What Lurks In The Closet
Last week I was cleaning out part of my closet and ran across my high school yearbook for the first time in probably twenty years. I had a few minutes so I glanced through the pages. So many names and faces I had completely forgotten! I read the notes that people had written in the front and back. I looked at the dress and styles and hairdos, admiring my mullet with no gray. When I finally put it down and turned back to the closet reorg project, there was a lingering sense of discouragement. That glance back in time brought back many missed opportunities to invest in others. I was reminded that my focus then was not on serving others and sharing Christ, in fact, I wanted others to serve me and build me up. I guess we all want that, but it saddened me to be reminded of a season of life that was overly self-focused.
The next morning, with that discouragement still lingering, I picked up a little book called The Gospel Shaped Life by Ian Hamilton. I read a chapter or two (3-5 pages) in the mornings, and here’s what I read that morning:
One of Satan’s well-rehearsed strategies is to turn us in upon ourselves, to absorb us with our weaknesses and sinful failures. Too often we fall into this quagmire and find it hard to extricate ourselves.
This described well where I was. I had become too self-focused on my season of being too self-focused! Hamilton applies the remedy:
[Instead] When the Lord convicts us of our sinful failures and failings, he immediately points us away from ourselves to Himself. This is what nurtures and nourishes our faith—not dwelling on our sins, but dwelling on the One who freely and fully forgives our sins and who delights to embrace us in His unfailing love… Too often we spend more time looking in to ourselves than looking out to our God and nourishing our faith in the glory of who God is and what He has done for us in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Things That Are Above
The solution was clear: yes, acknowledge past (or current) sins, but turn my attention not inward, but outward on Christ and His glorious forgiveness. That’s why our September memory verse is Colossians 3:2-3, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” What started as a depressing reminder of a season of lost opportunities turned to a glorious reminder of Christ’s great forgiveness and redeeming power. I did not stay stuck in that season and I have the power of Christ’s death and resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit to thank for that! And thus I spent more time dwelling on the glory of Christ rather than my past failures, and for that I’m thankful, even if I’d still like to go back and change my hairdo.
My prayer for Valley View this week is that we would turn our attention to the glories of “this salvation” as described in the first chapter of 1 Peter, (v10) and focus on how great God is, rather than how broken we are or have been. May He open doors for you to tell others of the great work He has done in your life all across the South End of Louisville!
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash