The journey up felt long and frightening; however, it was only a quick climb. When the doors opened it was a relief to finally be on top, but it was an even greater feeling to be looking through the windows on the world!
What am I talking about? The 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The floor to ceiling windows would take your breath away as you stood 107 stories off the ground. It was the place to go… and I’m sure that to many, it was a place to escape as they could stand and look for miles as they let their mind wander.
Do you ever do that?! Do you ever step back and look through your window on the world? When you do, what do you see? I know when I make the time to stop and stare through my window, most of the time it looks as busy as New York City. Amongst all the chaos and busyness, far off in the distance, I see Jesus and my relationship with Him. I stop. I stumble. I stare a little harder. I ask myself, “Why is He so far away?”
1 John chapter 2 talks about Love– why it exists and how much Jesus loves us. For me, I tend to let things get in the way. Verse 16 says, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.”
This verse perfectly describes what I see in my world. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rush of life and all that goes with it– the latest technology, the quanity of friends, the status of having it all together. But when you climb to the top and look out, I find Jesus, the most important thing in life, is miles out in the distance. How do we get to Him? I can see Him miles away, I want to rush to the streets and try to run towards Him. But I also want Him to be at the bottom when I come down the 107 stories. Right there greeting me on ground level.
Why should we have to look out over our world to find what matters most? If we were truly loving and surrendering all to Him and putting Him first in our lives, we wouldn’t have to search for Him.
Think about this… It wasn’t the nails that held Christ on that cross, it was His love for you and for me that held Him there. That truth speaks to my heart in big ways.
It’s often times challenging to look so deeply into my world. I see hurt, anger, confusion, and sometimes I just feel completely lost. However, I remind myself that even though I may be miles away from Jesus, He is still right beside me. He is at the bottom when I come 107 stories down. In fact, He is on that journey down with me. 2 John 2 says, “the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.”
Sure, Jesus is miles out in our world, but He is also right in front of us and right next to us. Just take a moment to stop and look more closely at your life. If you know and believe the truth He has promised us, then it is with us forever; just like 2 John says. Try to accept it. We are going to stumble and sometimes we are going to find ourselves lost in our own world, but He is the way out of it.
Maybe you need to clean those windows your’re looking through. Or maybe you need to come down 107 stories and find that, in the chaos of your street life, He is right there– He really is at ground level! And He is miles down the road!
He is miles ahead because we can’t be.
He’s preparing the way for us– now and forever!
United. 