Survival Mode or Crushing It?

One Simple Change Makes All the Difference

I am barely surviving every day.

If this has been your season, as it has been mine, then this message is for you.

I just want to win!

If you have ever thought you were in a no-win situation, but you wished you could crush it with victory, read on.

There is a way to change permanently from survival mode to crushing it. It’s simple: “Look up.”

Jesus told His disciples to “lift up your eyes” in John 4:35. He is the light of the world. “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Are you in a deep, dark pit? Is there a crushing weight on your back?

Come with me out of the darkness and into the light as we learn to look up and see Jesus.

🐑Behold the Lamb of God! (Jesus wins by being crushed!)

John the Baptist introduced Jesus by saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” revealing His person, nature, and purpose. Stop and behold Jesus throughout your day. He is meek and lowly like a lamb, yet His victory is decisive over sin, death, and hell. Let the cross be on your mind all the time. It was gruesome, violent, and terrifying beyond comprehension (the wrath of God crushing Jesus for our sin), yet it is your safe refuge.

Let go of your preconceived ideas of success and failure. No matter what your losses are today, you are ultimately victorious in Christ. His kingdom will come, His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, even when your kingdom is being thwarted miserably. You can rejoice and say, “Not my will, but Your will be done,” and remind yourself of His past, present, and future victory. Your worst enemies have all been defeated already, and He is with you in this moment and forever. Would He save you and then have a miserable plan for your life? He promises abundant life and fullness of joy—treasure His presence and love over everything else.

🔦Let the light shine into your darkest places. (Be exposed and be healed.)

Can you identify the emotions that trap you in survival mode?

I can feel unseen and ignored, as if God has forgotten about me. Sometimes I feel like God is disappointed or displeased. I can feel angry because I am not getting what I think I deserve. Resentment against others smolders quickly, especially if they haven’t treated me with kindness and respect.

How did Jesus experience these emotions? He felt abandoned and forsaken by God on the cross. He knew He was pleasing to the Father, yet He suffered more than any human has ever suffered. He did not get what He deserved, but instead was despised and afflicted and hated. He was betrayed by His closest friends.

Our Savior knows us and loves us and offers us His presence as our comfort. Take your emotions to Jesus in prayer. Ask Him to expose the feelings of darkness and despair so that He can heal and forgive.

🌩️See Jesus in the pit with you, and follow Him out of darkness and into the light.

You are not alone in the pit. Jesus is there with you and offers you a way out.

The devil wants you to believe that your life is futile and meaningless. He wants you to think you are alone and powerless. He offers you sin and numbness as your escape, but these will lead you to despair.

Lift up your eyes and see Him there with you the darkness, offering you His nail-scarred hand, and raising you from the dead, saying, “Little [one], I say to you, arise” (Mark 6:41). Your neediness is no match for His power and continuous desire to help you. Every time you cry out to Him, He will save you. You can trust Him and wait, because He is faithful. A person who trusts Jesus has eternal meaning and purpose in every moment of every day of life, by belonging to an infinitely great God.

☀️Turn your face to the light, as God turns His face towards you in love.

Shame causes us to look down—to turn our faces away from God and others. We can’t lift up our faces to God without help. God lifts up our eyes, our hearts, and our faces to Him. He removes all the barriers, He removes our shame, and He removes our sin and failure and gives us His righteousness and glory.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

-2 Corinthians 3:12-18

🏅Don’t forget about glory, rewards, and the eternal life you already have right now.

Jesus turns our face towards His face, cupping our face in His hands so we have to gaze into His eyes. Realize that His is the face we have wanted to see all our lives.

Man was given the breath of life at creation by God—the beginning of our face-to-face relationship with God when He breathed into Adam’s face. But we lost the face of God when sin entered the world, separating us from our Holy God. We desire that relationship again, but it is beyond our reach. He told us to seek His face (Psalm 27:8), yet our sin and rebellion merits God’s judgment, not His smiling face of blessing.

The gospel is the message of the way back. “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

We “look up” every time we repent. We renounce any hope of our own righteousness and cling to Christ’s righteousness, given to us as a gift of grace. It was bought by the blood of Jesus, of infinite value and worth. What a gift! Receive it by letting go of “earning it myself” and see how Jesus earned it already. Then you will know for certain that your glory, rewards, and life all are guaranteed by Jesus, not by your own works. Your life will be transformed by God’s grace as you look up!

Let Jesus receive everything He paid for. Don’t settle for survival mode today. You can have complete victory in Christ as you lift up your eyes, look at the cross, and worship.

Then tell someone about what Jesus has done for you.