I have on occasion heard the phrase, Set Your Sights…

Meaning: If you set your sights on something, or set your sights on doing something, it becomes the target of your ambition or the object of your attention.

Origin: Metaphorical, and related to the fact that a person using a gun looks through the gun’s sights in order to aim, and will have his sights set on the target before shooting at it.

A few months back I bought a ruger 10/22 (great gun), My Father-in-law helped me set the sights on my scope. At first the sights were way off. I wasn’t hitting any targets I was aiming for. We started out closer to the target and once we begin to get the sights aligned we would move back further away from the target and continue to adjust with the distance. After a little adjusting the sites were set.

I remember that night as I begin to try to wind down after such an eventful day. I begin to think about the challenge of setting the sights on that scope. I could fire away as much as I wanted to, but until my sights were set would I begin to consistently hit the targets I was aiming for. I saw a parallel here in the experience pertaining to people that really wake up to a battle, struggle, every day because there sights arn’t set. They are way off, need to be aligned, adjusted. Missing the mark, target.

I begin to think about how some people don’t even know what they’re aiming for. They’re  just firing away at life hoping to hit something. I begin to feel a heavy burden for those that are lost and confused and needing someone to step in their life and lead them to getting their sights set on making Heaven and show them the way. Acts 2:38 message.

I’ve got to be intentional on having my sights set on Jesus Christ. I’ve got to challenge my family and friends to have their sites set on Jesus. I have to to be hyper focused on aligning my sights so there is no missing the TARGET.

Hebrews 12:2 (MSG) Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.

Colossians 3:1-2

3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Chapter 3 starts the practical aspect of Christian living in this book. Paul nearly always starts all his letters with your position in Christ and what God has done by his grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And on that basis, and no other, he then turns his attention to the practicalities of living this life out on this little troubled planet. So he starts by reminding them again of their identification with Jesus Christ (that spiritually speaking they have been raised with Christ) before moving into the first step to practical Christian living. And this step will involve your heart, your mind, your will, your affections and your desires. ‘Keep seeking the things above’ he says.

The Greek word translated ‘seeking’ in this passage means to seek in the sense of an endeavour, to try to gain, to strive after, with the idea of earnestness and anxious desire. It is used by Jesus in Matt 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The Bible tells us to ‘fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ Not easy. All that we see seems so permanent, so everlasting. But the Bible says that one day the stars will fall from the heavens and the sky itself will be rolled back like a scroll. And He who is life will be revealed. And then we shall see that this life is but the prelude and the main feature is still to come!

‘Look around and be distressed, look inside and be depressed, look at Jesus and be at rest.’

Set Your Sights.