Refocused and Renewed
This year we're collaborating with writers across the Augustine Collective, a network of student-led Christian journals, to bring you a series of short devotional articles during this season of Lent, the 40-day period prior to Easter. Find this series also published by UChicago's CANA Journal and UC Berkeley's TAUG.
by cameron pien
As a kid, I thought the world was created to be climbed and conquered. I was always looking up towards the top of the tree and the pinnacle of the playground, anticipating the exhilaration I’d feel when I was precariously perched at the summit.
Today’s Scripture readings also address the concept of ascension. Yet unlike my childhood aspirations, I don’t elevate myself; instead, I behold what God has raised up from my vantage point on the ground. In Numbers 21, God instructs Moses to set a serpent on a pole, and the Israelites who were bitten needed to look at the snake to be healed. [1] Jesus connects this incident to Himself in John 3:14, saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” [2] While the Israelites could only preserve their earthly lives by looking at the serpent, Jesus grants us everlasting life when we set our gaze and hearts on Him. We must look up to live.
What does the act of looking up entail? The John passage seems to suggest that it implies belief. We can’t merely give Christ a cursory glance. We’re called to have a gaze that doesn’t just investigate or evaluate but wholeheartedly trusts in and is transfixed by its object. Looking at the Son whom the Father lifted up isn’t passive but an active declaration that He deserves all of our attention.
Gazing up instead of laterally requires a change in routine. We have to intentionally lift our heads to shift our focus away from trivial cares and worldly burdens to Him. Yet when we behold the face of God, we find that His features are endlessly captivating, and that He’s already looking at us. He is El Roi, and His eyes have always been ready to meet ours.
The direction of our gaze reminds us that our rightful place and posture is bowing at the foot of God’s throne, as He is infinitely higher than us. I’m reminded that the phrase “looking up” has aspirational connotations: We set our sights on individuals we want to emulate. Despite His unparalleled perfection, Jesus is not an aloof role model but an infinitely generous one. When we look up to Him, He grants us salvation and righteousness that we could never deserve or ascend to on our own.
Despite all my efforts in elementary school (and now, I still love climbing trees), I could never reach the highest branch, as it simply couldn’t support my weight. My sight always extended farther than my abilities, and the apogee remained unattainable. Yet in Ephesians 2, Paul writes that God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” [3] In His abundant and gracious love, He elevates us to sit securely in the heights of heaven. Let us look up to Christ, rejoicing that He invites us into life with and beside Him.
Cameron is a junior studying Information Science at Cornell. She enjoys hearing and telling good stories, any food with "pumpkin spice" in its name, and Jane Austen books. Her spirit animal is a monk seal, because she would love to nap on the beach all day.
Sources
[1] Numbers 21:8 [NRSV]
[2] John 3:14 [NRSV]
[3] Ephesians 2:6 [NRSV]