Fix Your Eyes

I don’t know about ya’ll but sometimes fighting the ways of this world feels exhausting. Everything we see and hear seems to direct us back to one thing—ourselves. I recently asked a teenager how many times they took a “selfie” of themselves a day (for the use of socializing on snapchat, checking their appearance, etc). The answer might shock you. The initial response was “a lot” so I asked them to quantify it. “Maybe a hundred”, they replied. “Yikes”, I thought.

Oh how we have normalized an obsession with self in this current, younger generation. Okay fine, maybe every generation. Snapchat highlights it, as kids “snap” selfies and send them off dozens, maybe hundreds of times a day. A gentle “how are you” or even a friendly “what’s up” seems to have been replaced with a casual, yet intentional picture of oneself. Oh Lord Jesus, our eyes need fixin’.

Even though I am not on Snapchat, my eyes are often fixed more on myself than they are on those around me. While that is also not intentional, it is casually accurate most days. I focus and even tend to obsess over my own state and feelings, ignorant to or uninterested in the feelings of those around me. I look for things and places to satisfy a longing that only Jesus can fill instead of reaching out to those who may need a friend. Yes, my eyes need a fixin’.

Nowhere in the Ten Commandments does it say to love yourself. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to put yourself first. Nowhere. Not even close, actually.

The first of the Ten Commandments sets the stage when we are told to “have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20: 1). We are then immediately commanded to “not make for yourself an idol” (verse 2). Our eyes were clearly to be fixed on others, my friend. The reason Eve took the apple is because she took her eyes off of God. The reason Peter sank while trying to walk on water was because he took his eyes off of God. When we take our eyes off of God, our focus immediately turns inward and we become reliant on emotions, feelings, desires and idols that lead to all things destructive.

Where can you fix your eyes today? Could you call a friend and see what’s new? Write a handwritten note to someone who needs encouragement? Drop off a little treat to someone who is confined to home? Fix your eyes on others and feel your spirit soar into the safe space of peace and joy. Your heart will fill in a way that it could never by serving oneself.

The world says “love yourself”. Jesus says “love one another”. Let’s fix our eyes today.