Where Are You Looking?
As we begin this new year, there are many places we could be focused. You might be focused on your goals for the year. You might be focused on your e-mail inbox or your social media feed. You might be focused on getting back to school or catching up on projects you didn't finish last year. You might be focused on Spring Break or graduation in the coming months. You might be focused on the failures or disappointments or tragedies of the last year or the last decade.
I often work hard to get re-focused at the beginning of the year....to prioritize the things that really matter and to hopefully break out of some bad habits developed over the past year. It's a noble pursuit with less-than-stellar results most of the time.
But Scripture is clear about what we ought to be focusing on, above all else, as we embark on this New Year....and as we begin every year and every day. It's our God in all his glory and majesty and mercy. As we look upon God on his throne yet ever near and available to us; as we look upon and commune with Jesus, high and exalted yet slain to rescue us, all the other things of life come into proper perspective.
May we all pray this prayer with the Psalmist as we begin this year.
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands. - Psalm 63:1-4
Our goal this Sunday, as we gather, will be to encourage one another to look to God, behold Him, praise Him, and lift our eyes, heads, and hands to him in worship. How better could we start off our year?
Here are the songs and scriptures that will make up our corporate singing time:
Here is a Spotify Playlist of these songs so you can be comfortable to worship without the distraction of no knowing the songs.