We Become What We Behold

Do you have trouble paying attention for an extended period of time? You are not alone. The ability to focus well seems to be a lost skill. Our culture has programmed us to move from one thing to the next without meaningful consideration of the many spectacles that cross our paths of vision. We were made for so much more. Our Creator did not give us an intelligent brain informed by specialized senses so that we can graze on empty absurdities and glance at cursory images. He made us to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). He made us to behold him - to look intensely at him - because he knows that we will become like what we behold.

In his commentary on Ephesians, John MacArthur writes, "The Lord expects us to act like the new persons we have become in Jesus Christ. He expects His standards to become our standards, His purposes our purposes, His desires our desires, His nature our nature. The Christian life is simply the process of becoming what you are." This exposition is such a beautiful description of what it looks like to know who we are in Christ and therefore to "walk in a manner worthy of [our] calling" (Ephesians 4:1).

When we are serious about our walk with the Lord, we can confidently say with the psalmist, "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken" (Psalm 16:8). To set the Lord always before us is to behold him. When we behold our God, we are transformed more and more into the image of Christ. When we behold our God, we stand firm in the face of temptation. When we behold our God, we will not be shaken. However, when we behold the things of this world, we become like the world, we flounder in the face of temptation, and we are shaken to the core. We become what we behold.

As the beloved hymn teaches us, we must "turn [our] eyes upon Jesus, look full in

His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

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These truths are the vision behind the upcoming Behold women's conference. Please consider joining us for a weekend of worship and fun August 27-28 at Carson Springs Conference Center in Newport. We will behold our God together as we dive into the book of Ephesians to see Christ as our only hope. Register online here.