Looking Up 往上看
Dexu Xia
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2
The cockeyed squid lives in the ocean’s “twilight zone” where sunlight barely filters through the deep waters. The squid’s nickname is a reference to its two extremely different eyes: the left eye develops over time to become considerably larger than the right—almost twice as big. Scientists studying the mollusk have deduced that the squid uses its right eye, the smaller one, to look down into the darker depths. The larger, left eye, gazes upward, toward the sunlight.
The squid is an unlikely depiction of what it means to live in our present world and also in the future certainty we await as people who “have been raised with Christ” (Colossians 3:1). In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he insists we ought to “set [our] minds on things above” because our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (vv. 2–3).
As earth-dwellers awaiting our lives in heaven, we keep an eye trained on what’s happening around us in our present reality. But just as the squid’s left eye develops over time into one that’s larger and more sensitive to what’s happening overhead, we too can grow in our awareness of the ways God works in the spiritual realm. We may not have yet fully grasped what it means to be alive in Jesus, but as we look “up,” our eyes will begin to see it more and more.
How can you develop your “upward” vision? How can you set your mind on heavenly things?
Loving God, help me to set my mind and heart on those things that are of You!
往上看
你们要思念上面的事，不要思念地上的事。—歌罗西书3章2节
斜眼鱿鱼（cockeyed squid）住在海洋里的“弱光区”，阳光难以穿透深海照射到那个区域。这鱿鱼的绰号，来自它极为不对称的双眼：左眼会随着时间越长越大，甚至几乎是右眼的两倍大。研究软体动物的科学家推断，这种鱿鱼是用比较小的右眼，往下看漆黑的深海处，而用比较大的左眼向着阳光，往上看。
很难想像的是，这种鱿鱼竟能用来描绘基督徒。我们这些已经“与基督一同复活”的人（歌罗西书3章1节），一方面要活在今生，一方面要带着确据等待未来的荣耀。保罗在写给歌罗西教会的书信中坚决主张，信徒应当“思念上面的事”，因为我们的生命“与基督一同藏在上帝里面”（2-3节）。
作为寄居在地上，等候承受天国永恒生命的人，我们用一只眼睛去注意现实世界中发生的事，但另一只眼却要往上看。如同这种鱿鱼的左眼会越来越大，对上头发生的事越发敏锐一样，我们也可以对属灵国度里，上帝做事的方法越来越敏锐。我们或许还没完全明白，何谓在耶稣里面活着，但当我们“往上看”，就开始越看越清晰。
你如何强化自己“往上看”的能力呢？
你如何专心思想上帝国度的事？
慈爱的上帝，求祢帮助我能专心思想
一切和祢有关的事！