Look Up (Colossians 1:1-4) – “Jesus wants me to worship Him with my life.”

Is your identity in Christ? How do you know? The best way to answer this question is to determine where you spend most of your time looking…because if you set your eyes and your mind on His ways (things that are above) you will see Him for who He is, and it will lead you to worship! As we beholdChrist, we are made more and more into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18), but this can only happen if we are looking at Him…that is, if we are looking up!

Look Down (1 Peter 2:9-10) – “Jesus wants me to be here to worship Him with others.”

As you discover Christ, you learn that He is the Holy and Triune God, three in one: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What does this tell us about Him? That He is Himself a community! And as people made in God’s image, we are meant to live in community and in fellowship with other believers. When we remember that we are God’s “royal priesthood” and “chosen nation” as His children, it reminds us that we are to be in constant community with His people, which means we are to regularly fellowship with them corporately and personally! So, when you look down, where are you standing? Are you standing by yourself, with no one around you? Or are you standing amongst His people, making the effort to make corporate worship as part of God’s Church a regular part of your life? You can only know the answer to this if you discover where you are in relation to others by looking down!

Look Around (Hebrews 10:24-25) – “Jesus wants me to encourage others while I’m here.”

But standing amongst God’s people is not the final step because once you’ve surrounded yourself with God’s people, you are able to notice both who is there and who isn’t there. We are called to be great encouragers of fellow believers…to “stir one another up to love and good works,” in such a way that others have more zeal to follow Christ because they met with you that day! And as you are around God’s people, they are doing the same for you, encouraging you to love and good works as well. When you look around, you see people that God is calling you to encourage and point to His truth, you will see ways that God is using you and your church to advance His kingdom, and you will see those who are not present, which should encourage you to change that. You catch a glimpse of God’s part for you to play in His Church when you consider how you can encourage others to serve Him, but this can only happen if you are looking around!