I was playing disc golf with a friend. We’d played at this particular course several times. I said something to my friend about the solar panels that lined the particular stretch we were on. They were mounted on light poles—just above the lights and I said something to the effect that it seemed like a smart thing to do.
My friend said (with an element of surprise in their voice), they had never noticed them before. (We’ve all been there, haven’t we?). I said something like, “I suppose if we’re always looking down, we never see what’s up.” My friend, who also goes by the name of Janice but told me to refer to her as “a friend” in this post (which I have done), took her phone out and snapped a couple of pictures.
But it’s true and it’s a hole that’s easy to step into. The world around us isn’t going to point us in heaven’s direction. The media reports and newsfeeds are going to focus on what’s happened all around us (and that can be helpful), but there’s no verticality in what they have to share. The same is true for entertainment, sports, and music (with only a few pleasant exceptions). And, too much of this can not only bring us down—it distorts our view of things and we end up with what a famous motivational speaker referred to as “stinking thinking.”
What if we were more like solar panels? What if we attitudinally positioned ourselves so that we were constantly looking up? I don’t mean that we become oblivious to the world around us (that wouldn’t be healthy), but rather that we learned to look at everything from heaven’s perspective?
I think this is one of the things Paul was after when he told the disciples at Colossae:
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)
We were raised with Christ and our life is now hidden with Him in God. This is more than a pleasant platitude—it’s a spiritual reality! And one that Paul wants us to flesh out in our lives.
Let’s learn from the solar panels and position ourselves to look up!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 