? "For the joy that lay BEFORE Him..." Jesus, our LORD, became man and "endured the cross, despising the shame" for what He fixed His eyes on...What he prized more than any worldly shame or pain...for what was AHEAD of Him: Reunion and eternity with the Father!

Consider this: We move in the direction we look.

I know I am a seasoned woman, and now I may date myself even more by talking about a time before back-up cameras in cars existed! In the Stone Age, when I grew up, if I needed to back my car out, I had to put it in reverse and then crane my neck by turning it 180 degrees to the back of the car to ensure that the path behind me was all clear to proceed.

Although a bit antiquated, this is an incredible metaphor for our point: We move in the direction we look.

• If I want to move backwards, I look behind me... to my past.

  
  

• If I want to move sideways, I look to the left or to the right... to those worldly things distracting me in the here and now from looking towards Jesus.

  
  

• But if I want to move forward... I must keep my eyes fixed on Jesus!

So, what does fixing our eyes on Jesus look like in our everyday lives?

Here are some simple (I didn't say "easy", by the way) steps you can take today to move forward by refocusing your eyes on Jesus:

1. Start your day in His Word: Vast research has confirmed that individuals who read their Bibles daily are happier, living more fulfilling lives. (Check out the example from a 2024 study below.)

A new study has found the secret to happiness for Gen Z: the Bible. new study has found the secret to happiness for Gen Z: the Bible. Gen Z has been fairly vocal about their struggles with mental health, but according to the American Bible Society’s recent report, “The State of the Bible 2024,” young adults who read their Bible regularly report being much happier than their peers. The report found that Gen Z scored 12.9 on a stress scale, significantly higher than Boomers (6.3), Gen Xers (9.9), and Millennials (11.9). On the flip side, however, members of Gen Z who are “Scripture engaged” — regularly reading their Bible and allowing it to impact their lives — scored impressively high on the report’s “human flourishing index.” This index measures an individual’s happiness, mental health, social relationships and other factors. Gen Z members who are Scripture-engaged scored an 8.0 on this scale, higher than even millennials (7.9). Read full article here.

2. Make decisions with Jesus as your focus and His Kingdom as your context: On average, a person makes 35,000 decisions each day - that's about 34 decisions per waking minute! So, when faced with decisions, take a moment and ask yourself, "What would Jesus do? What would glorify Him?"

   
   

3. Seek God's guidance within you: Remember that if you have accepted Jesus as your LORD and Savior, He has sent His Holy Spirit to live within you. Therefore, often we should close our eyes (to all the distractions that overwhelm us) and look for guidance from His Spirit that resides 24/7 within us.

   
   

So I encourage you that "as long as it is called today" (Hebrews 3:13), remember this truth...

You go where you gaze!

So fix your eyes on Jesus and you will always move forward!