“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”- Luke 21:28
What are you going to do today? Will you LOOK UP, or will you look down? When disappointment arrives, where will your attention go? When your phone fills with bad news, arguments, and fear, where will your heart settle? When the enemy whispers that nothing will change, will you believe the darkness, or lift your eyes toward the Light of God?
These questions stand at the center of Pastor Anthony Joseph Massotti, Th.M.’s original 1999 Pastor’s Corner piece, “Choosing To Look Up Today.” Though written years before social media feeds and smartphones became constant companions, its spiritual challenge speaks directly to us in 2026.
Every day, our attention is pulled downward. We scroll downward. We read downward. We compare ourselves downward. We descend into breaking news, online outrage, private anxiety, and the endless gloom of a world that seems to demand our emotional participation in every crisis.
But the question remains: Where is your heart facing?
What It Means to Look Up
Pastor Anthony’s original writing presents a clear spiritual picture: God is up. Heaven is up. Angels are up. The saints who have passed on before us are up. The blessings of God come down from the Father of lights, and therefore our blessings are from above (James 1:17).
The sun shines from above. The new birth is described with the word anothen, meaning “from above” (John 3:3). Christ will return from above, and He will take His people up to be where He dwells. These images form one decisive direction. They remind us that our help, hope, salvation, and final home are not found in the depths of earthly confusion.
To look up is not to deny suffering. It is to refuse to let suffering become your master.
A person can look directly at a painful circumstance and still lift the heart toward God. We see this throughout the Psalms. The writer does not pretend that enemies, grief, fear, or injustice are absent. Instead, he brings them before the Lord. He looks at the trouble, but he does not worship the trouble.
This is the difference between facing reality and surrendering to despair.
You may be carrying a financial burden, a fractured relationship, a diagnosis, a private temptation, or a grief that has not loosened its grip. We are not called to pretend those things do not exist. We are called to bring them beneath the authority of the Lord. The world says, “Look down and stay there.” Faith says, “Behold, your redemption draweth nigh.”
What Looking Down Represents
The archive piece also describes what “down” represents in biblical imagery. The lower parts of the earth are associated with the realm of the dead. Earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom is described as coming from below (James 3:15). The beast of the world system rises from below, and Scripture speaks of destructive spiritual powers connected with the pit and the underworld (Revelation 9:1–11; 13:1).
The Psalms speak of God bringing the wicked down to the pit of destruction (Psalm 55:23). The lake of fire is a place into which one is thrown (Revelation 20:15). The direction is not a plateau. There is no morally neutral place where the soul can remain forever untouched by its choices.
This is a solemn warning, but it is also an invitation to choose LIFE.
In 2026, “looking down” may not appear openly wicked. It may look like checking your phone before you pray. It may look like feeding resentment through one more comment thread. It may look like returning repeatedly to content that stirs lust, envy, fear, or anger. It may look like allowing the algorithm to disciple your emotions while Scripture remains unopened.
The enemy does not always need to make you reject God publicly. Sometimes he only needs to keep your eyes lowered long enough for you to forget that Heaven is real.
Either your attention is being trained toward the things above, or it is being discipled by the things below. Either the Word is shaping your imagination, or the world is filling it with fear. Either you are walking with Christ, or you are drifting with the current.
There is no permanent plateau.
Two Roads, One Heart
Pastor Anthony wrote that there are only two roads in life, and one of them is definitely not a plateau. The soul taking the journey must decide in advance where it will place its heart.
This is the central truth: the heart travels in the direction of its affection.
Iron is drawn to a magnet. In the same way, the human soul is drawn toward whatever holds its deepest attention. If your heart is Heavenward, Heaven becomes your ultimate resting place. If your emotions continually face downward, your soul grows comfortable in the depths.
This does not mean that one difficult day proves you have abandoned God. It means that repeated direction matters. A compass can be only a few degrees off and still lead a traveler far from the intended destination. So it is with spiritual formation. A small daily choice, repeated over months and years, can shape the whole Christian walk.
What are you repeatedly looking at?
What are you repeatedly listening to?
What are you repeatedly loving?
Jesus taught that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). The heart follows the treasure. Therefore, if you want to know where your heart is facing, examine what receives your first attention, your strongest emotion, and your most faithful energy.
Looking Up in a Downward-Pulling World
I have noticed how quickly my own attention can descend. I can begin the day with a sincere desire to pray, then reach for a screen “just for a moment.” Soon my mind is crowded with other people’s opinions, fears, victories, advertisements, and emergencies. By the time I set the phone down, my thoughts are noisy and my spirit is dull.
Perhaps you know that experience too.
In those moments, I must pray honestly: “Lord, forgive me for giving the world my first gaze while giving You what remains. Turn my heart again toward things above. Teach me to look up.”
This is not about despising technology or withdrawing from every responsibility. It is about refusing to let a screen become the compass of your soul. Your phone may be in your hand, but it must not become your master.
If you are seeking growing in faith, begin with a simple daily practice:
- Look up before you look down. Pray before opening your feed.
- Read Scripture before consuming commentary. Let the Word establish your thoughts.
- Name the direction of your emotions. Are you becoming more peaceful, truthful, patient, and obedient, or more fearful, proud, bitter, and distracted?
- Turn your eyes deliberately. Put the phone down, lift your head, and remember that your redemption is nearer than you think.
- Choose one act of obedience. A changed direction becomes real through action.
Colossians 3:2 gives us the command plainly: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” The instruction is not merely to think about Heaven occasionally. It is to set, fasten, and direct the affection of the heart.
That requires intention.
It may require unfollowing voices that continually poison your peace. It may require a morning without notifications. It may require returning to prayer after a long season of neglect. It may require confessing that you have been looking down, not only with your eyes, but with your expectations.
Yet the Lord is merciful. He does not merely command us to look up; He gives us grace to do it.
For further practical help, read our teaching on biblical discernment in the digital age and explore the ministry’s written teachings and Pastor’s Corner archives.
Lift Up Your Head Today
You have a decision before you.
Will you continue looking down into the pit of fear, comparison, distraction, and earthly wisdom? Or will you lift your eyes toward the Father of lights, whose gifts come down from above?
The enemy wants your chin lowered and your heart heavy. The Lord calls you to lift your head. Christ has not abandoned you in the valley. Heaven is not imaginary. Redemption is not a distant religious idea. The King is coming, and His people are commanded to remain awake, faithful, and hopeful.
So, behold, the road is before you.
LOOK UP.
SET your affection on things above.
PUT the phone down before it pulls your soul downward.
OPEN the Bible.
PRAY before you react.
RESIST the enemy.
CHOOSE Life.
Live your life looking up, having your chin up and your heart up. Let your attention turn Heavenward, let your faith deepen, and let your Christian walk with Christ become a daily journey toward the place where He dwells.
