Jen found a new youth group game, and we needed to test it out (of course!). The parachute goes in the ball, gets launched like a sling shot, and then opens automatically…somewhere. First person to get to it wins a prize. It was a lot of fun for Brooklyn and Addison (and me and Jen!), and the girls quickly learned to keep looking up, watching where the parachute was going so that they didn’t miss out on the prize.
Colossians 3:1 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Being “risen with Christ” is a picture of being saved by Christ; that’s the biggest deal ever, the absolute best thing that could ever happen to anyone, and it should affect our focus. As Christians, we should care more and more about “things which are above” instead of constantly focusing on temporary things like what we own, where we live, or how successful we are in the world’s eyes.
Verse 2 tells us to “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” The girls had to intentionally look up and watch the parachutes and if we will intentionally “set” our affection, our desire, our focus on things God cares most about, it will help us in a lot of ways. Normal, every day stuff will still matter to us, but not as much. People will still irritate us, but not as badly. And we won’t miss out on the most important things God is doing all around us.
Some Extra Bible Reading I Try to Do Each Day
Psalm 9:1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. 3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them. 7 But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. 9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. 11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings. 12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. 13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: 14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. 15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. 19 Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. 20 Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.