I’ve noticed that people are drawn to what pops out at them. As I go for walks most nights with my wife, people are throwing their old TVs to the curb because everyone is buying new high- definition TVs that make the picture pop. As people are becoming consumers of social media images, they’re no longer satisfied with what their old cell phones used to do. Each new electronic device makes pictures pop brighter.
Think about what the movies were like when you were a little kid. I used to like the popcorn we ate as much as the movies we watched. Now the movies pop out of the screen, and the movie producers create images and special effects to make you feel like you’re in the movie. And you get hooked and can’t wait to watch the next movie sequel, and all the kids will be wearing those images on their backpacks or dressed up like one asking you to give them candy at your front door for Halloween.
But when you get hooked consuming high-definition images for entertainment, you can’t stop. Art and music and sports all have to pop as videography has taken sensationalism to new popping levels. Hair colors, clothing, shoes, glasses, and nails are all popping. Tattoos are popping all over people’s bodies in high, attention-getting definition. Flashing lights with high-definition electronic signs are advertising everything you need to be noticed and successful in this life here on earth as it isn’t in heaven.
As people are getting rich on us as we buy their next new thing that pops brighter with higher definition, listen to these defining words that level the playing field of our consumerism. “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.”
Here’s the highest definition of how our lives should pop. “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made Himself nothing; He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form He obediently humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.”
If you take an even closer look at Paul’s words that he wrote while in he was in prison, the Christ-life that we are to emulate isn’t abstract or dull at all. Here’s how the life of Christ should pop in all who choose to follow Him. “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him…You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them.” (Visit Philippians 2 for some good Sabbath reflection time)
What pops out in high-definition from our lives should be what humbly defines us: the life of Christ. What does it look like in your life? As you interact with people in your home and in your world, are you becoming more patient and more kind? When it’s decision time, do you live in others’ preferences, or do you demand or manipulate to get your own way? When stuff hits the fan, do you stay calm, or do you blow your fuse? Do you celebrate the good in those around you, or do you judge and criticize them? When you and when others mess up, is grace your reflex, or do you keep score? When you hear lies, do you get organized around them, or do you rejoice and hold to the truth? Is winning or getting even your goal, or is your goal to love well—even if you lose the game, get hurt, or lose the race?
May the peace of Christ and the Words of Christ pop so brightly from your life, as you live completely different from everyone else around you. May people be drawn by The Father to His Son because you are becoming just like Jesus in your home, in your neighborhood, in your school, and in your workplace. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you. All of His wonderful passion and purity. Don’t just image it or sing it. Live it. Live like you’re loved, and love like you’re loved.
Is the love of Christ popping from your life in high-definition?
Don’t be outdone by the colorful leaves or your electronic images.
