"I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam.
From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam.
Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun.
Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.
But this is only a very simple example of the difference between looking at and looking along."
From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam.
Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun.
Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.
But this is only a very simple example of the difference between looking at and looking along."
C.S.Lewis
Quick Thought
Now apply this to all those things we enjoy, food, sport, our jobs, ministries. Our wives, children, and friends & family. Our technology & gadgets; Films, Games, Music, Hobbies...
The list could go on, but think of each of those things we enjoy, gifts from God as James 1:17 reminds us. Gifts that we can either look at and give our glory & attention to. Or gifts that we can look along, back to their source; the Father of Lights who gave each of those gifts, that we may enjoy, but mainly to point to His glory.
Quick Thought
Now apply this to all those things we enjoy, food, sport, our jobs, ministries. Our wives, children, and friends & family. Our technology & gadgets; Films, Games, Music, Hobbies...
The list could go on, but think of each of those things we enjoy, gifts from God as James 1:17 reminds us. Gifts that we can either look at and give our glory & attention to. Or gifts that we can look along, back to their source; the Father of Lights who gave each of those gifts, that we may enjoy, but mainly to point to His glory.
