Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
The Complaining Mindset
Have you ever met somebody where it just feels like they always have something to complain about? Maybe it's something as simple as you're out at a restaurant and the service is just taking way too long, or you're out shopping with them and they just can't find anything that looks good, or they're talking about their birthday and all the gifts that they got, but they didn't actually get the one thing that they really, really wanted. Everything just seems to be going wrong in their life, and after a while it just becomes exhausting.
Let's be honest, we all probably have had a time where we've fallen into that mindset, where it's just really easy to look at everything that's going wrong in life. If you find yourself in that place right now, I want to encourage you with our Verse of the Day today.
It comes from Revelation chapter 21, verse 5. "And the One sitting on the throne said, 'Look, I am making everything new!' And then He said to me, 'Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.'"
A Book Full of Ups and Downs
I don't know if you've read through the book of Revelation—I don't think most of us have, from beginning to end—but it is a wild book. It is this vast visual of Christ's return. There are so many ups and downs, twists and turns, moments of glory and moments of terror, and all of it is coming through this vision to the Apostle John in his old age.
It would be really easy for John, seeing all of what was going on, to be distracted by what was going wrong. The book starts out with critiques against the churches, and then you see these plagues unleashed on the earth. You have the antichrist and the false prophet and the dragon, and all of these forces that would seem like they might overcome God's great plan.
Look: A Simple Yet Powerful Command
We get to Revelation 21, and here is the culmination of God's redemptive plan. There's this moment where Jesus looks to John and says, "Look, I am making all things new." I love this moment in the book because of that first word there, "look." It's a simple yet powerful command, because John could have been looking at all of the bad things that were happening and said, there's no way that this is going to work out.
Jesus redirects his gaze. He says, "Look, I'm making everything new." You and I could spend all of our days looking at everything that's going wrong—look at how this didn't work out, look at how I didn't get that thing, look at how this person hurt me. Or we could set our minds on things above. We could look to what God is doing. We can look to what He's promised to do in His Word.
Where We Set Our Attention
It's really important that we set our attention where it matters most. I get it—this world has a lot of things that would distract us, that would make us go, there is no hope. But God is working, powerfully. Don't let the weariness of this world distract you from the Spirit of God moving in our midst.
Look—He is making all things new. That is His promise to us, and His words are trustworthy and true.
