I have a guilty secret to share with you. I hate to admit
it…and I might deny it in public, but I LOVE musicals. I have seen every single one that comes to
the 5th Avenue and Paramount theaters. I even like the dorky ones,
like “Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat.” My wife always makes fun of me,
because this love of song and dance and jazz hands just doesn’t go along with
my football-playing persona.
My favorite musical of all time (and favorite book
for that matter) is Les Miserables. The
opening begins with dramatic orchestra music; then the prisoners come own and
sing out their desperation in their baritone voices: “Look down! Look down! You’re
here until you die.”
Isn’t that how we feel after years of failure in our
attempt to change? We feel trapped in a
prison with no hope to escape. We feel
hopeless and it becomes harder and harder to raze our gaze from our failure, our
defeats, weakness, and brokenness.
But the Bible sings a different song, no matter how
long we have looked down and lived in defeat.
In one of the most beautiful poems ever written we find God’s response to
our failure to change: “Look Up.” It sounds too simple, too easy. But in Psalms
121 the author replies “I look up to the mountains— does my help come from
there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made
heaven and earth!”
I don’t know why this is…but every time I “look up,”
a miracle happens…it’s as if God’s hand reaches down to me and a huge smile
breaks out across his face…”I’ve been waiting for you to ask me!” And things
change.
For all of us who have this nasty human tendency to
look down and focus on our failure, let’s look up instead and focus on God’s
perfection. Let’s look up and focus on
God’s victory over sin and death. Let’s
look up and focus on God’s righteousness.
I invited everyone at Washington Cathedral to Look Up and transfer their trust to Jesus. I make the same invitation to all of you who have never embraced the name of Jesus. Change is possible. But instead of trying and stating “I’m going to change,” we need to pray “Lord, change me.”
Have any of you experienced true life change? I would love to hear your story.
4 comments:
Les Miz is my favorite musical as well! A friend in Montevideo and I used to walk the city streets singing "Do you hear the people sing?" If ever Elise doesn't want to go to the Paramount or the 5th with you, give me a call!
Rey - a small group headed up by Fiona last quarter actually discussed this! We all wrote something about our "touch" from God. The idea was to invite others in other small groups to contribute their own stories. Sounds like an idea whose time has come! Check with Fiona. She collected our writings.
Obviously, I like the idea!
Sally Jo
Pastor Rey,
I don't want to change. Why should we want to change?
Margie Mayhall
Hey Margie, that is a great question. For some people, they see the need to change immediately. For others, they ask the same question you ask - "Why do i need to change?" In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus gives us a summary statement of what his ministry would be all about. For us to enter his kingdom, we would have to go through a process of repentance and belief. Another way of putting it is, our journey with God is about change. Repentance basically means "changing our mind". So God’s kingdom is within reach—but to access it we need to go through the process of repentance and belief. We have hundreds of opportunities each day to access God's kingdom as we walk with God.
Mike Breen put it this way - "Walking as a disciple of Jesus means constantly growing and changing inwardly as you take on more of the character of the Teacher. Change is not an option: it is a vital part of the life of a follower of Jesus. Once we change on the inside, the new attitude will affect our outward actions."
So whether we realize it or not, we are changing everyday in our walk with God.
Does that answer your question?
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