From The Desk of:

Are You Looking Out of or Into?

Years ago, I lived across the street from a man who always looked outside his window. There were times when I did not see him, and I would see the blinds and curtains move.  He may have considered himself to be the neighborhood watch. Last year my family and I drove by late at night to reminisce and see the old community; low and behold, he was out in his front yard looking. My family and I got a good laugh because before we turned on the street, we all laughed and joked, saying he might be standing outside looking.

The Word of God is God’s way of helping us change, get better, and ready ourselves to go to Heaven. We can find ourselves missing Heaven if we use the Bible as a window to see what others are doing and how they are living. “Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14). One man used the Word to look at others, the other used the Word to look at himself, and in doing so, he realized he needed mercy. It is not wise for me to believe that you need much work in your life and see my life as being perfect and lacking nothing.

“But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). Keep looking into God’s mirror, remember what you look like to God, do the work in your life, and be blessed or happy because of it.

©June 3, 2023, Courtney Henderson