Spiritual Sundays: Keeping the Focus in the Right Place

This morning we were on our way to church, and my son said something interesting- he said, "Look Mommy, some people aren't going to church today." 

I kind of wondered where that came from, and so I asked him, "Yeah, why do you think they aren't going to church?" 

He replied, "I think that they don't want to learn about Jesus." Hmm. Interesting thought.

 "Why do you think they don't want to learn about Jesus?" I asked him.

 "Because they don't want to do the things that Jesus wants them to do," was his answer.

I looked at my husband, and we both raised our eyebrows a bit and shrugged. He's only four and he's hit the nail on the head with why we turn away from God. It's not because we don't believe He exists, or even that we don't love Him- it's because He's telling us all the stuff we don't want to hear! 

Last night I was watching that show, "The Desperate Housewives of Atlanta," not because I admire these women or identify with them, but because I am amused by the depth of their shallowness. It's an oxymoron, it's true, but the things that they say and do simply amaze me. What really hit me while watching it was these two women who had had some kind of a breakdown in their friendship- a tiff, or whatever you'd like to call it- and they were trying to "make amends." So in order to do this, one woman invited the other one to her massive party-of-the-year birthday extravaganza, and kept talking (to the cameras) about how at this party she would be the queen and everyone would know it and blah blah blah I'm-just-the-stuff-and-don't-you-forget-it. So then the invitee (the birthday girl's rival) is going on and on about how she is just going to get THE hottest dress and THE cutest shoes and have her makeup done all up so that everyone at that party knows that she is the queen of everything and blah blah blah.

Wow. What a touching reunion that would be.

As I was watching this, I was thinking about how ridiculous it all was. I was thinking that most likely, even if they do look so incredibly amazing (as they obviously thought they would) who would even notice? They're all so into themselves that they probably couldn't see far enough past their own makeup-covered noses to even see if Michele (or whoever) was wearing Christian Dior!

My point is, when we spend all our time focused on our physical outsides, our spiritual insides begin to slowly rot away. They don't just freeze in suspended animation- they deteriorate and wilt away like a plant without sunlight and water, only worse because we're constantly feeding it the poison of either "I'm not good enough" or "I'm better than everybody." The only measure we have of how good our outside is is to compare it with everything else that's outside, and there is nothing perfect out there in the world, so we can never measure up to anything that's worth measuring up to. The only thing that is perfect is Jesus Christ, whom we can only find spiritually. Why do we spend time comparing ourselves with celebrities whose lives turn out questionable, at best, when we have the perfect example of what we could be in Jesus Christ? As we continue to feed our spirits with poison, we lose our taste for anything that is truly good- it just feels too uncomfortable, too real. It is easier to hide outside ourselves.

Let's turn our focus back on Him, and try to emulate His life and His spirit, and quit worrying about how we look while we're doing it. We will always look our best when we're looking to Him.

This is something I've got to work on- how about you? Any thoughts?